A Stunningly Beautiful Day for Ephesus!
I wondered why the hotels around Ephesus (Selçuk) that we have stayed at – the Niyla and the Ayosoluk, and now the Akanthus, all have breakfast starting at 8 or 8:30 – when Ephesus, the BIG attraction in the area opens at 8:30! However, wanting breakfast this morning, we headed down a few minutes after 8 to see what was on offer! (Oh! Absolutely incredible shower here! Plenty of H-O-T water, and really plush Turkish bathrobes to sink into afterwards! We’re in room 8, by the way, which is absolutely perfect!).
Lovely breakfast room, and a very good buffet. Plates of individual cheeses and tomatoes, along with choices of olives and other small bites, with breads and cakes and juices. Also, eggs were available, and I had mine scrambled – they were perfectly done, and delicious! Up to the room about 8:40 am and took down two bags of laundry to be done. I know, it seems like I just did laundry at Casamax (I did!) but my traveling buddy runs through a lot of clothes, and I definitely want to stay on top of things. We’re just about set for the remainder of the trip, although I’ll probably want to do just a bit more when we’re in Canakkale at the start of the week.
R has some time-critical work to do for Caltech, so I went on to Ephesus on my own. I went down about 9 and asked the lovely gal at the desk to call a taxi for me, and within 5 minutes, there was one literally at the door of the hotel! (Truly, though, I would hate backing down that street!!). In less than 10 minutes, I was whisked to the upper gate of Ephesus. There were already several tour buses there, but one thing I have noticed about tour groups, is that they do a great amount of “milling” – not sure why, but in this case, I was able to walk right in (I had purchased my ticket on-line), scan and I was good to go! And, as I had no one with whom to “mill” I could just walk right in and start down the long marble street that leads right into the heart of Ephesus!
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| Odeon at Ephesus |
I wanted to be sure to hit three things: The Celsius Library (which we had to ourselves last time we were here, because it was late afternoon with a rainstorm coming on…), the latrines for our friend Anna, whose husband enjoyed them very much (lol!) when they were here, and the footprint that marked the way to the City’s brothel! As I looked at it, everything else was gravy!
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| Carving of the Pharmacy symbol |
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| Carving of the Medical symbol |
Not having my “professional” photographer with me (i.e. Robert!) was difficult, but I had emptied out his backpack (which we had received from Bob LaCasce, with thanks, many years ago!) and was able to carry the map, my hat, water, the camera, all my “stuff”, etc. And, as I say, it was a beautiful day, so I took his jacket too, rather than mine!
Down the main marble street! 
Library of Celsius at the bottom!
Found the latrines first – and I do think they’re fascinating! I didn’t actually count all the “stations” but as you can see, they are all close together, and make a large square. As it turns out, the plumbing system at Ephesus had water continually running through the pipes underneath the latrine, moving things along and keeping things cleaned out! Amazing, those Romans!
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| Yep, that's the latrine! |
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| Imagine the conversations... |
From there, it was just a few steps to the most famous building in Ephesus, the Library. Again, I was most fortunate to get there before the organized tour groups, and with the exception of one Asian gentleman who asked me to take his picture – about 15 times – on his cell phone, we had the place to ourselves! Happy to oblige, although I’m not really an expert at cell phone pictures, but I did my best!
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| Stunning Library |
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| South Agora |
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| The "Foot" -- meaning, this way please! |
From the library, I knew the famous “footprint” wasn’t far, but wasn’t sure exactly where to find it! So, I Googled it, and while it was still a bit difficult to put the directions together, I was able to find it just walking further down the road to the left of the Library! Apparently, it’s a left foot – as that would be the foot one puts wrong … or at least it is according to Wikipedia!
From the footprint, I basically had the rest of the site to myself, which was really lovely! Arriving so early and moving along quickly, it was a very enjoyable visit! I did have to cope with people in the Odeon, but that’s one of the first sites one comes to when entering from the top gate, so there wasn’t too much I could do about that! I was amazed to hear, though, how many tours were being given in English, both to groups as well as to couples and smaller groups. I think most people know my view of tours, but honestly, anything that gets people out and traveling is a GREAT thing, in my opinion! Definitely several cruise tours as well, and I did hear the name Princess being bandied about!
