First of two stops in Turkey. The city of Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey. The main site here is the ancient city of Ephesus about an hour outside the city.

As usual I picked the longest shore excursion so ours included a stop at the House of the Virgin Mary which is just a few minutes outside of Ephesus and our first stop. This is the site discovered in the 19th century and reputed to be the place where Mary the mother of Jesus was reputed to have lived the last years of her life along with John the Apostle. The site where her house was is now a small chapel. The site itself is up on a hill among a lush forest and was very serene. The house is long gone and the building there now was rebuilt on top of the original foundation. Nearby is a spot for candles, some spouts to get holy water from the nearby spring as well as a wishing wall. You're supposed to rip off a piece of cloth and write a wish on it and tie it to the wall. If your wish comes true you're supposed to return and remove the cloth. From the looks of it not too many wishes come true.

After that we drive down the hill to Ephasus. Just at the gate you can tell it's going to be an impressive site. After seeing the Parthenon the day before we weren't expecting to be overwhelmed but we were. Just coming in is what looks like an amphithetre but is really just an Odeon, the site where government was conducted. This first section was the official government section and includes other government buildings, a cistern that collects water and distributes it downhill to the houses below providing running water to the residents. There were excavated water pipes in surprisingly good condition after over 2000 years.

We didn't spend nearly enough time in this area as I would have liked to explore more. We then proceeded through the Herculean Gate which separates the government area from the public area. We were told the gate was there to prevent chariots from entering the government area where they are fobidden. The road down the hill was lined with arcades where each was a small shop selling various goods.

Next was an area where some nice homes were located. We didn't have time to visit the best restored area of the homes which is now enclosed in a glass structure to protect it from the elements. You were able to see very well preserved mosaic tiles in front of the houses.

The most impressive structure was the Library at the bottom of the hill. The interesting historical detail about the library is it was for men only. Coincidentally there was a brothel across the street and a tunnel was found connecting the two. Interesting.

And finally we went through another gate and down the path was the amphiteatre, which can hold something like 15,000 people. It was huge and the details were amazing. There was a backstage area that had an underground portion and a tunnel connecting it to a back door entrance. It was being restored but it too was in remakably good condition. From there we watched a little show about a Roman procession with a cast of about 20. The kids loved it.

At the exit is the obligatory gift shop as well as vendor stalls selling the usual stuff you see in any bazar. In all it was a great visit.

On the way back we stopped at a "leather shop". After an amusing fashion show we looked at the leather goods. Very nice but also very pricy. I guess if I was in the market for a leather jacket I could have found it interesting.

The Ephesus Official Website has a ton of great information about the site and details of each structure..


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