E

This wonderful theater is only one of two at the site, which immediately gives you some idea of the extent of Ephesus, surely the most famous Graeco-Roman site in Turkey. Most tourgroups get here at the end of their tour having walked downhill through the site. We, of course, were on our own and so did things in reverse order. It was partly out of convenience because the local dolmus passed very nearby the lower entrance. But also it was intended to have as much time as possible without the large bus tours that come from the coastal resorts like Kusadasi on a day trip.

The front facade of the library of Ephesus is one of the best-known postcard views of Ephesus. Next door to the library is a newly opened part of the site, a series of homes of richer residents. For us, however, the additional entry fee that was charged was too rich also. We had already paid $10 each for entry and for this they wanted an additonal $25. As good capitalists we understand that price is really the only efficient way to ration entry to a fragile site which we suppose this to be. Perhaps on a return visit we will think it worth while to pay the extra money but on this our first visit we found so much to admire and absorb that we didn't feel the loss at all.

Here you can see the main street along which tourists stroll to admire the remains of this remarkable city. We were suitably impressed, but as always wished we didn't have to share the magic with quite so many others. Even though we got to the site before the large tourgroups that come from Kusadasi and entered at the opposite end from them,we also lingered much longer than they did and so were still there when they thronged the place.

But as you can see by the time we got to the far end and to the area near the second theater, the crowds had thinned dramatically and we finished the day as we had begun it in relative peace and tranquility.

The group of students that Jan is talking to approached us about halfway through our tour. They were studying international business in Istanbul and were on a weekend outing to Ephesus. We talked politics and although the exact topic no longer comes to mind, they were certainly convinced that the U.S. was doing something unfair to Turkey and/or muslims. We gently but insistently defended the U.S. and they politely listened and were not convinced.