After (yet another) Turkish breakfast, we piled back in our cramped little minibus and headed to the big ancient history attraction in Turkey – Ephesus. Given that my main interest in history lies in 20th century political, pop cultural and design history, the only thing that came to mind about Ephesus before this trip was the biblical references (Paul’s letter to the Ephesians) buried deep in the synapses of my brain from my catholic school background.
We arrived at Selcuk in front of what was to be our hotel here – The Canberra Hotel (named after the capital of Australia and my home town). We went upstairs and started unpacking our bags only to get a call from the front desk – apparently we were at the wrong hotel. Another gap group was due to stay here and apparently the paperwork got mixed up somehow. We repacked and moved to the right hotel.
TC and I decided to go exploring once we had unpacked. Armed with our map we headed toward the marked tourist bureau, which was unhelpfully closed for a couple of hours for lunch. We got our bearings and wandered to what was an open field in the middle of the town with a column that rose out of it into the sky – believed to be a column from the ancient temple of Artemis. We continued on along the road to a café where we stopped for a drink before venturing on up the hill to the ruins of the St John Basilica, built in the 6th century on the site where John the apostle is believed to be buried. The ruin, while not as spectacular as some we had seen was well worth a visit. The fact that it remains intact and receives so many visits each year is a hallmark of the contradictions of Turkey and its place as the gateway between east and west – a secular country, where more than 90 per cent of the population identify as Muslim hosts hundreds of thousands of orthodox Christians from the Eastern European nations to its north and struggles to cope under the burden of Muslim refugees from the south. And because of its turbulent history, more than most nations in this part of the world monuments to different faiths and societies built centuries apart sit happily within a few kilometers of each other and ensure a steady stream of tourists.
From the basilica, we wandered through town to find what was left of the Roman aqueduct and went in search of lunch – pizza it was – mine was Hawaiian but for some unfathomable reason it came without pineapple! A Hawaiian pizza without pineapple is a ham pizza. The thing only has two toppings to begin with (unless you are American and for some unknown reason think you can eat pizza without cheese.
After lunch we wandered through town – I was looking for shoes – a requirement to meet the dress code for our high tea in Dubai at the end of our trip. As the Turkish are renowned for their leather goods, I was sure I would have no problem but so far nothing that took my fancy. However, I did find a pair for TC – also required for the High tea. Once we’d done a bit of a loop around, we really ran out of shops to visit – just in time too because it was time to jump back in the bus and head to Ephesus. (Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan – one of his most famous tunes and there’s no doubt about the reason why. Even those who complain about his nasal delivery will listen. As they should. I discovered Dylan by accident and the first of his tunes I ever heard – God on our side – made me think just like every other song he has ever penned.)
If you only ever see one ancient roman ruin, make it Ephesus. Sure the Coliseum in Rome is huge and kind of exciting when you think of what actually happened there but Ephesus is exquisite, fabulously preserved and a much better picture of daily roman life. From the time you venture in the gates, there are things to see, including roman latrines. The biggest problem is the crowds. There are so many people here, it can be hard to move around and get close enough to see everything you want to see. It is worth persevering.
I have written earlier in my ramblings about this trip that in Turkey, there is often an extra charge to see a special part of a ruin or museum. Such was the case at Ephesus and like everywhere else in Turkey the extra outlay is well worth it. Not once was I disappointed after handing over extra TL. Especially here where the extra charge is to get you in to see some wonderfully well preserved Roman terrace houses that were discovered in the last decade or so beneath the volcanic earth. With a protective room so they are prevented from decay, the artifacts are being painstakingly restored. Inside there is a labyrinth of walkways and glass viewing platforms so you can see the terrace houses without causing the same kind of damage that has ravaged other ruins over the years. As you walk through there are many stunning pieces but the most exquisite was the mosaic tiled floor, beautifully bright and preserved under tonnes of earth. These weren’t castles or palaces. Sure they were obviously prominent members of Roman society but it showed how people outside of emperors and princes lived thousands of years ago.
From the terraces we continued down the Roman road that guided you through the ruins to one of Turkey’s most photographed ancient ruins – the reconstructed Library façade. When we got there, staff were setting up for some kind of function in front of the library. It was a bit unfortunate because it made it hard to drink in the ambience. Not that you probably could have anyway – there were so many people around. After taking in the awe of it – next to the terraces, it looked so grand it could have been a temple. From there we went to the ridiculously large amphitheatre – unfortunately quite a large part of it was closed but there was still enough opportunity to discover the grand scale of it. We ran into our guide Mutlu as we exited the amphitheatre and wandered off further down the road. It just started to rain as we wandered past the obligatory gift shops and kiosk to wait for the bus.
That evening we all decided to meet in town at a café style restaurant – we ate in the outdoor seating area on the mall and enjoyed a good roundup of mezze plates including cheese rolls and, for the first time in turkey, zucchini fritters. TC, who by now was looking a little bit mountain man, had been threatening for days to have a straight razor shave. There was a still open barber (no one in Turkey closes if they think they can make a buck) right across from where we were sitting. So he did it. Complete with burning off of the ear and nose hair. They didn’t even nick him and I’m pretty sure it was the cleanest, closest shave he has ever had. It cost only a few TL but TC gave them about five times what they asked for as a tip.
After dinner, I wandered down the road where I found the coolest hand painted pair of boots, something I had always wanted after I attempt[ted to hand paint my own boots with limited success. These were a pretty basic construction so would have needed some insoles to wear but alas they didn’t have them in my size.
