Ephesus is very close to our hotel so we weren’t in a rush to get off after breakfast. It’s recommended that you plan about 3 hours there. We were advised to drive to the “lower” gate if we were driving ourselves. That would mean the overall visit was an uphill walk and that the return would be an easy downhill stroll. Obviously the first half of the trek is spent viewing, reading, going into, all the different parts of the city that are available to view. The length is about half a mile. Of course we got confused on where that was and ended up at the gate at the top!! If you try this on your own, go to the marked entrance that’s near the airport. That’s the lower gate.
We learned from a young couple staying at our hotel, who took a tour that only about 26% of Ephesus has been uncovered. Given the exposed portions will now degrade faster, the intention is to uncover more each generation or so and not have it fully unearthed for a very long time. There is also no certainty on how long the exposed areas will last. We had also heard that the population of Ephesus in its heyday was about 250,000 people. What weren’t counted were the slaves that tended everyone. A prosperous family would have 2 slaves for each family member. That’s a lot of people living at this location at that time!! It was the center of the Asian world for a long time, and was visited by Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
We did spend a little more than 3 hours on a beautiful day. It was sunny, breezy and warm in the sun. The site is enormous and awe inspiring.
We left Ephesus and drove to the coast, the port of Kusadasi for a late lunch. It was fun to see a building named East Marine!!! We have West Marine in the “west” (reminding myself we’re in Asia). The marina is enormous as are many of the yachts. It was nice to see the water too.
We had a bite to eat, watched the cruise ship back out of the slip, and out of the harbor and drove back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is looking to be another really nice day. We hope to drive south to Priene, Miletus and nearby Didyma. One more night here in Selcuk. Monday we move to Serenci which is only a few miles away where we’ve booked a “cabin” accommodation with a fireplace and kitchenette on the side of a mountain. The goal is to start to slow down over these upcoming last few days with our flight back to Istanbul on Thursday, for departure on Friday morning.
