We decided to visit the tourist destination of Ephesus which at one point was the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire. Now when you purchase your entry ticket there is NO map of the grounds and being the adventurous spirits that we are, Amanda and I decided to go away from the crowds. Perhaps that should have been our first clue as to what lay ahead. Instead of staying with the masses, we decided to explore the ruins which followed a different path. We were roasting in the sun without another soul in site when it seemed that our once wide path had at some point become a skinny trail and weaved in and out of the ruins (if you´ve ever been to a historical site you would know that this is not the norm) which eventually became flattened grass as we blazed our own trail. We finally stumbled upon a marble road and noticed hundreds (literally) of people on the horizon in front of us. We began to walk down the road, wondering why noone else was with us. As we got closer we could see that the road was blocked off with a chain and a sign. It also seemed that the mass of people were now slowing their pace and staring at us. We even got a pointed finger or two...oh crap. We decided we were somehow in the wrong and quickly backtracked our way off the nice, ancient marble road and found another dirt path while hiding behind some marble pillars. We hoped that our new path would reunite us with the crowd. It was when we happened upon the tractor and yardcrew that we knew 100% that we were no longer in the ´touristy´ area. Without making eye contact we quickly continued on route and we got a great tour of the behind the scenes look at Ephesus including the areas where they store the extra ruin bits and do the restoration. Finally we saw that our dirt path approached the huge masses of people and, of course, there was a beautiful white chain fence which segregates the ´main road´ from ours. Deciding that there was no way to subtly blend in we quickly approached the road, ignored all the stares, jumped the chain fence, and continued onward.
As we continued, we quickly realized that we were going against the masses of now thousands! I felt like a salmon swimming upstream. Apparently the ruins are amongst a hill and most people are dropped off at the top and comfortably make their way down the hillside. Not us! Our guidebook never mentioned this so we entered at the bottom entrance and had to walk up the steephill without looking at anything (so we could enjoy it leisurely on the way down). Once we were at the top we noticed that most everyone had the portable audiotours (where they got them I have no idea). The only people who didn´t have them were the groups with a cruise ship and on their day excursion. Being the sensible and cheap backpackers that we are, we decided to ´hitch´onto one of their tours. Actually we just happened to be studying the same ruins as they were and we just happened to overhear their tour while we happened to be walking the same pace. It´s amazing how things just seem to work out that way, I guess it´s the only perk of visiting a site with thousands of people and hundreds of tours, who´s to notice one or two more small bodies?
All in all we enjoyed our ´tour´ both self-guided and with our trusty cruise leader! Who needs a map? Just follow your feet!
