Ephesus / Selçuk

I went on a tour to Ephesus (modern day Selçuk) with GetYourGuide tours. Excellent!! We saw the home of the Virgin Mary, the Artemis temple (mostly just the location), the city of Ephesus with the Celsus Library. We also went to a UNESCO village that has been both Greek and Turkish in the past, to a rug maker and we had lunch. It was a really nice tour.

When we were visiting with the guide between locations, we – there were 8 of us – were talking about the economy in Turkey and the different exchange rates. We had a french-speaking couple from eastern Canada, a couple from Sweden, a woman from Austrailia who is Greek and still speaks Greek at home (she was from Cyprus), a couple of women from the Dominican Republic, and me. The guide said that back in 2008, the Turkish Lira exchange rate with the USD was 1:1; now it is 40:1!!! He said their president keeps saying “But we have good roads”. I don’t know how they keep their heads above water.

The guide said it was a light tourist day and the temperature was not quite so brutal as the last 5 days, so it was a perfect day for touring Ephesus. As mentioned above, included in the tour was The Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Wonders of the World (although, I’ve learned that the pyramid of Giza – where I’ve also been – is the only one of the 7 wonders that is still physically present. The others are mostly just visited as “this is the location of … “.) The Temple of Artemis does have some artifacts, but is 95% non-existent. We also went to the UNESCO village of Sirince. It was inhabited by the Greeks, and mostly built by them. But later inhabited by the Turkish people. A very nice village. We also visited a rug-making location which was SO impressive. They were really after me to buy a rug and I wanted to, but really for no reason other than they were just so beautiful. Each rug takes a year or more to make. The women who make them complete 8 rows each day. They’re made of silk (which is grown in the local area and processed at this facility), cotton (also grown in the local area), and/or wool (also locally sourced). There was also a jewelry maker at the same site. Definitely no shortage of places or ways to spend money!!! But then we also went to an olive oil store that also had Turkish Delites (think Aplets and Cotlets in Washington State). I did get some olive oil. Not my best decision seeing that I’m traveling and already luggage-challenged, but I’ll figure it out somehow.

The following pictures have the Temple of Artemis included in them. Here is a blurb about that temple, as it is too big for a caption: Temple of Artemis. It is believed that there was a Hellenistic site at this location and then the Temple of Artemis was piggy-backed onto it. Across the way, in the center of the picture and at the base of that bare earth hill, if you zoom in, you’ll see four or five column bases – see also next picture for a closeup. Those were recently excavated and the archaeologists believe those to belong to the Temple of Artemis. That means everything down in the center is … something else. I don’t know how they figure it all out. What a puzzle. As it turns out, much of what I have seen here has been excavated fairly recently. There was something from 1932, something else from the 1950s, and a LOT of discovery in the 1990s and continuing on to today. Wouldn’t time travel be interesting!!

Additionally, here is a little bit more on the pictures you’ll see of the citadel, mosque, and church: At this point our guide pointed out that, in this scene, there are 3 religions and 5 kingdoms represented. Up at the very top is the citadel, then there is a mosque, and the church and burial place of St. John (immediate left of the column), and then, of course, the temple of Artemis in the foreground.

Check out my photos of Ephesus – COME BACK FOR A VISIT, CAPTIONS COMING SOON!