Ephesus and Patmos according to John the Beloved

Day 8 (16 Nov 2025)

Early in the morning (way too early), the cruise ship docked at Kusadasi which is the western side of Turkiye along the Aegean Sea. Kusadasi is the modern day Ephesus in the Bible. 

Turkiye was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1923 when it became a republic. In biblical times, it was called Asia Minor. The Greeks called it Anatolya. About 90% of the population are Muslim, the rest of the 10% Christians and Jews.

First we visited the House of the Virgin Mary, where Jesus' mother Mary was believed to have lived for the remaining years of her life. I didn't take any photos. I was uncomfortable with the way people seemed to be revering and kissing any item or relic associated with the Bible. It felt idolatrous to me, similar to how I felt in Vatican City.

We visited the Ephesus archaeological site and it was impressive - way more extensive than the ones we saw in Greece. According to the guide, they're still digging up new things all the time so if you come 6 months later, you might see even more!

There's your usual agora, shops, public baths (which the Romans built first to cleanse visitors from diseases), and public toilets.

Cat-acombs

There are temples and tributes to all kinds of Greek gods, including Nike, the goddess of victory. When we make the V sign, we think it's V for Victory but actually the V sign is the Greek letter for N. N for Nike (which the shoe brand adopted)✌️ . Now you know. 

 

It wasn't just the apostle Paul who came to Ephesus. According to historical accounts, the apostle John lived here too in the latter years of his life before he was exiled to Patmos. Here, he looked after Jesus' mother, Mary as he'd promised at the foot of the cross. I have no idea if this is historically correct but it could well be since Ephesus is very close to Patmos. Ephesus was also one of the churches John wrote to in his book of Revelation, suggesting the close ties he had with the Ephesian community.

Original mosaic flooring!

There's a massive theatre that can seat 25,000 people. Concerts are still being held there today by big-name celebrities. 

 

And a magnificent library! I found it strangely moving to learn that people valued knowledge then. 

Then it was back onto the ship and set sale to Patmos. The apostle John was exiled here in 95AD by Emperor Domitian for preaching Christ. 

 

We visited the supposed cave when John went to pray after being exiled.  It was crazy crowded - people were queuing and inching forward to squeeze into the tiny place. The guide we had, which was an elderly lady, kept up her commentary even when people were not where she was, so we had no idea what she was describing. 

Then we drove higher up to the mountain where there was a monastery built in his name.
 

By then, I kinda had enough. The sun had set, and it was freezing. I was unprepared, only having an outer jacket. I found both places to be very spiritual and not in a good way. So many people were visiting and touching the icons, relics and walls, believing them to have magical properties. I just couldn't listen to the guide rattle on about how John the Beloved was the third person to be resurrected after Jesus and Mary 😱  It felt like people just built myths onto historical accounts until we don't know what's true and what's not any more. 

The thought crossed my mind that not much had changed from Paul's time - idolatry is still alive and well today, so is false teaching. Really wish we had used the limited time in Patmos to visit the countryside instead. 

Came back to the cruise ship really tired. Went for dinner at the fancy restaurant but later discovered that the food was exactly the same as in the buffet restaurant, just that they serve you in courses!

On the brighter side, I found a fellow art lover among my travel mates! We art jammed together on one of the decks, using my gouache paints to paint a scene from Mykonos. That was great fun 🎨