When we first entered Ancient Ephesus, I was not impressed. I saw a lot of dirt, with some fallen columns and a few sculptures. There were some signs showing what was there many centuries ago, but I could have read that in a book. Did we really come here to see this? At this point, the highlight was a guy with a huge water hose watering down the dirt to keep it from getting too dusty. Was that what our entrance fee was for?
We started walking, and it seemed like the farther we walked, the bigger and better everything looked. Columns were now standing, and sculptures looked like something. The ground went from dirt to rock to some marble. I was hoping it would turn into a moving walkway eventually, but no such luck.
It wasn’t until we started walking down the hill that we saw why Ancient Ephesus is such a popular tourist attraction. The most amazing piece we saw was the Celsus Library. The restored facade was I would guess at least 50 feet high and 80 feet wide. The detail was impressive. The inside wasn’t that big though. It consisted of a single room measuring approximately 55 feet wide by 36 feet long. Too bad I didn’t have my library card with me. I could have checked out a scroll.
Next we saw the Great Theatre at Ephesus. Made of marble, it has three tiers of seating capable of holding over 20,000 spectators. Or 10,000 fat Americans. I’m not sure exactly what was performed there, but I’m sure there were some gladiatorial contests. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go in and to the top to see the view from there. I’m sure it would have been a great view.
After Ephesus we headed back to where we docked, at Izmir, Turkey. We didn’t stop in that city, and as far as I can tell, we didn’t miss much. Driving through the city, the most interesting thing we saw there was a big Ikea store. Enough said.