No One Here Thinks I'm Funny: Turkey--Ephesus

Our 3rd port stop was in Kusadasi, Turkey, not far from ancient Ephesus. Again, we hired a private guide and driver which was fabulous. We drove to the ruins of Ephesus and looked at lots of toppled rocks--

Granted, they were elaborately carved rocks, but still...

LOTS OF TOPPLED ROCKS

I'm not even kidding--there were columns and pieces of buildings everywhere.

Looking down Curetes Street towards Celsus Library

We also saw somewhat organized things.

Here was the Odeion. According to our guide, this is where the ruling class would meet to discuss ideas and government matters.

This is the Trajan Fountain, that has been somewhat reconstructed with pieces of ruins and cement. It included a statue of Trajan, a Roman Emperor, anda foot of his statue remains.

Where the market would have been.

He also pointed out these clay spouts--some in piles, some connected. They supplied running water throughout the town.

We walked through the Terraced Houses, which were remarkable. This was in some ways similar to Pompeii in that much of it had been preserved because of how the area had been flooded by silt, forcing the town to be deserted as the port moved farther away.

One area was what the guide called "The Worlds' Largest Jigsaw Puzzle" where they were working to put together the marble pieces that made up the "wallpaper" of the houses. You can see how they've placed some of the designs up on the wall.

Hinted at above, here is the two-storiey Ephesus Library

And the Ephesus Theater--the one where Paul was forced to leave when one of the local businessmen riled up the crowd declaring that Paul would ruin their business (creating idols of Artemis). The story is told in Acts, Chapter 19. And here Ted stands--he looks like trouble to me.