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I knew very very little about Turkey. This was going to be a big
adventure for me. Many years ago, a friend and I went to a turkish
restaurant in Munich. Peter and I were adventuring and we knew nothing
on the menu. The food was prepared and presented in a different way.
I remember it as a fascinating experience and now here I am going to Turkey.
Our ship stopped at the port city of Kusadasi. From here we took a
bus tour to the ancient site of Ephesus. Ephesus is in an area where
earthquakes have occurred over the centuries and the result was the
burial of the city over a period of time. Today they believe that
they have uncovered about 1/5 of what there is to be found. We were
in pure tourist mode, ready to see what they could show us.
Now Mary commented that she expected to see camels and sand everywhere.
Well it didn't quite meet her expectations. Yes we saw a few camels as
the bus travelled the country side going to Ephesus, but we didn't recognize
any sand.
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When we arrived at the site of the dig, we walked a short distance into
the area and this is the first of what we saw.
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As we progressed, it became more interesting. For instance this
small amphitheatre.
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We had a wonderful guide (the lady with the parasol). She told us
that she had been doing this off and on for over 30 years and enjoyed
every minute of it. This is her 'hobby activity' and she only does
it on occasional weekends. Her normal job is currator at a national
museum where she is the carpet expert. She evaluates and selects
carpets for the country's museums.
Because she is a historian, she knew this place from every view and could
really explain to us in wonderful detail. I wish my memory could
recall more of what we told. My recommendation would be to take along
a small tape recorder to try and capture some of the things the guides tell
us.
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As we walked the path, we found it impressive that they had been able to
assemble the pieces to restore the columns. Remember that all of
these items where buried by the earthquakes shifting the land.
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The guide explained that in ancient times, they lit the paths with torches.
At her feet you would see where they inserted the torch in the roadway.
There was 4 holes at a distance around the torch mounting point that served
to anchor the torch.
In the direction we were walking, the road slooped downwards. In ancient
times Ephesus was a port, and these torches could be seen by the ships at
sea, to be able to return at night time. Since that time the land has
risen, and Ephesus is now something like 5 or more kilometers from the sea.
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When you look in the distance today, the flat farm land in the distance was
all under the sea in the days of Ephesus.
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It is obvious that in those days, they not only had stone masons, but
also some very capable stone artists.
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Sorry about the strange angle of the camera's view.
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