Turkey - Day 6
I know that I've not been exactly punctual with these things, but look at it from my side - it's difficult to write these things and have a life at the same time!
Actually, looking at it fairly, that should really read "I'm too lazy to write these things. I am a failure as a personal communicator." There, happy now? Pushy bunch, aren't you?
Ok, on to Ephesus. This was the bit that I'd been looking forward to, but I hope that you'll forgive me for keeping this short - otherwise I'll give up and go do something more interesting - there's a bar just upstairs that's calling my name, you know. Be grateful for what you're getting!
Righto, we got up earlyish, and headed out towards Ephesus. As you'd imagine, by the time we got there, we were absolutely boiling, sweaty, and generally probably not the most pleasant to the olefactory senses, but in that we were in good company. Or at least lots of company.
The entrance to the complex was heaving with tourists, mostly with American accents, the more juvenile of which were heard to complain vociferously about the heat, the walking, the boringness and the lack of TV in one of the greatest places I've ever visited. Some people are an advertisement for "money doesn't make you better" (along with "bigger does not equal better" - they weren't the slimmest). Anywho,
gripe over, but that really annoyed me. I'd have given someone elses right arm to visit Ephesus on someone elses money in my formative years.
The place continued packed throughout, until the church and the magical bit of the day, but that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. Needless to say, we'd entered through the exit, and so we first encountered the upper agora. This was fantastic - what ruins should be. A vast flat area covered in the remains of steps, columns
etc, lined with walls. Have a look at the photos, but yeah, that was cool. We climbed up a small theatre, and had a look around from the top, posed (obviously) for a couple of photos, and then wandered onwards.
I won't go through all of the things that we saw, just touch on the main parts. Otherwise I'll be here all night. The facade for the library was magnificent, and we actually studied the back of it in immense detail. This had nothing to do with standing in the shade recovering for a length of time...
Then we got onto the impressive stuff. The first thing that strikes you when you reach the Arcadian Way is the mammoth theatre on your right. And I mean mammoth! You don't really get the feeling that you're in the capital of Roman Asia province until you're looking up from the floor of a theatre and the features of your friend
three-quarters the way up are reduced to "the guy in the shorts and the t-shirt."
The second thing that strikes you is the column-lined road stretching towards where the port used to be, dead straight in true Roman style.
This will come up a little later.
Pushing past yet another guy trying to sell me ancient coins that he'd probably knocked together the day before, we passed a really tacky show of people in vaguely Roman dress doing a five minute circus act, and headed further on. And struck paydirt. There was a side-track, poorly sign-posted as a byzantine church dating to the 6th century. Once we'd got down there, we were utterly alone, wandering around the ruins of this ancient church. Gareth and I had some fun framing some photos, and then we decided to wander out amongst the ruins, sitting tantalisingly close to the church, and intriguingly un-signposted.
Mysterious!
We actually didn't find out what those ruins were, but clambering through them, was brilliant. There was no one else about, as we climbed to our hearts content over fallen pillars and broken steps, the tumbled rubble that remains of the works of the mighty, against the backdrop of the enduring greatness of Roman construction. The
great prize of this, though, was yet to come. Clambering over a pile of precariously poised pieces of masonry, we came almost by accident on the port of Ephesus - the point where the harbour once came to. The Arcadian Way once stretched from the water's edge to the city proper, and there we were, standing at the end of the road, looking back up at the city. This is what experience should be, this is what I wanted out of travelling - a single moment of perfection, unadulterated by crowds and noise and dirt, the vision hanging inviolate in the baking air, as if we were the only people there, discovering the ruins for the first time. Casually sauntering down that marble-paved, column-lined road towards an ancient city was one
of the most magical experiences of my life. As you wandered up the road, watching the roiling crowds of tourists through the heat haze rising off the marble, you could imagine that you were looking at the city as it was in ancient times.
Anywho, the rest of the day was fairly straight-forward. Richard hustled us away from a man shining shoes, which we thought was amusing. It wasn't until later that we realised he'd done that because he didn't want us to see the man's price list. I wonder what it was. I'll bet it was nowhere near YTL35…
Actually, looking at it fairly, that should really read "I'm too lazy to write these things. I am a failure as a personal communicator." There, happy now? Pushy bunch, aren't you?
