Ephesus

Our journey in Turkey began in Ephesus. Ephesus is mind boggling. Only 15-20% of Ephesus has been excavated. I was stunned as we toured the ancient ruins, there were so many. It is suppose to be the largest collection of Roman ruins in the Mediterranean. I loved it.



They say this is where Nike got its swoosh.


The Library of Celsius once held over 12,000 scrolls. I would definitely go there to read.


The public toilets, awkward, yet amazing.


The road where Cleopatra and Mark Anthony came into Ephesus.
They say the people poured wine on the road, the very first red carpet.



The Great Theater where Paul preached. Wow! The theater seats 24,000 and is said to be the largest theater in the ancient world.


Out of nowhere came the gladiators. Just watching the show made me cringe. I don't know how people watched the real events


Next stop the town of Didyma (which means twin, referring to Apollo and Artems.) These are the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. Medusa helped keep evil away.



The Temple of Apollo was amazing. I don't know if you can see how huge these columns are, but they were humongous. 166 columns were built. They were 60 feet tall and 6 feet wide. People made the pilgrimage to the temple to receive guidance from the oracle.


The last part of the tour was a light lunch of authentic Turkish cuisine. When I say authentic, I mean authentic. I am doing my best to smile, but really my insides are churning. How does one eat a fish that is staring at them? I could not, and so at the urging of my friend, I put the lettuce over his little head. Then I dug in, the best you can dig in, knowing that the fish's eyes are under a piece of lettuce.
However, besides the fish situation I found Turkey delightful, and so I bought two boxes of Turkish delight for the kids hoping to bring some of that delight home.