Ephesus
11 September
post by scott
So we were on the old overnight bus. It always seems like a good idea at the time. You know – save paying for a nights accommodation, sleep the whole night and wake up fresh in a new place ready to go. I feel like one day we will learn our lesson, but once again we were lured in by the overnight bus and once again we paid the price. Like all overnight buses, the air was thick with the sulphurous stench of forty flatulent humans and any attempt to snooze was thwarted by passengers filing past to get on and off at the all-too frequent rest stops. At one point (1.30am actually) they even stopped to clean the bus.. At first I thought it was just the windscreen (which would be reasonable), but then the squidgee appeared next to my head and they proceeded to do all the sides of the bus as well! Seriously?! What psychopathic, mouth-breathing dimwit could think this is a good time to wash the bus? My other favourite was when I finally drifted off to sleep and was woken by a Turkish woman poking me in the muffin top and tut-tutting, because as my unconscious torso slumped down the chair my shirt had ridden up an inch, exposing this apparently unbearably provocative piece of side fat.
Feeling refreshed and vibrant (ha!), we were dropped off on the side of the road in a little town called Selcuk (the closest town to Ephesus ruins) at 4.30am. Being dark still, the town was deserted but after a short walk we stumbled across the most amazing yet bizarre breakfast restaurant. Bearing in mind that we were the only people on the street (not even the garbage men were up yet), it was a little surprising to see this one restaurant open. They graciously welcomed us in and served us a delicious and dirt-cheap breakfast complete with multiple cups of tea. But then for some unbeknownst reason they started packing up and closed the place right on 6am, just when hungry people were waking up and starting to mill about on the street. They musn’t earn much money with that kind of business model, but it was pretty perfect for us!
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After the sun came up we were back down to the bus stop and got on the first dolmus to the Ephesus ruins. We were the first ones there – the gates hadn’t even opened yet – so we had enough time for Allana to fall in love with another dog and then we were the first ones through the turnstiles! I’ve never been much of a fan of being early, but in a place like this it was really worthwhile to have everything to ourselves for a few minutes and enjoy the quiet, because within an hour the whole site was overflowing with humanity. There was even time to get on stage at the old amphitheatre and for Allana to practice a few rock star moves in privacy!
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We came across one lady who had somehow also beaten the hordes and was running around manically trying to take as many photos as possible. She really loved the ceilings of these old buildings, like really loved them (see photo). At this point the package tourists had suddenly arrived en mass and appeared like a swarm of locusts on the horizon. We were like two startled (and sleep deprived) hares in the spotlight-- In one direction there was this hyped up woman on her back shooting rapid fire up at the engraved columns and in the other there were hundreds of package tourist bustling down in a great hoard from the upper entrance ready to spoil her (and our) photos. It was a very dramatic moment.
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city which later became a Roman city and was one of the largest in the world during the 1st century BC with 250,000 people. To cut a long story short, it was destroyed and rebuilt many different times by different rulers and was famous for the temple of Artemis which was apparently pretty good because it made the cut as one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. At one point it was burned down by a bloke named Herostratus who publically claimed responsibility in order to gain notoriety. Disgusted by this, the authorities executed him and banned the use of his name (under penalty of death) so that he wouldn’t achieve the fame he desired. Oh.. what’s that? His name again? – Herostratus. Famous.
There was the option to hire a guide in order to learn in depth historical perspectives and to ensure you don’t overlook any important artefacts. However after hearing the following conversation between tourist and guide we probably thought it wasn’t worth it.
Tourist: What’s this wall? Is that a retaining wall?
Guide: No. It’s not a retaining wall.
Tourist: Yes, it is. Look it’s holding the dirt back.
Guide: Oh.. yes it is.
Tourist: We have those back at home too. It’s a retaining wall.
Guide: Yes it’s a retaining wall.
Tourist: What’s this wall? Is that a retaining wall?
Guide: No. It’s not a retaining wall.
Tourist: Yes, it is. Look it’s holding the dirt back.
Guide: Oh.. yes it is.
Tourist: We have those back at home too. It’s a retaining wall.
Guide: Yes it’s a retaining wall.
cats of ephesus
There were loads of cats around the place and it seems like they just wander round posing for peoples photos with nice ruins in the background. Here are the best of 'cats and ruins'.
Onto another bus that afternoon and we were off to the land of cotton castles, as advertised in kebab shops around the world – Pamukkale!