Blogs from Ephesus, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 7

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 seemed more interested in taking photos than trying to understand the site and Ephesus is not a difficult site to understand. Others turned the place into a fashion show, stumbling around in heels or complaining ... read more

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 are carved stones that appear to be left behind from 2000 years ago. People are scared to dig in their back yard for fear of finding artifacts that stops any further construction for awhile. 3. ... read more

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 last. First off was the state agora which served as the city's civic center. Best preserved building here is the odeon or council chamber with its small amphitheather. We took our seats here and listened ... read more

15% of the old city of Ephesus has been restored, thanks to the combined work of the Turkish and Australian Archeological Societies. Our tour leader, Emory showed us the agora or marketplace, marble streets, Roman baths, the Hadrian Temple, the Celsus Library, public toilets and a large theatre where St Paul of Tarsus spoke.... read more

It was a big day today as we had a lot to fit in. We headed out for our private tour of Ephesus nice and early. It was only about 1 hour out of Izmir and in no time at all we were at the Temple of Artemis one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. As you can see from the picture thanks to earth quakes and some good old fashioned looting there is not a lot left of the original 136 columns. It was interesting to see that in one shot you could get pagan temple, Muslim Mosque and Christian Church. We then headed up into the hills to see the house of Mary. It was here that Mary apparently spent her last days and there is a holy spring that is supposed ... read more