Ephesus, Turkey

If you do a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean and Ephesus is a stop, do it. There are many options to choose from. At the very least, tour the ruins but if your budget allows you to include the Terrace Houses, be sure to do that. For those of you reading in Columbus, the Terrace Houses is the New Albany of Ephesus. Today the temperature was in the mid-80s and sunny. So we went from rainy to freezing on Mt. Etna to baking in Ephesus. I might have to take a week off from work because of a cold! (Just kidding, guys)

I took 97 pictures. You don’t get them all. However, after the cruise I will post every picture from both weeks on flickr.com. I will post the address on the last day.

I love ruins, probably way more than Di. I love walking where the Apostles John and Paul, the Virgin Mary, Antony and Cleopatra walked. This was a neat stop.

Only 10% of Ephesus has been excavated. It once held 250,000 people. They found a brothel so I’m thinking there was more than one brothel. I love history.

Oh, almost forgot. They changed our itinerary. They didn’t cancel Athens, Greece like I thought. They swapped it with Crete. So Thursday is Crete and Friday is Athens. We are now 7 hours ahead of you.

Pictures begin now:

 

The entrance to Ephesus. You start at the top and walk downhill. In the background is a small amphitheater. A much bigger one is at the end of the tour.

 

Cats were everywhere. Very friendly.

 

The small amphitheater.

 

Original marble road.

 

Artwork.

 

Looking down the main street towards the two-story library. There were five cruise ships in port that we knew of, including the Queen Elizabeth.

 

They put holes in the marble so the chariots would not slip when it was wet.

 

Typical marble artwork.

 

Tile floor.

 

A temple. In the background, top center, is a carving of Medusa.

 

In one of the terrace houses, you see a horizontal pipe on the left and a vertical one to the right. They had running water, drainage, and central heating systems.

 

One of the largest terrace houses. This is just a couple of rooms.

 

A room in a terrace house.

 

The library. It held 2000 scrolls at one time.

 

Inside the large amphitheater.

 

The amphitheater. It was massive.

 

Antony and Cleopatra, or so it was alleged. I expected her to look older.

 

We take this picture on every cruise. The Navigator is on the right.