Dateline: Izmir, Turkey. This is Turkey’s largest port and third largest city, and it was formerly known as Smyrna. Not far from this port is Ephesus, a city that was in its glory during biblical times, first Greek, then Roman. Substantial parts of the Bible were written in this town, and specific exact sites in this town were mentioned there.
We had a cold, rainy day but the tour of the town was spectacular in spite of the weather. There is an outdoor amphitheater with acoustics so perfect that unamplified voices could be heard by an audience of 25,000 people. As a guy who spent much of his life lecturing, I was jealous of the venue - none I ever performed in was nearly so good.
Two days ago we were in Athens and had both good weather and good health, neither of which we had on our last visit. We went to the temple of Hephaistos in Athens which resembles the Parthenon but is smaller, in much better condition, and easier to get to. The Greeks did such a good job of imagining imposing architecture that we still use their designs today.
We also drove down the coast to a temple of Poseidon which is only partially standing but has a spectacular setting on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The drive itself was great, and Greece does look a lot like California. I think their politics are about as screwed up as California’s too. The day we were there the bus drivers were on strike. A couple of months ago the students rioted and burned shops and banks. In spite of this, the society “works” as does that of California.
Our guide today asked how the “crisis” had happened in the U.S. We replied that the average American wasn’t experiencing a crisis, only reading about it in the papers or seeing about it on TV. U.S. “crisis” unemployment has yet to reach levels viewed as normal-for-good-times in the EU. Yes, home values are down but that is only important to those who need to sell or who purchased recently and now owe more than their home is currently worth.
