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To my delight, I flew from Istanbul to Izmir on Pegasus airlines. How could I ever have expected to fly on Pegasus, even though it was a plane, not a winged horse? In any event, it arrived in Izmir, and there was a bus from there to Selçuk, and I walked from the bus stop to Hotel Bella. Which turned out to be just what I wanted, small and friendly and its proprietor willing to tote me to Ephesus in the morning. Good breakfasts up on the rooftop terrace, overlooking the stork nests and the ancient aqueduct, just downhill from the Basilica of St. John.
Selçuk
Selçuk
The next day I was delighted to witness young men going around the neighborhood banging a drum, singing loudly, and requesting money and sugar from a neighbor, in celebration of the "sugar day" of Eid el Fatir. Papa supplied the coins and son came out with the sugar bowl (sugar seems to be mostly wrapped lumps here).
Muslims have the holy month of Ramadan that coincides with some moonrise I don’t remember and I can’t look it up right now;go to Wikipedia. But Eid is the three days at the end of Ramadan. During Ramadan observant Muslims do not eat, or drink or even chew gum between sunrise and sunset. At the end of the month then comes Eid. The fast is broken and at least in Turkey people go out with drums begging at doors for sugar and/or money. Their trick or treat. Three day holiday. Museums, including Ephesus and all the government offices are closed. Because I so much wanted to see Ephesus, I moved my trip to Selcuk one day early so I could spend all day there if I wished before the holiday started.Today and for two more days you will hear the drums sporadically.
Ephesus
Ephesus
The hotel host dropped me and a couple of others at the entrance to Ephesus, maybe five miles outside the town of Selçuk, and I walked in past the proud sign for Real Fake Watches!! at the top end of the site. I had my hat and my stick and was relieved to see that it was all relatively flat terrain so I was ready to tackle it. Very happy to walk alone, guidebook in hand but not really needed because there is good signage. And early enough in the morning that the crowds -- and the heat -- weren't excessive.
All in all Ephesus lived up to my expectations. It is well restored, and there was a lot to restore! I have read of it all my life, and wanted to be there! The crowds were not impossible, and mainly Japanese or German tour groups. There seem to be relatively few independent travelers. The weather was warm but there was a good breeze. The explanations were clear and frequent. I met new people, as usual, and as usual enjoy my solitude.
Archaeological excavations have been going on for about 20 years excavating the houses that are on this hill side above the main streets of Ephesus. The houses are magnificent. many murals are still visible mostly from about the same time as the houses in Pompeii or in Ostia Antica, First or second century A.D. There was no one else in the building, the workers are not there possibly because of the Eid. I managed to climb the steps all the way up to the top and all the way up other steps to the Odeon top and so on. I cooled off in its sheltering enclosure and then walked through the rest of the town.
The Ephesus Museum
The Ephesus Museum
After the day in Ephesus, I went to the Ephesus Museum, full of fascinating statues and artifacts from very far back, which had been found in the Ephesus site. But tomorrow I go early in the morning to the port of Kusadasi and take a ferry to Samos in Greece. No one here seems to be very observant. I see Muslims, women and hijabs in restaurants. I think Turkey is more liberal as a Muslim country than any of the others. But there are a fair number of women in hijabs, walking arm and arm with others dressed in western clothes. Everyone here has been extremely sweet and helpful to me.
Ephesus has been around since somewhere around 1400 BCE. Mycenaean times. A real crossroads of the ancient world. Most of the existing or excavated buildings are Roman, but the big theatre is Greek, as are various other fragments. I've read more about Ephesus and Selçuk since I got home and continue to be enthralled by it. Legend says that the Amazons founded it! Croesus was one of its beneficiaries. There were various destructive earthquakes over time, especially in early AD years. I gather Ephesus itself was never completely destroyed or buried in the way that Pompeii or Herculaneum was, but of course over time things tend to fall down! Very near the Bella, and the Basilica of St. John, is the site of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Artemis, or Diana, (or maybe Cybele) goes way WAY back as a goddess, and that's where the many-lobed goddesses were found (see the pictures from the Ephesus Museum). This site is within walking distance of a 14th c. mosque and of the Basilica of St. John which is directly across from the Bella. And very near the big Ephesus site is the reputed home of Mary, entrusted to John by Jesus before he died. I didn't go to that, and to my regret didn't go to the Artemis site either, didn't realize its significance. The Greeks were famous for enfolding anyone's deities into their own pantheon! Although the succession of occupiers of Ephesus, and the destroyers and the rebuilders, is dizzying, the significance is not in dispute. I think this is the one place I'd return to - and maybe go to other ancient sites around the region like Troy and Pergamon.
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