The day started with a leisurely breakfast on the terrace of the hotel with the St. John Basilica framed in the background.
After breakfast, we were dropped off by the hotel shuttle to the site of Ephesus. There are tomes on the history and culture of Ephesus, so I will not go into any of it here, rather provide some tips and general information of use.
Ephesus has two gates, the upper and the lower, and for obvious reasons, it makes sense to get dropped off at the upper entrance and make your way to the site walking downhill rather than the other way around.The site opens at 8 am, and it makes sense to get there as early as possible, both from the point of view of crowds as well as the heat.
Take plenty of water, if possible buy it outside the site as inside the site, the price goes up exponentially ! The only toilet facilities are at both entrances, with the western style ones only at the lower entrance.
It is truly a well preserved site, and a must see.
As we walked into the site, we came upon the theatre with its decorative pylons and vip seats.
We made our way down the hill seeing the first half of the site.
This is a sculpture of Nike, the goddess of speed.
By 10 am the site is run over by tourists, but it is not frenzied or mobbed, rather, everyone moves along at a sedate pace in the heat, enjoying the wonderful spectacle that is Ephesus.
About half way into the site are the terraced houses. Admission is charged separately and is quite expensive, about 20 YTL per person, but it is totally worth it. Inside are the excavations of 3 actual houses from that time, and its a great way to actually get a feeling of how people lived here. There is some climbing up and down along elevated glass walkways, watch your step as it can be quite slippery due to the dust on the glass. There are fascinating rooms with paintings, mosaics, storage areas, entertaining halls, etc.
As you exit the terraced houses, you catch the first glimpse of the iconic Library facade.
But its time for a pit stop - at the communal toilets ! Citizens would go about their business chatting to each other, while a flute or violin player stood atop a pedestal and entertained them. Running water under the pits ensured a most hygenic process !
Expect the Library to be the cynosure of all eyes, it truly is a grand facade.
Inside though are many quiet corners for appropriate ponderance.
The arch at the lower end of the city is soon upon you, and from here its a 10 minute walk to the lower entrance.
Enroute, one comes across a band of actors enacting a typical scene from Roman times involving an emperor, senators, gladiators and the like. All good fun.
At the lower entrance there are many shops doing the tourist thing, but given the turnover, standard is pretty good. There are also a couple of eating places, and we decided to abort our original plan of a gozleme lunch outside the Grotto of Seven Sleepers. Choices were limited and mainstream, which meant kebabs for Gordon and french fries for me, but a welcome respite from the heat.
The hotel has an arrangement with one of the shops. You show up there and he will call the hotel to come pick you up, which is what we did. We stopped off at the Grotto of seven sleepers enroute, but the climb to the actual grotto was not appealing after a long morning trudging in the heat. So we hot footed it back to town and headed straight for the Ephesus Museum.
Its best to visit the museum after visiting the site as it gives a better perspective that way. Some of the halls had giant coolers and more than one tourist, us included, tried to surreptiously cool ourselves off by religiously studying the displays near them !
No such deception required for the statue of Priapos below, with the exaggerated phallus symbolising fertility.
Along with artefacts there are also interesting tableaux depicting regular life.
