Category Archives: Photography

September 3, 2018 · 5:35 am

54 Days at Sea — Wandering around Cape Sounion


Temple of Poseidon

Ursula and I found ourselves on this little excursion because of a couple of good friends whom we met aboard M.S. Prinsendam. Marilyn Anderson, the Taco Bell Queen of Farmington, New Mexico, and her mother Margaret. When we weren’t sightseeing together, we were playing bridge or sharing a table in the main dining room aboard M.S. Prinsendam. You meet some really neat people aboard these cruises, and if you’re lucky you make some lifelong friends as well.

Marilyn Anderson (right) and her mother Margaret

The Temple of Poseidon lies atop a bluff at the southernmost tip of the Attic Peninsula. Up here you are 200 feet/60 meters above the rugged and scenic Aegean coast:

Cape Sounion

With a good telephoto you can snap an image of the Sounion Beach:

Cape Sounion

But it’s the jagged cliffs to the in the opposite direction, to the east, that for me gave the better photographic opportunity:

Sounion Cliffs

But after taking a quick look around the summit, it’s time to get back to the 2,400-year-old Temple of Poseidon, which doesn’t look half bad for its age:

Temple of Poseidon

Temple of Poseidon

Temple of Poseidon

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August 31, 2018 · 5:35 am

Fun Photo Friday — 54 Days at Sea; House of Mary and St. John Basilica favorites


St. John’s Tomb

One last look at the area around Ephesus with images from the Basilica of St. John and the House of the Virgin Mary. Next week we move on to ancient Greece.

Basilica of St. John

Basilica Flower

Basilica of St. John

Flora at the House of the Virgin Mary

 

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August 27, 2018 · 5:35 am

54 Days at Sea — Ephesus; St. John Basilica


Basilica of St. John

About 1.5 miles/2.4 kilometers east northeast of ancient Ephesus, Turkey stand the ruins of a basilica built in the 6th century by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. By all historical accounts, it was quite a structure. It was known as the Basilica of St. John.

The Church of St. John

But today not a lot remains.

Basilica of St. John

However, this ancient church site has something no other church in the world possesses. Legend has it that the basilica was built over the tomb of the Apostle John.

Tomb of St. John (John the Apostle)

Plaque on the life of St. John

To enhance the readability of the English side of the above plaque, here’s a crop that describes the life of St. John:

The life of St. John

Located within the ruins of the basilica is the baptistery:

Basilica baptistery

The Basilica of St. John was based upon another lost structure, this one in Constantinople (site of modern day Istanbul). That was the Church of the Holy Apostles built some 200 years earlier. In the plaque above describing the life of St. John,  you may have noted that the apostle came to this area with yet another important figure in Christianity — Mary, the mother of Jesus. On Wednesday we’ll visit the house where she purportedly lived out her later years. Until then, some final images of the Basilica of St. John:

Basilica of St. John

Basilica of St. John

Basilica of St. John

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