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| Overview of the South Agora |
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| Love the carving! |
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| The Grand Theatre, under renovation |
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| Looking out the "back way" - the street leading to the port |
Oh! The one thing that wasn’t open, unfortunately, although we’ve visited several times before, was the GrandTheatre, which is undergoing major renovation. I’m just thankful that these sites are being so well taken care of and protected, although I do feel sorry for the folks who will never have the opportunity to return to see the work completed!
Walked down to the lower gate and stopped and had a Coke and a rest. Then, got a taxi back to the hotel, arriving about 11:30 am to find R hard at work!
Oh! Something I forgot! I had just finished photographing the famous “foot” when suddenly the camera stopped working! Not being the camera person in the family, I hadn’t the foggiest idea of what was wrong – but when looking through it, saw what I thought might be the battery light flashing on the screen … so! No battery! Thanks a lot, Robert! Grrrrr…fortunately, though, my cell phone also takes good pictures, so all those Ephesus pictures that come after the foot are from my phone! (But as I mentioned earlier, I am NOT a cell phone picture taker, so this is a whole new world for me…)
Decided that R had had enough time to work, and that it actually might be a good time to head out for lunch – which we haven’t had, I don’t think, since we’ve been in Turkey! Usually, we’re so full from breakfast, and oftentimes from snacks on the road, that we just have breakfast and dinner! (Oh, wait! We did have lunch once in Sanliurfa – I had the Big Big Burger!)
So, bundled R downstairs for the downhill walk to see what we could find! Stopped at Mehmet & Ali Baba’s Kebab House – and truly – WOW! One of the best meals we’ve had in Turkey, and all for the outrageous price of $15.08! Incredible! We sat outside and ate under a lovely tree – it was really balmy and warm! We had a complimentary appetizer to start – bread with spiced tomato spread as well as a yoghurt spread. Then, our mains: I had Tavuk shish – chicken kebabs, and R had an Adana Kebab – that is, spiced ground beef. Both came on plates with salad of tomato lettuce and cucumbers, and a stack of French fries, as well as a lovely rice pilaf! We also had fresh glasses of orange juice AND a large bottle of water! Everything was fabulous!! Somehow, we’re thinking that that was definitely our big meal of today! Yep! Really full at the moment, and we do have some snacks – chips, cookies and a bit of chocolate in our room so don’t think we’ll be needing anything further today!
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| Old stork nest on platform in town |
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| Beautiful doorway |
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| Our spicy starter! |
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| R's wonderful Adana kebab! |
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| My wonderful chicken kebab! |
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| Park in town center |
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| Enjoying the beautiful weather in the courtyard! |
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| A view over the tiled roof tops! |
On the way back, we stopped at an Eczane (pharmacy) so that I could see if they had any Arnica. Turns out that our dear friend, Anne, who has had a problem with leg cramps for years, told me about Arnica a couple of months ago. (I get leg cramps usually after flying, due to dehydration!) Well, based on her recommendation, I tried it, and surprisingly, it really works! First thing I’ve tried that really does!! Just rub it in, and it's like magic! So, I brought some with me on this trip. Turns out that R thinks he pulled a muscle in his leg and has been in pain the past few days – and he finally let me try the Arnica on his leg last night – and, as he said, woke up a new man this morning! He’s calling it Margie’s Magic Mush for some reason – but I figured that I don’t want to run out of it, if it’s helping him – and it is, better than the Tylenol at any rate! – So, stopped at the local Eczaneand asked if they had any – and – surprise! They do! So, now I think (hope!) we’re set for the trip!! Yay!
So, back to the hotel … so that R can get the rest of his work done. We did sit out by the pool for a bit first, though – it’s so nice out! Now he’s working when I’m not blogging, and I will get this posted so I can get to bed extra early tonight!
Much love,
m
xxx
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