Ephesus

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

Took the earliest ferry to Turkey in the morning, then the bus to Selçuk. We were so tired we went ahead and got a hotel before going out to Ephesus. Our hotel was supposed to provide us free transport to Ephesus according to their brochure and listing in Lonely Planet, but the proprietor explained that hotels are no longer allowed to do this and there is now a big fine if anyone other than a taxi is caught dropping tourists off at the ruins. The bus mentioned in Lonely Planet seems to not run anymore either. This is one of those really frustrating and budget unfriendly things about traveling in these supposedly "cheap" countries, since they often do things like this to capture more tourist dollars. Yes, you can take the taxi for only like $7, which is certainly cheap for a taxi, but if we were in Austria, we could and would take the bus for like $1.25 each, even if there was a $7 taxi. It's really only the food and accommodation that is cheaper in these places. The sights and transportation are generally just as expensive, if not more so.

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

Ephesus is supposed to be one of the best-preserved ancient sights, and it was very impressive. We especially liked the Celsus Library, Hadrian's Temple, and the Hill Houses.

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

Hey look, a kitty...

From Ephesus

There was an extra fee, and a steep one, to go into the Hill Houses, but they had some great frescoes and mosaics... I think Lonely Planet said the best outside of Italy, or maybe the best outside of Pompeii. They were certainly nice! No doubt the fee was to offset costs of the truly impressive structure protecting them from the elements.

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

From Ephesus

By the time we left Ephesus we were regretting our failure to stick with the original plan, which involved using left luggage at the bus station and traveling on to Pamukkale in the evening before sleeping. The wonderful thing about traveling in high summer is that you can move on to the next city after all the sights close and still have some daylight with which to find a hotel, enabling an early start the next morning. Oh well. We had a relaxing dinner and got to enjoy seeing the Byzantine Aqueduct topped with stork nests.

From Ephesus