Europe Trip Day 9: Ephesus

We pulled into the booming port city of Kusadasi, Turkey early this morning.
Still half asleep, we stumbled onto a bus for a full day tour of the ancient
city of Ephesus. Ephesus itself did not disappoint: it was pretty amazing.
The city was originally built by the Greeks in the 4th Century BC, with the
Romans a few centuries later. When the city’s natural harbor dried up in the
7th Century AD, Ephesus went with it. Despite being just 1/8th excavated, you
can still get a feel for what it must’ve been like when this town had 250,000
residents.

After walking around Ephesus in the blistering heat we headed to the museum,
which had numerous items found in the excavation of the city. Following that
we went to what’s left of the Basilica of St. John, which must’ve been quite
impressive when it was still standing.

We then had a pretty elaborate Turkish lunch at a train museum, with the obligatory
stop at a carpet store after that.

Not only was this my first trip to Turkey, but it was also the first time
that I’ve experienced the kind of shopping that is common in this part of the
world. The store owners are very determined to get you into their store, to
the point of hassling each and every person that goes by. My dad and I made
the mistake of going into a store selling "genuine fake watches" (I’m not joking)
and it was hard to get out of there. I can’t say that I enjoyed the Turkish
shopping experience.

More pics after the link!

Here we are in Ephesus

This is the old theater

Looks like dominoes

Symbol look familiar? Like what you’ll find on your doctor’s outfit? This was
outside what was once the hospital in Ephesus.

Looking down the Street of the Vestile Virgin

The sidewalks had beautiful mosaics on them. The main part of the street was
reserved for chariots and the like.

Ancient toilets. I kid you not! Ephesus had running water and a sewer system
– 2000 years ago!

Looking back up the street

This is the old library

Close up

This is the other theater in Ephesus. This one held like 35,000 people.

A more distant view of the theater, with the street to the harbor in the foreground

One of many cats in Ephesus. They were all pretty scrawny.

Now we’re onto the Ephesus museum.

This is a statue of Artemis, the goddess of fertility

There are lots of storks in this area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.

And now the Basilica of St. John

And here’s what is left of the basilica. John the Baptist himself is buried
under the marble thing at the center of the photo. Pretty neat.

A Turkish castle nearby

Right in the middle of the photo you can see a single column. This is all that’s
left of the Temple of Artemis (Diana), which was one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world.

|At lunch we watched some traditional Turkish dancing

They even have Starbucks in Kusadasi! This is actually the first one I’ve seen
on the whole trip.

The sun decends into the sea on our way out of Kusadasi.