Ephesus, once a Greek port town on the Aegean sea now lies several kilometers inland so our tour started at the port city of Kusadasi (Bird Island). Kusadasi 25 years ago we were told was a small fishing village but with the number of tourist the city is much larger and busier. This was our second of two tours with the group of twenty. After another day at sea our tour guide Levent was originally scheduled to fly and meet us but due to a situation another guide and and his assistant met us for our tour, I can't remember his [View Full Entry]

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At our hotel we met and became friends with another American and her two boys. She moved to Istanbul a year ago and is teaching at a Turkish prep school. She is a fountain of information and her command of the language is amazing. Together we went to explore Efes and had a great day. Efes is remarkable. Not just the ruins (which are spectacular) but also the information that is readily laid out along the way. Other ruins we've scrambled around with guide book in hand. Here we had our guide book but also the clearly marked descriptive signs. The [View Full Entry]

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Location: Kusadasi and Ephesus Weather: Sunny, 34°C The ruins of Ephesus are a beautiful example of ancient Greek architecture. Yes Trish I found the brothel but not the sign advertising it! The Ancient Greeks used marble everywhere when building Ephesus which makes it blinding and hot in the summer sun, I wish they still ran water down the marble streets to cool the city like they did in ancient times! Kathy went into Kusadasi on her own; rather than walk up the long pier she hired a porter on a tricycle to take her into town. She has decided that little [View Full Entry]

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Day 8, Efesus: Today is the day we hit the site. We walk over from town, a pleasant stroll. A parking lot hawker tries to get us to take his bus to the upper entrance, with the line “this makes it a better tour”, but “with only one small stop at a gift shop on the way”. We stand politely until he goes after his next victims, and then we bolt for the lower entrance. By this time we have learned that although there are lots of genuinely friendly people in Turkey, you always have to be aware of the “hidden [View Full Entry]

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Today there was excellent breakfast followed by a trip to the local weekly market. The market here is not all that large (compared to, say, Ayvalik) but we did find all one would reasonably expect. Seasonal vegetables, fruit, herbs, cheese, honey, clothes, houseware and spices. We bought paprika and pul biber. We picked up the rucksack and dropped off the spices before catching the minibus to Ephesus. The site was extremely crowded - we think a large cruise ship had docked in Kusadasi was taking people around, one give away being the crew members in naval whites. Many from the ship [View Full Entry]

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DAY 60 This morning we board the ferry at 7am. We head across the channel of the Dardenelles to Canakkale on the mainland. Our bus is at 8am and we head off south to Selcuk and the ruins of Ephesus. We arrive in Selcuk at about 4pm. We were given a brochure on a hostel to stay while in this area. The bus office, just happens to be the place that call the hostel and we get a free ride since the place is 2 KM out of town. We arrive at Atilla's Getaway Hostel. It looks lovely, there is an [View Full Entry]

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6/1/09 Family We found that this blog was never published after all, so here it is. It is mostly just pictures and a couple of interesting observations including. ---- 1. Gas is really expensive here. At $8/gallon, we felt the pain with our last car rental that wasn't as "economy sized" as previously rented cars. The gas cost more than the rental. No wonder there are scooters everywhere. We have seen everything from entire family of 4 to a man with his dog riding a scooter. Of course, no helmets involved. 2. Historical stuff is EVERYWHERE. Laying out along the highway [View Full Entry]

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We started at 7:30 a.m. "European" time (which means, about 1 to 1.5 hours later in Turkish time) and came back at 9:30 p.m. [View Full Entry]

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This is another ancient city on the west side of turkey, it's incredible beautiful! we stayed in a nearby town Selcuk, and visited Ephesus in the day. We stayed once again with some amazing people, they even let us steal their puppy for a night! [View Full Entry]

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Once known as the capital of the Asian Province of the Roman Empire, Ephesus certainly did not disappoint as it was easily one of the most beautiful ancient sites. Frankly, I was really simply looking forward to the Library of Celsus. Most websites on Ephesus have this postcard-pretty photo of the ruins of the Library, and I truly thought it would be just that and a few more ruins, maybe a small amphitheater and that's it. Not so. The scale of the site is simply awesome. We entered through one of 2 gates. Magnesian Gate heads downhill, leaving the highlights for [View Full Entry]

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