RUINS OF THE WORLD
More Ruins in Turkey
So many ancient cities…
My morning at Ephesus started early. Ephesus is another of the ruined cities but does not seem to be as completely ruined as Troy or Pergamon. Just as we got out of the bus, it started to rain. There was nowhere to take shelter, and the streets were marble blocks and extremely slippery. I was thankful to have my hiking pole, or I would have come a cropper several times. I only slipped twice and tripped once!
The rain continued until we arrived at the Roman bathhouse, where the sun came out and shone brightly. Within a minute, I went from freezing cold to boiling hot. I took off as many clothes as I could carry, and was still hot. The marble was still wet and slippery even though the rain had stopped.
The Odeon was a small roofed theatre. It was a small salon for plays and concerts, seating about 1,500 people. There were 22 stairs in the theatre.
The Library of Celsus, the façade of which has been carefully reconstructed from original pieces, was originally built around 125 in memory of Celsus who paid for the construction of the library with his own personal money and is buried in a sarcophagus underneath the library. The library was mostly built by his son and once held nearly 12,000 scrolls. Designed so it faces east so that the reading rooms could make the best use of the morning light.
Estimated to seat 25,000 the Theatre of Ephesus is believed to be the largest in the ancient world. This theatre was used for drama, but during later Roman times, gladiatorial combats were also held.
By the time I reached the exit, I was in agony. I don’t know if it was the slipping or the trying so hard not to slip, but all I wanted was to get back to the hotel for strong painkillers, but no, we had to go to lunch first at a local Gozleme place, for a huge pancake filled with meat, vegetables and cheese and home-made ayran. (My favourite drink in Turkey.)
The rest of the group went inside to sit on cushions on the floor, but I stayed outside on a straight-backed bench in the hope of easing my back pain. Faruk must have felt sorry for me as he and several kittens joined me for lunch.
We finally made it back to the hotel, where I was straight to my room for my strong painkillers. I lay down but didn’t fall asleep but was pleased I didn’t, as my roommate Claire came back after a walk to the beach, and invited me to Dave and Nicky’s room for a Jameson’s. The painkillers had done their job and I was human enough to accept. The whisky did me the world of good on top of the painkillers, but I must have appeared drunk at dinner as I couldn’t talk properly. After dinner, I toddled straight to bed. What a day!
Vickey Maverick finds some more Roman ruins in Sopron, Hungary. I want to see these too!
Check out these ruins Simon Whaley found on the Welsh Border.
