Ephesus....the capital of Rome's Asian provinces

My alarm went off at 6:00 am this morning…..the sky was still dark, but I had to get up and ready myself for the daytrip to Ephesus. On my way to the new mosque, I walked along the familiar path bordering the seafront to the left and the beachfront restaurants, cafes and clubs on the right.  I couldn’t quite determine in some cases whether the handful of people I saw and heard in the predawn light were just starting the day, or finally ending the previous one…..

At the mosque, I stood waiting for the shuttle bus that would take me to the main tour bus.  A moment later, another individual arrived who also appeared to be waiting.  He introduced himself as Faust, an Italian from Sicily with long dark hair, beard, dressed all in black, and bearing a large tattoo on one forearm.  Faust, I soon learned, lives in Amsterdam and works for booking.com handling customer complaints!  I told him that I had booked my hotel here through booking.com, but so far have no complaints…

Our shuttle arrived, and we rendezvoused with the tour bus in Torba, picking up various other passengers from their hotels along the route.  Our tour guide, Ahmet, was cheerful and joking with us in order to jolt us awake.   Enroute to Ephesus, we made two stops – one to eat a Turkish breakfast beside a lake, and the second, a typical Turkish tourist trap trick, to shop at a large jewelry showroom.  There we were “held captive” for 45 minutes, looking at beautiful but expensive gold jewelry and precious gems.

The lake formed over a period of centuries during which continuous deposits of silt in the Menderes River basin gradually filled in, creating an extremely fertile alluvial plain and this large inland lake which is a mixture of sea water and fresh water.  The local people live from fishing these waters, and growing a variety of crops in the rich soil.  Now in September, we saw fields filled with cotton ready to be picked.(This reminded me of the cotton fields of Georgia that I  first saw on a roadtrip to visit my aunt and uncle in Florida when I was 11 years old.  I recall my shock at seeing African Americans living in shacks  as though the civil war had ended yesterday…) Our guide told us that the same fields were used in a successful crop rotation plan that produced cotton in summer, sunflowers in the autumn and rice in the winter months when the fields are flooded. 

We saw many olive groves, as Turkey is a big producer of olive oil. The Anatolia region produces black, green and red olives. I wondered why we rarely see Turkish olive oil for sale in Western Europe, or in the U.S.market where all olive oil is almost exclusively from Italy.  Faust mused that  not much wine is produced in Turkey despite conducive climatic conditions, but we concluded together that this is perhaps due to the fact that Turkey is a Muslim country, secular or not!

Upon arrival at Ephesus, we quickly surmised that off-season or not, this is a big attraction, second only to Cappadoccia. Our guide explained that many buses bring groups from cruise ships that dock all along the Aegean coast.  Nevertheless, Ephesus, or Efes as the Turks call it, did not disappoint.  This was an ancient Greek colony founded near a prehistoric site that has been dated back to 5,000 B.C. The Myceneans and Hittites also settled here. The Greek settlement fell under Roman rule in 133 B.C. and reached its height under the reign of Emperor Augustus.  Ephesus became the capital of the Asian province of the Roman Empire, and was at its peak a city of 250,000, as much as half of this population consisting of slaves. Recent excavations have focused on the so-called “slope houses” located across from Hadrian’s Temple.  Archeologists have uncovered two city blocks of these luxurious dwellings which were two-storied with frescoed walls and mosaic floors.  They were heated by hot air circulated in the walls in winter, and had both hot and cold running water.  The basic plan was peristyle, meaning that each house had an inner courtyard or atrium that provided light and access to air since there were no outside windows.  It is believed that there are approximately 2,000 such houses still under the ground. 

We walked along the three main streets (Kurets, Marble and Harbor Streets ) of this city which is being slowly uncovered by a team of Austrian archeologists. They  have been working since the early 20^th century, but have still only brought approximately 30% of the total  city to light.  Most amazing is the fact that this city, the largest in the ancient world, was established as a port.  The aforementioned silting in of the river basin caused this city to become landlocked as the coast moved further and further away over the centuries. 

At Ephesus we could see the huge amphitheatre, and the impressive Celsus Library from the first quarter of the 2^nd century A.D.  Even in its ruined state, it is a majestic structure that symbolizes Ephesus with its classical beauty and proportions.  We also saw a frieze depicting Nike, or winged Victory as the Romans called her, Our guide claimed that the rope we saw in front of Nike was placed there to prevent visitors from touching the right breast of Nike which is said to bring victory to those who do so!  He said that over many years, her right breast had grown smaller than the left so it is now off-limits.

After the tour, we were driven to the nearby town of Selçuk which has an impressive fortress high on a hill overlooking the city of 32,000.  We had a buffet lunch there included in the tour, and I indulged in a glass of pure, freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. (see photo)