Bridging cultures, time and sensibility

EPHESUS – To many, albeit religious Catholic, Filipinos, this city is most famous for the shrine that was built on the site believed to be where the Blessed Mother spent her last years and died.

The tiny two-room home was actually constructed after a German nun published her “visions” of how the mother of Jesus spent her last days. But today it is the destination of many pilgrims, drawn by their devotion to Mary, including a pope who said Mass at the site.

Tourists enter on a nominal fee charged for the upkeep of the place, but picture-taking is forbidden inside, as numerous signs remind. But some tourists, insisting that the signs show only a camera and a video camera, persist in taking shots with their cell phones. Caretakers, though, are ready for those who visit the shrine in short shorts and revealing tops. There are large scarves (with blue roses printed on them) ready to be handed to them for cover.

A short walk down the steps in the olive garden are three fountains, actually spigots that bring water up from an underground spring, “one for health, one for love, one for wealth,” as our tour guide Erhan tells us. There is also a fourth fountain, says Erhan, but this is used mainly by Muslims who likewise pay homage to Mary and use the fountain to clean their hands, face and feet before entering Mary’s little home. I also take time to write a brief “letter” to Mama Mary, as thousands of other pilgrims have done, rolling up the sheets of paper and inserting them in crevices on the wall, containing prayers and petitions.

It is a shrine constructed on the directions of a visionary nun, with little archeological evidence to support the claim (save for the fact that St. John the Beloved, who was looking after Mary after Jesus Christ’s death, visited and preached in the vicinity), but who can dispute faith? Who wants to?

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The real historical draw of Ephesus, though, are the Roman ruins, especially the excavated city of Curetes, where the streets are paved with marble and mosaics. A travel guide says only an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the ancient city has been excavated, but the walking tour already takes over two hours under a sizzling sun.

But the heat and the uneven stones are still worth it. A Greek city that fell under Roman rule, Ephesus became a city that was supposedly “second in importance and size only to Rome.” Walking the streets, one espies the remains of an “agora” or market, including a section meant for the slave trade; temples and monuments; a street of homes for wealthy residents, fronted by shops for all sorts of consumables; a library that was said to be second only to the great library of Alexandria in size and importance; and an amphitheater that seated as many as 25,000.

Of particular interest, at least to me, were the public toilets, lined with rudimentary marble toilet seats, that, said our guide, also served as a venue for socializing among the ancient Romans. Behind the library was a street of brothels, with tiles bearing the names and addresses of the women of pleasure, an early form of advertising.

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For lunch, we stopped by a restaurant called “Bizim Ev” (roughly, “My Kitchen”) that is literally a mom-and-pop affair, with buffet that features Turkish home cooking.

“Mom” was in attendance, explaining the many different dishes laid out on her table, ranging from the usual roasted vegetables and stews to lamb chops and salads.

But the best feature of Bizim Ev, to my mind, is its setting: a humble home set amid a garden with grape arbors shielding guests eating out in the open.

It was a refreshing, peaceful and tranquil break during an otherwise hectic tour, the silence broken only by a tinkling fountain and the gaggle of Filipino visitors relishing the sight.

Also a highlight was the hotel we stayed in in Kusadasi, a seaside resort community on the shores of the Aegean Sea, that is a collection of upscale condominiums and shops, and a busy beachfront filled with bars and dining places.

A quiet haven amid this vacationer’s paradise was our hotel called Kismet. It stands on a tiny peninsula jutting out to the sea amid its noisier neighbors, and was once the private villa of a prominent family, which has since been converted into a boutique hotel. Its walls are filled with framed photographs showing off its prominent guests, including world royalty and former US President Jimmy Carter.

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It is difficult to visit Turkey and not feel some envy for its enormous tourism resources. In the course of this visit, we encountered many Asians, especially groups of Chinese. And Turkey seems to be an up-and-coming destination among Filipino travelers as well.

Turkey offers history and heritage, faith and spirituality that appeal to Christians, despite its majority Muslim population, because of its Biblical roots, especially place names that reverberate with references to our elementary religion classes.

At the same time, there are natural wonders—mountains and coasts, deserts and fields of grain, valleys rich with the harvest of vineyards and vegetable patches. I am writing this in Cappadocia, where tourists have been flocking in droves to marvel at the unusual hillsides and rock formations, underground cities and hidden churches and monasteries.

Turkey was and is indeed the crossroad of civilizations, the bridge between East and West, Asia and Europe, past and present. And it continues to play that “bridging” role—politically, economically, culturally, spiritually—in this day and age.