Kusadasi and Ephesus

After the drama at sea and the return to Kusadasi, I thought I'd better tell you something about these two places we have now moved on from.

Kusadasi is a large town that even so early in the season is tarnished by these on the right. Each morning we woke to two and sometimes three new monster cruise liners.

Restaurants are expensive, service is slimy/ friendly and the food... Well, late one evening we were lured by "Steak House", assured that the meat was Turkey's finest and the chef was a master...


Al's was ok, but baked leather was their first offering for me rather than a medium rare T-Bone, seared frozen their second attempt and an entirely different cut their third. When the bill arrived with a 'free' plate of toothpick spiked cheese blocks we thought they's charged for all three servings and instead of the cask house red we drank, I think they were shooting for Grange! They got $50 and a little Australian vernacular as we left.

At least there was a modicum of honesty and some efficient traffic management. Park in the wrong spot and your car is lifted and gone in less than a minute... No, it wasn't our car.

We did have some good experiences, one of them being Ephesus.... However, it's hot, there have been three new Super Cruise Ships in overnight, all 6000 passengers are here for that one reason.

Ephesus!

So we spent the day at the Marina pool, which just happened to open for the season on that day. A cool breeze moved in just after midday and Ephesus closes at 7:00pm. We drove over at 4:00ish which was about the time that everybody was leaving and had two an a half hours to imagine.

Built predominantly by the Romans around 2000 years ago, it was clear that the people of the day were highly sophisticated and the arts got way more air time than they do in our world.

The amphitheater above held 25,000 patrons on a good night. The road you see to the right heading off into the distance, ran down to what was then the sea port and the very reason for the city's existence. As the valley silted up, so the sea receded until the city lost its reason to be and became completely covered but the dust of time.

Much of this huge site has only recently been uncovered and there is clearly much more to be discovered.

The Library. A magnificent building that goes to my comment on the arts...

Recently unearthed, this series of apartments are now under a huge roof constructed courtesy of the Austrian government in order to protect so much, including these detailed and exquisitely preserved ceramics you see below.

Imagine discovering something like this one toothbrush stroke at a time!






























Two and a half hours was long enough to cover most of the site. A guided tour would have taken an age, but may have been more informative. Suffice to say, try and get to Ephesus in your travels, it is so worth the trip but I'd recommend very early or late in the season.