The trip to Kusadasi couldn’t have been more different than the trip to Altinkum. The water was dead calm, the wind wasn’t mighty but was working in our favor and, with the assistance of the engine, get up to 6 knots for a majority of the trip.
Kusadasi marina is alright. It’s older and there are a lot of live aboards here which gives it more of a lived in feeling. Very different from the Didim Marina I had just come from. We got the map to the bus station that would get us to Ephesus and stuck with a basic meal of pasta and Turkish meatballs for dinner.
The walk to the bus stop was a bit longer than we thought it would be. I’d say 2.5 – 3 miles. But it was a great opportunity to see town and get a feel of what is around here. We stopped to buy breakfast, bread, from a man selling it out of a cart and another guy in the line spoke some English. He helped translate to the bread man what my broken Turkish wasn’t quite getting across and when I told him I was from Orlando he said “Oh! The Orlando Magic” and made like he was shooting a hoop. It caught me off guard at first because generally the mouse is the Orlando spokesperson, but then Bryan reminded me later that Turkoglu is an Orlando Magic player who is from Turkey so it made a little more sense.
The bus filled up and for 5TL per person we got a ride to the turn off for Ephesus. Another half mile walk to the entrance and we had made it! Then it started to rain… not hard but enough that we were happy we brought our light rain coats. We took 236 photos (with it raining a majority of the time) and narrowed it down to 50 of my favorites. That’s still too many to post on the blog so this is a break down even more of the most diverse of the photos. They may not be the BEST but it gives a well rounded account of our trip to Ephesus.
In the outer part of the city was the necropolis. The plaque here explained that the different decorations on the sarcophagi represented a different social status. Dad picked the most ornate one for himself, el captain.
This is the great theater. It could seat up to 24,000 people and was clearly the biggest theater we have ever seen and of the ancient world. It was built against Mt. Pion and finished in the 2nd century AD. The road in front of it is the Arcadian Way which used to lead to the harbor, which is now silted in, and was lined with shops and covered archways.
I’m standing where St. Paul is believed to have given certain speeches about how the models of Diana being produced by the silversmiths weren’t divine. There were a lot of tour groups because a cruise ship had docked that day, but it was nothing compared to how the summer must be.
This is a sign posted on the thin gate that surrounds a floor under the stage at the theater. There are three stories of seats and then a lower level where performers would prepare. I just liked that instead of creating an actual warning sign they have a crazy person falling into the void.
This is Marble Street, because it’s made of marble. The blue sign to the right is an indication for those of us who decided to purchase the 10TL headphone guide and that is how this street is described by the audio guide. This is Marble Street because it’s made of marble. Good to know. I later found out that it was a main road used by chariots and the platform to the right and left were for pedestrians.
The Marble Street leads to the ultimate find in any rock pile, the Library of Celsus. The building was constructed as a monumental tomb in 117 AD by Consul Gaius Julius Aquila in the name of his father Celsus Polamaeanus, the Genral Governer of Asia. I also thought the plants and flowers to the left looked a lot like a Bob Ross painting.
The front façade of the building was restored between 1970 and 1980 and contains copies of 4 female statues displaying the characteristics of wisdom, virtue, intelligence, and knowledge. It was really impressive.
The building used to contain parchment scrolls that were tucked inside interior niches. The craftsmanship was very impressive.
Dad really liked this relief which was located outside of the library. It’s almost too clean to be original, but it may be.
This is the southern entrance to the Tetradonos Agora. Lysimakhos, the founder of Ephesus, constructed the commercial agora and referred to it as Tetradonos Agora in the 3rd century BC.
There were niches in the gate to the agora for statues of heroes and the people who had served the city. I think Dad would’ve served the city had he been alive then.
Every entrance has a gate, except for the eastern entrance because it was connected to the port. This was a commercial agora so the walls were lined with shops. There was an excavation or restoration effort going on so we couldn’t get any closer, but can see the trolley used to take stones in or out; and of course, the wild flowers.
The actual museum is located in the town outside of Ephesus and we weren’t sure how to get there. There was a place called the Visually Impaired Gallery inside of the agora though and it had replicas of the statues found on the site. This is the statue of Artemis with several rows of breasts or a belt of eggs, both symbolizing fertility.
Dad was pretending to be one of the statues that lined the Curetes Street which was named for the college of priests that were once located here. I thought it was funny that as he was doing this a woman behind him was pointing at something else but it looks like she’s referring to Dad. I was joking that the inscription under his bust would read “village idiot” and he laughed.
This was the best view of everything. It was from the top of Curetes Street which led down to the library and intersected with Marble Street. Now don’t get confused but Curetes Street was also made of marble.
We haven’t had a whole lot of luck with cats on this trip, they tend to board the Pipedream and spray, but Dad really liked the coloring on this guy. He even asked if he wanted to go sailing, but the cat ran away when Dad tried to pet it.
The terrace houses are located inside of this structure. It was an additional 15TL to see them so we passed, having seen houses before and admired the structure built up around them. This is where the wealthy of the city resided and each home has mosaic floors and frescoed walls. There was also a central heating system and fountains.
The town is behind us, but I liked the photo anyway. Ephesus was first established in 6000 BC. During its golden age during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods, Ephesus had a population of 200,000 people as the capital city of the state of Asia and as the largest city of port.
This is the public latrine. No privacy, but there was a pool in the center of the building to wash off and keep things clean. It was interesting because you could look down under the “toilet” and it was just a big hole that I’m sure ran one way or another.
This is a different view of the latrine. I didn’t quite feel comfortable sitting on it even though it’s been thousands of years; plus it was wet from the rain.
These clay pipes ran under the major roads and served as a plumbing system. Shit falls downhill… quite literally in this case. There were two rings that Dad figured were set so the outer layer could be replaced if it was worn down.
This is the Temple of Domitian. It was a vast sanctuary with a colossal statue of the emperor for whom it was named. We found a place to sit and get out of the rain for awhile and this was our view.
This is the Prytaneion or town hall. The audio guide didn’t provide much here either when they stated “We don’t know much about the Prytaneion but because it was a square we think it was the town hall”. I thought it looked pretty with the poppies right after a good rain.
This is the Nymphaion Traini. It’s a fountain that was dedicated to the Emperor Trajan. The center used to house a statue of Trajan standing on a Globe where the water would pour out into the main pool. There was a second smaller pool in the front where water would pour. It looked like it was a pretty cool fountain.
On the way out we saw this sign. After a day of beautiful site seeing… we can purchase a “genuine fake watch”. Perfect.
We walked back to the main road to catch the bus and passed the stadium which isn’t accessible to the public from the main site. There was a plaque that stated it was 712ft long and could seat 70,000 spectators. Only the front two entrance ways had really been excavated. I get the feeling if I ever go back or if my children visit Ephesus that will be the next big excavation project.
It was well past lunch time when we returned to Kusadasi and there had been Chinese food advertised across from the marina. We walked the 2.5 miles back and found out it was a “mixed” restaurant where you could get over priced Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Turkish etc. We decided on leftover pasta and called it a day.
We stayed an extra day in Kusadasi to catch up on things like my blog, sleep, and to do little projects around the boat. It ended up raining the entire day so the choice to stay at the marina was a good one.
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