Day 19 Kusadasi Turkey
Early off the boat this morning as we have a long day on the bus.
Our first stop was at the remnants of a Roman town called Magnesia. It was famous in Roman times for its shrine to the Goddess Artemis.
Not much left and the overall effect was further dampened by someone building a huge corrugated iron lean-to along what remained of the city wall. The mood was even more dampened when it started to rain so we quickly retreated to the bus.
The next stop at Miletus was a huge improvement on the first. Miletus was a Roman city with a population of around 100,000. There was a very interesting little museum surrounded by a Bunnings like assortment of Roman plinths and pieces in all shapes and sizes.
But the piece de resistance was a little way down the road where there was the ruin of the Miletus Roman theatre which could seat 10,000 people.
Unrestored but still largely intact, it was a fascinating structure where you could still walk down the tunnels under the stands that the patrons would use to access their seats.
The seats and the stairs were made of white marble and the seats had legs carved in an elaborate style. The acoustics of the theatre’s design were amazing and still functioned perfectly.
Walking from the site I was taken by the vast amount of Roman building remnants, some beautifully carved, just lying in the grass in the surrounding field.
We then got back on the bus and headed off to a rather magnificent lunch in a giant beachfront resort, the Pine Bay Hotel.
Then it was on to the true highlight of the day, a place that should be on everyone’s bucket list, the amazing Roman city of Ephesus. In Roman times, the administrative centre for Rome’s possessions in Asia Minor, it boasted a population of 250,000 people.
The city was, over the centuries, ravaged by earthquakes and buried in silt washed down from the surrounding hills. This paradoxically helped save a large portion of it from being taken for recycling in other buildings so today you can see one of the most extensive Roman ruins.
You can walk down the main Roman street paved in marble.
See the shrines erected to deified emperors Trajan and Hadrian.
Pass the high end shopping mall with its mosaic tiled floor.
And come to the third biggest library of the ancient world which pioneered the use of vellum to replace papyrus.
Then turn down thru the Agora where the common people shopped. You can look and see where St Paul was put in prision for a fortnight before being thrown out of town.
Then you come to the 25,000 seat theatre.
This is where Ephesus today currently finishes but if you look further on, work is in hand on restoring the town’s mammoth Roman stadium.
Finally back to the ship after a very long and memorable day.
Hardys’ Travels 