1473: Efes or Ephesus
Sunday 15th March
Only a 5 minute drive to the parking. We could have cycled, but didn’t fancy leaving Jez unattended on the beach … we are still feeling our way with regards security in Turkey. And the garage is pretty jam packed, so it would have been a lot of unpacking to retrieve the bikes. At Ephesus we paid our car rate parking fee of £1.90. Conscious that I’m quoting the prices, but still in a delighted state about how cheap (inexpensive is a better word) most things are. Sultan the shuttle bus supervisor popped over with chat and a map. He sold us the idea of the ‘free’ bus (car, actually as insufficient tourists) to take us to the top of the ancient site. What we failed to comprehend was that a) there is nothing free about it … a £3.80 tip exchanged hands and b) the taxi took us on a selling detour to a carpet and jewellery shop! To be fair, the staff stopped the hard sell when we said we lived in a camping car and had no room nor money. Interesting to see modern and traditional designs. And the shop had very clean loos!!!
I had visited Ephesus about 3 years ago with ex Mark, Stuart – his then 17 year old brother, Gill and Bron. On our return, Mark was in trouble for ‘letting’ Stuart stay behind to learn how to become a croupier! To save money on our tour from Istanbul to the south coast and back up, we bussed and stayed in cheap hostels. As there were 5 of us, we were sought after and locals bartered themselves to get our bus and accommodation business. I do remember it was an amazingly cheap trip. I don’t remember much of the trip detail, but I did recognise the iconic gate at Ephesus.
No purchase made … I did ask how long they take to hand knot … at least 5 months. I did NOT ask how much … if you have to ask, you can’t afford it!!!
Sunny, so the hat made it out of the closet since last year. After more than 150 years of excavation, they reckon 80% of the city is still to be unearthed, but it was still a 3km walk from the upper to lower gate. It was significant for being the capitol of Roman Asia Minor, with over 250,000 core inhabitants … traders, sailors and pilgrims increased the population.
The Odean, used for municipal debates.
The Great Theatre AD41-117, under restoration. It is thought that St Paul preached here. Wonder if he had a full house of 25,000.
Curetes Way, the grandest street, once lined with shops and statues.
Marble Street and there was a long wide road out to what was the harbour … all giving the sense of sheer size of the place.
Lots of temples along the route.
Library of Celsus AD2 … the really impressive iconic image. It was designed to protect 12,000 scrolls from extremes of moisture and temperature.
Our combined ticket included the Terraced Houses. Sadly, the impact of it was sadly lost due to the orange dust over it. These tables ‘apparently’ had pieces of wall marble … some jigsaw.
A number of impressive wall paintings. The 7 Terraced Houses are all under a massive roof. These houses were extremely luxurious.
We were back at our beach parking overnight and whilst walking CO2, the mystery of flares going off on the beach was solved. I asked the organiser, who spoke some English. It was a wedding proposal. The friends gathered, the groom arrived at the appointed time and pops the question. We’d seen a few proposals from a distance, but not know what we were looking at. In this case, she said yes!
1474: Ephesus Museum
Monday 16th March
We really cannot tell if it that the season is too early or if people are not here due to the virus. The Museum was very quiet; just us and 2 other couples. It was also pretty small and we were through quite quickly … wonder if we’ve seen too much of similar artefacts. We’ve used all the components of our combined ticket.
Terracotta. AD1
After soup in Jez we drove a couple of hours to Pirene, another ancient site. We parked up in the car park, arriving at about 5.00 p.m. The toilet block was still open … I’d a bag full of laundry and having been told launderettes are few and far between … this was too good an opportunity. The twin tub was deployed. I sheltered from the wind, placing its waste pipe over the standy up loo and ran the power cable from Jez. I was getting well into it, when a member of staff came to lock the toilet block. Bugger .. caught! But he was a sweetie and walked me up to the ticket office and showed me a tap. Jez and twin tub were moved. A washing line was strung up in a gazebo, and given the wind, the first items through were dry by the time I finished. The wind didn’t abate and I can clearly state that who ever penned Rock a bye baby was an idiot. I hardly slept.
And finally … here’s link all about Turkey Toilet customs!
Clune Gap Years 