After a relaxing afternoon and evening the day before I was not in a rush to get going too far too soon in Kusadasi. I spent most of the morning tinkering with the bike, sorting some contents and checking the camping gear. At around noon I decided it was time to get moving and see the major attraction, Ephesus (or Efes, or Ephesos).
I took the short walk into the town centre, grabbed some fast food (doner kebab) and found the Dolmus (public mini-bus) that would drop me off near the bottom of the Ephesus ruins. It was a simple and easy way to get to the ruins, although rather hot. I was dropped off at the bottom and needed to walk uphill to the 'end' of the ruins. One of the taxi drivers had a great offer for me that included going to the House of the Virgin Mary, before dropping me off at the 'start' of the Ephesus ruins.
I elected to walk uphill and return back again to catch the Dolmus heading back to Kusadasi later.
The Ephesus ruins are extensive and many seem well out of the way of the beaten pathways and I started seeing some before paying the entry fee.
Ephesus ruins on the way to the entry.
After arriving at the bottom gates, that most people use to exit the ruins after being dropped off at the top, I noticed the buses lined up (again). Ephesus, a great example of a Greek - Roman city, is clearly popular and easily accessed by many, many people. The port in Kusadasi helps bring influxes of visitors when cruise ships arrive. The buses were a clear indication of the number of visitors inside.
Some areas of the site are not as popular as others…
I took in another show at the theatre.
Even the local lizards were checking things out.
As is the case in all except a few of the ruins so many elements have been reconstructed or resurrected to give a much better impression of the original structures and their layouts and relationships to each other. Concrete blocks are also made, shaped, coloured and used to help put some structures in an upright position. This work clearly helps give a much better impression of the past.
One row of columns that were previously part of a colonnade.
Ephesus is rather interesting because buildings and streets are arranged to lead down to, and meet, the water's edge which is now quite a distance away. The original basin is mostly filled in and used as farmland with only a small depression holding water and a small channel leading to the sea. Several earthquakes obviously took their toll.
The Library of Celsus is a major attraction within Ephesus.
As is the Gate of Augustus that adjoins the Library.
The latrine illustrated below gives an impression of the extent to which 'restoration' is undertaken throughout the site(s). There were only two marble seats remaining with the rest being a 'reconstituted' stone to make it obvious what the role of the building was.
It should be obvious what this was used for….
Since I was heading uphill and against the flow of traffic I had a great opportunity to witness the tour groups coming down. As the following photo illustrates, many people stopped, while many people took their photo, then took turns to do the same…….sometimes you need to be patient I suppose.
It seems everyone in the group needed a photo here.
Dressed to impress……or stand-out from the crowd. I might need a new outfit soon…
Since there is only a Dolmus drop-off and pick-up running at the bottom of the Ephesus location, after I reached the top I had the chance to do it all again on the way back down. I was able to see a few of the locations I had missed on the way up and I also got to go with the flow.
Back at the bottom I exited and headed to the Dolmus location…….who knew when it would arrive since it was a simple park bench next to the highway. A man seemed to appear from nowhere and reassure myself and a couple of others that it would be arriving inside 10mins…..and it did.
Back in Kusadasi, after a hot walk around some ruins, I was ready to relax back at ANZAC Golden Bed Pension.
For dinner I met up with an Irish couple on the roof-top terrace at ANZAC before we all headed out to an Irish Bar to watch Liverpool lose a football match. Not the most exciting evening ever….
2nd May
Since I didn't need to go anywhere I had decided I would update this website and fix a couple of minor things with the bike.
After putting in a couple of hours on this website I tried to upload…..something went wrong and it crashed. I tried again…..no luck. Anyway I decided it was time to try one last time and get onto the bike. The website was taking forever to upload so the work on the bike progressed well.
In the afternoon I headed out for a stroll (no photos) around Kusadasi. I stopped for fish and chips, relaxed with a beer and was ready to check on progress. I headed back to ANZAC and it hadn't gone well. I saved what I had, uploaded a few 'place holders' and gave up on to for the time being.
Dinner was a BBQ with Sandra, about 5 of her friends and other guests who had arrived that day. The BBQ was very enjoyable up on the roof overlooking Kusadasi with the entire group getting on really well.
It was my last night in Kusadasi and I had really enjoyed the place and the people.