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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 37.8605, 27.2566
For many years I have wanted to travel to the amazing ancient site of Ephesus in Turkey. The extensive archaeological excavations here have only unearthed about 18% of the site but what is there is impressive (to quote our guide, Fatih, who must have used the word over a hundred times!) There is an interesting mixture of the earlier Greek and later Roman buildings though the Emprical Roman tends to dominate.
We arrived in Kusadasi early and were on the bus at 7-30am. We drove about 30 minutes to the site along roads lined with Mulberry trees used for feeding the silk worms which produce the threads for the Turkish carpets made here. Our gudie was knowlegeable but did like the sound of his own voice and tended to show us what he deemed important. I stopped him a couple of times to ask for an explanation of buildings he had simply passed by, including the remains of the Vestal virgins house which was always a most important place in a Roman city. (I think he got sick of me!!)
The most impressive building here is the famous library , the facade of which is the most complete of any building
here. This is two storey and very beautiful adorned by intricate pediments and replicas of the original statues. However, the length of the roads leading to it , lined by Stoas and terrace houses was also amazing. We say the square of Domitian with its accompanying temple facade and also Hadrian's archway.
I was glad of the early start as the weather was very warm with a clear blue sky and not much shade. In summer it would be unbearable. From the Library we walked through the commercial Agora to the Great Theatre. Again our guide took us to an outside vantage point to see the ampitheatre from afar but had no intention of taking us inside, because he said the stone steps may be too steep and slippery!!. However he did give us thirty minutes free time so Fletcher and I returned to walk inside and marvel at its size and see the skena from within. It is said to be larger than Epidaurus though I thought they were about the same. We walked through the tunnels leading from the orchestra along the parados and into what would have been the tiring rooms. Magical!
We drove back to Kusadasi but
we passed on the visit to the carpet shop instead opting for a cold beer at a local resturant and free Wifi. It was so relaxing looking over the harbour and basking in the sunshine. We had a fantastic Mediterranean lunch there. We shared two dishes, a Mixed grill with chicken, lamb and beef Kebabs and a whole grilled Sea Bass with accompanying salad and chips. Wonderful. Afterwards we wandered around the very tourist oriented streets looking through the shops selling the usual T shirts, jewellery and artefacts.We returned to the ship about 5 pm having had a wonderful day.
That night we joined our new friends, Tully and Linda for the Quiz (which we didn't win) and then for a wonderful dinner in the Rembrandt dining room. A truly memorable day.
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Kat Burgess
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Thank you Colleen for allowing me to travel with you on your journey.Good on you for giving it to the tour guide. Looking forward to the rest of your trip.