Previous Day (Pamukkale & Aphrodisias)
Destination: Greece & Turkey
Duration: 18 Days 17 Nights (Aug 06~Aug 23, 2012)
Day 6: Ephesus
Breakfast was at Ozcelik Hotel and thankfully there was
omelet other than the typical hardboiled egg. The bun with cheese in the middle
was great too!
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| Breakfast |
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| Omelet |
Our bus came pick us up to start our long day – it was a
big bus so I guess Ephesus tour was a great draw. The bus continued to pick up
a few more guests including our Australian friends Peter and Robert. They
apparently stayed in Charisma Hotel - the best Kusadasi hotel as commented by 2
different tour guides on 2 different occasions yesterday. We asked them how the
hotel was and both of them absolutely loved it. So if you have extra cash, do
consider to stay in this best hotel in Kusadasi. Anyway, Peter and Robert
engaged Insight Tours (http://www.insightvacations.com/)
for their itinerary in Turkey in case you are interested for a luxury tour - all
their hotels were 5 stars.
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| Starting the long day |
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| This is the nearest I get to Charisma Hotel - the Best Hotel in Kusadasi! |
Our 1st stop was Ephesus - an ancient Greek
city, and later a major Roman city which had a population of more than 250,000
in the 1st century BC, making it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean
world. The place was jam-packed with tourist as there were some cruise ships
stopping at Kusadasi today for excursion.
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| Doggie doesn't understand why people wanna come to this place... |
We were treated with the Roman Bathhouse at the Agora –
or what was left of it. Roman did love bathhouses huh? Apparently man in
ancient time treated it as a social event. *facepalm*
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| Imagine all the NAKED MEN in ancient time bathing in this place... |
We then continued to the Basilica Stoa – a Royal
Colonnade where law court meeting occurred.
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| Basilica Stoa |
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| Passing a tunnel |
Then there was the Bouleuterion which housed meeting of
the council as well as musical performances and contests. The Bouleuterion was
originally roofed.
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| Sammy was one of the Council Members! |
The Prytaneum was our next stop and this was where Robert
and Peter dubbed Sammy as the Sacred Dog. Hahaha…
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| Sammy the Sacred Dog!!! |
We were at a slope and thus we would see many sculptures
from the top.
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| Random Sculptures |
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| More columns and sculptures with Library of Celcus at the back |
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| Lots of People too!!! |
Our tour guide then explained to us a symbol of medicine
with a serpent entwined with a staff as serpent shedding its skin as a symbol
of rebirth and fertility. There was also Nike – the goddess of Victory.
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| The Symbol of Medicine |
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| Nike!!! |
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| Magnificent workmanship here... |
There were more ruins there which their functions totally
escaped me. Oops.. guess I was not really paying attention during the
explanation. =p
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| Somewhere near Fountain of Domitian |
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| Somewhere there too! |
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| Not too sure what this is too... |
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| Nice Floor! |
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| Can i have floor like that at my house? |
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| Temple of Hadrian |
But one of the most memorable places that I did remember
was – the PUBLIC TOILET! Yes!!! Men in ancient time loved to go toilet together
as well! It was a social event! It was basic human right!!!
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| Pee Pee Place |
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| Poo Poo Place! |
We finally arrived at the Library Celcus – the most
famous structure in Ephesus where you always see on fridge magnet, poster and
such. We then continued to historical Marble Street before taking some stairs
to get to the Great Theatre of Ephesus.
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| Library of Celcus |
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| Sammy was there! |
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| Shot from the Bottom |
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| Shot from the Inside |
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| At the Main Street |
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| The Great Theatre from afar |
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| Nearer |
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| Lots of Stairs |
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| Sammy has to make an Appearance at the Marble Street |
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| Goodbye Ephesus |
After Ephesus, the bus took us to the dreaded carpet
demonstration – one of the cons of engaging ground tour was you might get
trapped into demonstration such as this. Ugh!
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| Another Carpet Demonstration?! |
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| Silk anyone? |
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| Turkish Carpets |
Lunch was buffet style – the food was so-so but the
drinks were bloody expensive. A small drinking water for 1 Euro! Bloodsucker!
