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World Culture for Kids: Ephesus, Turkey

Today we are traveling to Ephesus, Turkey – with Flat Pete from Pete the Cat ! This is the fourth post Sandi of rubber boots and elf shoes has written for my world culture for kids series (check out her post about Iceland in addition to those on Dubrovnik and Prague that are linked below). I am so grateful to Sandi for the time she has taken to write these wonderful posts for this series! Drop by Sandi’s blog and check out these great posts: kindergarten to do list, class chandelier, and button blankets – a First Nations tradition.

World Culture for Kids at Mama Smiles Joyful Parenting

Pete thought that Dubrovnik and Prague had old buildings.

Then he went to Turkey.

Pete enjoyed spending a week working on an organic farm.

seeing the sights in Ephesus, Turkey

He liked the markets, saw some famous sights,

rug in Ephesus, Turkey

checked out some rugs, found that he did not like Turkish coffee but quite liked çay (chai),

fancy cat condo in Ephesus, Turkey

thought that the cat condos were wonderful.

Pete’s imagination was captured by the ancient cities that he visited.

Ephesus is a city that is over 2500 years old.

Amphitheatre in Ephesus, Turkey

Sitting in the amphitheatre at Epheus, Pete thought about the people who sat exactly where he was sitting – over 2000 years ago.

amphitheatre built to seat 15,000 in Ephesus, Turkey

What were they watching. What where their homes like. What did they like to do for work and for fun. What did they feed their cats.

Then he thought about the huge amphitheatre being “forgotten”. Bits and pieces falling apart. Soil drifting into the amphitheatre, gradually filling it up, so that it looked like there was never a place big enough for 15,000 people to sit and watch something.

ruins in Ephesus, Turkey

Pete saw people working – trying to figure out what the amphitheatre – and other buildings and houses – had looked like when they were built.

archeological work in Ephesus, Turkey

Archeologists who carefully dig in the ground, looking for bits of old amphitheatres, homes, columns – and then put the right pieces back together like a puzzle.

library in Ephesus, Turkey

After feeling like a very small feline at the amphitheatre, getting lost at the library, and not being able to read Greek(Turkey 9), Pete decided he needed some light relief.

Greek writing in Ephesus, Turkey

He went to visit the bathroom. Not the kitty litter box bathroom for cats.

ancient bathroom in Ephesus, Turkey

The 2000 year old bathroom for people who used to live in Ephesus.

ruins of an ancient public bathroom in Ephesus, Turkey

It was a pretty big bathroom. Apparently 50 people could use it at the same time.

Underneath the seats was a stream of water that flushed everything away. They had running water, but not a lot of privacy!

Ephesus was full of amazingly ancient, and amazingly beautiful architecture and art.

cat in Ephesus, Turkey

Some animals just didn’t seem to appreciate it!

Thank you, Sandi – and Pete the Cat – for another brilliant post! I learned so much about Ephesus today, and now I hope that I can visit it in person someday!

Are you interested in contributing to this series? You can write about anywhere in the world – just make it fun for kids and make sure you use your own photos! Email me at mamasmilesblog at gmail dot com if you want more details.

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

16 thoughts on “World Culture for Kids: Ephesus, Turkey”

  1. Sorry, I meant to tie the comments together. My college friend from Turkey says that you need to visit Greece first and then Turkey. If you come from Turkey, he says it’s harder to enter Greece. Not sure if this is still true since this is advice from a decade ago … but it stuck with me.

  2. My daughter’s friend went to Turkey last year with her family and they raved about it. I loved armchair traveling there. I hear the food is amazing! I’d love visit someday!

  3. My kids keep talking about going to Greece for a big family trip to celebrate my husband’s and my 50th birthday. I think it’s Percy Jackson that introducted them to Greece but I am not sure. We haven’t picked a location yet for the trip but I’ll show them this post. Greece is looking like a contender!

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