Selcuk Bus Tour: Ephesus Part 2

After Mary's House we got back onto the bus and went to Ephesus. During July and August, Ephesus can get 40,000 tourists. (There's a port city not far away, Kusadasi, that has a cruise ship dock.) On the day, we were there the guide said there might be as many as 6000 people. There is a lot of Ephesus still buried and excavations continue. At it's peak, Ephesus was home to about 60,000 people, covered about 8 sq km and was one of the three largest cities in Asia Minor.

Ephesus is renowned because it is the best preserved ancient city. However, much of it still requires some imagination!

or a guide!

If you see water pipes, you're in a Roman city.

There was work underway to protect some of the marble streets with recycled wooden sidewalks.

Sam and Johanna

Nicole and the fabulous hat Cam bought her at Sirince the day before.

Melted lead helped to lock columns in place.

Ancient game board.

The small theatre.

Amazing sculptures somewhat worse for time and earthquakes. Many of Ephesus artifacts have been moved to museums in other countries. The local museum is currently undergoing renovations. I am sorry we missed it.

The Library of Celsus. An amazing site.

Public washrooms used by men. The women "went" at home. It wasn't unusual to employ a servant as a seat warmer. Marble can be chilly.

The Agora - or market place.  The apostle Paul would have had a shop here making and selling tents according to our guide.

From the Agora you can see (almost) Ephesus' hill top prison situated inside the city walls.

Some reinforcement required.

The main road from the harbour to the city.  The river has silted the harbour up so the water is now farther away than in ancient times.

The large theatre where public meetings were held and which figures in the riots and unrest detailed Acts 19.

The enormous size of the theatre, with seating for 1000 is more apparent when you get farther away from it.

Every ten minutes there's a little Roman dramatics for the tourists.

 

Ephesus was really overwhelming.  I was grateful we weren't 5 among 40,000!