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| All the Potatoes! |
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| More Potatoes! |
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| Potatoes are cheap in Turkey? |
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| Lunch! FAT! |
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| FAT FAT FAT!!! |
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| Care for some Drinks? |
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| Restaurant Interior |
After lunch we were ushered to the House of Virgin Mary –
The belief was the Virgin Mary had spent her last days in the vicinity of Ephesus
and that she had died there. No photograph was allowed to be taken in the
shrine though. There were also people tying wishes with papers or cottons on
one of the wall in the place.
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| On the way to House of Virgin Mary |
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| Ticket Counter |
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| Hmm.. a well?? |
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| Here it is! |
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| No Photography allowed inside |
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| The Wishing Wall |
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| Random Doggie |
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| From the Bus... |
We then continued to the Ephesus Archaeological Museum to
take a look at some of the monuments and sculptures taken from Ephesus. Our tour
guide specifically asked us to remember the model of Temple of Artemis as we
would be visiting the real site later. The Temple of Artemis was one of the 7
wonders of ancient world.
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| Museum |
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| Sculpture |
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| More! |
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| Magnificent eh? |
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| This was how a Greek house normally look like... |
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| Ancient Clock |
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| Cupid! |
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| Sarcophagus for Musician |
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| Sarcophagus for Philosopher |
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| The Virgin Mary? |
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| The Goddess Artemis |
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| The Model of Temple of Artemis |
Our next stop was the Isa Bey Mosque which was constructed
in 1374-1375 and one of the oldest and most impressive works of Seljuk Turkish
architecture.
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| At Isa Bey Mosque |
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| Look like a Fortress |
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| Entering the Mosque |
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| Inside the Mosque |
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| It does look like a fortress! |
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| For Lookout? |
Then we finally got to the main event of the day – Temple
of Artemis! One of the 7 wonders of Ancient World! Hmm… this was what was left
of it… a column… a SINGLE column! Oh mine, imagine it was once a great temple –
the 1st ever temple to be entirely of marble and the largest Greek
temple ever built with 127 columns, each sixty feet high! But yet this was what
was left… *sigh* Imagine how highly awed by this temple that such paragraph was
written.
"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty
Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus,
and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of
the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of
Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy,
and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so
grand.'"~~~Antipater, Greek Anthology (IX.58)
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| The Great Temple of Artemis |
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| A Lake beside the Temple |
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| What it was supposed to look like |
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| What was left... |
After the day trip, our tour guide decided to take us to
a fashion show! We were like: HUH?! It was definitely shopping trap at its
finest! *sarcasm* We were taken to a leather factory where female and male
models walking the catwalk and we were actually quite entertained. Hahhaa…
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| *whistle* |
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| A Fashion Show! |
Then it was time to see the real product – the jackets
were made of goat or sheep skin and they were expensive. The cheapest would
cost a few hundred Euros. Thankfully I stayed in Malaysia where leather jacket
is not needed unless I want to lose some weight by drenching myself in sweat
under the hot sun with the jacket.
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| Expensive Leather! |
This was also where we parted with Peter and Robert for
they would continue their journey to Canakkale. It was really great to be able
to share our 5 days journey with them as they were nothing short of amazing!
Oh, Robert was definitely the most cheerful mathematician we’d ever met! Cheers
mate!!!
After the tour, we had decided to take a walk from the
hotel to the Kusadasi port to have a look. There were tons of shops in the
area. The souvenir in this place was cheap and price was clearly labeled as
well. We explored for a while before going back to the hotel to grab a nice
table in their restaurant to take pictures of sunset at Kusadasi to end our
day.
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| Random Birdies flying around |
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| Beach at Kusadasi |
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| The Famous Mussel dish at Kusadasi |
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| A Symbol of Kusadasi? |
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| McD!!! |
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| Burger King |
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| Pigeon Houses! |
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| Near the Port |
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| Doggie again! |
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| Dinner - very less choices at Ozcelik Hotel |
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| Soup |
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| Dessert - My favourite Rice Pudding! |
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| Sunset |
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| Going down... |
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| Hidden behind the cloud |
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| Goodbye Sun! |
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