Ephesus, Turkey

Once we had gone through the House of the Virgin Mary we were given ten minutes to get back to the bus. That was enough time for a quick potty break and not enough time to get distracted by the souvenirs being sold by some of the locals. Back on the bus it was only a short ride to the main archaeological site at Ephesus. Ephesus already existed at the time of the Hittites. It was later conquered by Alexander the Great when he defeated the Persians. A couple hundred years later the Romans took it from the Greeks. Then the Romans lost it to the Goths in 262 AD. After that the city slowly died as the river silted over and the better farmland migrated down into the valley below.