Ok, on to Ephesus. This was the bit that I'd been looking forward to, but I hope that you'll forgive me for keeping this short - otherwise I'll give up and go do something more interesting - there's a bar just upstairs that's calling my name, you know. Be grateful for what you're getting!
Righto, we got up earlyish, and headed out towards Ephesus. As you'd imagine, by the time we got there, we were absolutely boiling, sweaty, and generally probably not the most pleasant to the olefactory senses, but in that we were in good company. Or at least lots of company.
The entrance to the complex was heaving with tourists, mostly with American accents, the more juvenile of which were heard to complain vociferously about the heat, the walking, the boringness and the lack of TV in one of the greatest places I've ever visited. Some people are an advertisement for "money doesn't make you better" (along with "bigger does not equal better" - they weren't the slimmest). Anywho,
gripe over, but that really annoyed me. I'd have given someone elses right arm to visit Ephesus on someone elses money in my formative years.
The place continued packed throughout, until the church and the magical bit of the day, but that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. Needless to say, we'd entered through the exit, and so we first encountered the upper agora. This was fantastic - what ruins should be. A vast flat area covered in the remains of steps, columns
etc, lined with walls. Have a look at the photos, but yeah, that was cool. We climbed up a small theatre, and had a look around from the top, posed (obviously) for a couple of photos, and then wandered onwards.
I won't go through all of the things that we saw, just touch on the main parts. Otherwise I'll be here all night. The facade for the library was magnificent, and we actually studied the back of it in immense detail. This had nothing to do with standing in the shade recovering for a length of time...
Then we got onto the impressive stuff. The first thing that strikes you when you reach the Arcadian Way is the mammoth theatre on your right. And I mean mammoth! You don't really get the feeling that you're in the capital of Roman Asia province until you're looking up from the floor of a theatre and the features of your friend
three-quarters the way up are reduced to "the guy in the shorts and the t-shirt."
The second thing that strikes you is the column-lined road stretching towards where the port used to be, dead straight in true Roman style.
This will come up a little later.
Pushing past yet another guy trying to sell me ancient coins that he'd probably knocked together the day before, we passed a really tacky show of people in vaguely Roman dress doing a five minute circus act, and headed further on. And struck paydirt. There was a side-track, poorly sign-posted as a byzantine church dating to the 6th century. Once we'd got down there, we were utterly alone, wandering around the ruins of this ancient church. Gareth and I had some fun framing some photos, and then we decided to wander out amongst the ruins, sitting tantalisingly close to the church, and intriguingly un-signposted.
Mysterious!
We actually didn't find out what those ruins were, but clambering through them, was brilliant. There was no one else about, as we climbed to our hearts content over fallen pillars and broken steps, the tumbled rubble that remains of the works of the mighty, against the backdrop of the enduring greatness of Roman construction. The
great prize of this, though, was yet to come. Clambering over a pile of precariously poised pieces of masonry, we came almost by accident on the port of Ephesus - the point where the harbour once came to. The Arcadian Way once stretched from the water's edge to the city proper, and there we were, standing at the end of the road, looking back up at the city. This is what experience should be, this is what I wanted out of travelling - a single moment of perfection, unadulterated by crowds and noise and dirt, the vision hanging inviolate in the baking air, as if we were the only people there, discovering the ruins for the first time. Casually sauntering down that marble-paved, column-lined road towards an ancient city was one
of the most magical experiences of my life. As you wandered up the road, watching the roiling crowds of tourists through the heat haze rising off the marble, you could imagine that you were looking at the city as it was in ancient times.
Anywho, the rest of the day was fairly straight-forward. Richard hustled us away from a man shining shoes, which we thought was amusing. It wasn't until later that we realised he'd done that because he didn't want us to see the man's price list. I wonder what it was. I'll bet it was nowhere near YTL35…
posted by Not My Former at 12:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home