Sun, 27 Apr 2003

author Liz	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 19:45 BST 27/05/03	section Europe2002/Asia/Turkey ( all photos )

Ephesus ( 70 photos )
After breakfast on Sunday morning, we drove a short distance to Ephesus - one of the greatest ruined cities in the western world. It started out as a greek city in about 1000BC, but the city that stands today was built in the 4th century BC. Most of the city ruins that remain today stand in a valley between two towering hills.
As we got off the bus at the entrance gate, all the hawkers started yelling at us to come and but their wares. One ingenious guy, who was selling bottled water, had a classic line: 'Yesterday, five men went in there' pointing towards Ephesus. 'They bought no water from me...and now they are all dead!'. Its a big city, but really!
We decided we would survive with our own supply of water, and then we spent the next couple of hours being led around the ruins by our guide, Kaan.
The city has been preserved remarkably well. There are statues, tile mosaics on part of the ground, little shops, a huge roman bath equipped with hot and cold water pipes, latrines...I could go on and on.
One of the best sites, and what one of the city's main roads leads to, is the Library of Celsus (seen here with the people from our bus). This huge stone structure towers above you as you walk up to it. It is almost too good looking - like it has been built for a film set!
There is also a Temple of Hadrian - the same person who has Hadrian's wall in England. The temple entrance is pretty much all that remains of the temple, but this alone is awesome itself. It is covered in beautifully detailed carvings of mythical gods and goddesses.
Another fascinating view here is the theater. It is apparently the biggest in the world, though it isn't as steep as the one we saw at Pergamum. They still hold concerts here, although they only hold classical concerts now, because when Sting played there a few years ago, the huge crowd caused damage the theaters foundations. The classical crowds aren't quite as destructive!
There were so many beautiful sites in this one amazing tourist spot, and it was well worth going to.
Back at the bus, we soon noticed a strong smell of diesel fuel coming from our bus, and discovered a large amount of fuel running out near the front wheels. Tim was out having a look at the large puddle of diesel that had formed under the bus when the bus drivers 18 year old son came to fix the problem. His version of 'fix' involved opening up one of the storage bins under the bus, putting an old towel in to soak up the pool of diesel and then closing the bin again. He then turned to Tim, gave a big grin, and said the only English he knew: 'No worries!' :)
Fortunately for us, it was decided that the fuel leak was indeed a worry, so after lunch and a drive of about an hours distance (with the smell of diesel strongly in the air), and then a wait at a roadside stop for another hour, a new (and much nicer) bus turned up to a cheering crowd of Bus 5 people.
We did a few more hours of driving before we went through a quaint little Turkish village with a strange old tradition. Among its old houses complete with falling in roofs, there were a number of roofs with a glass bottle perched all the way up on the ridge capping, a few of which were smashed. We were told that it used to be this villages custom to place an unbroken glass bottle on their roof when they had a girl of marrying age in that house. Any would-be suitors had to shoot and break the bottle to declare they wanted the girl. If the girl's family accepted that man, the broken bottle would be left on the roof. If the family did not want that particular man to marry their daughter, they would take that bottle down and put a new unbroken one up again. Talk about hurting a blokes feelings!
Shortly after driving through that village, we arrived at Pumukkale - a town with a series if white terraces, formed by water from thermal springs which deposit layer upon layer of limestone. The white terraces looked beautiful as the sun set behind the mountains in the distance.
Before the sun went down, we trooped into the nearby pool - a thermal pool filled with broken columns and the like, and the only tourist swimming spot left in the area. For a bit of a hefty price, we enjoyed a swim in the pool. The water was so clear and warm, and little bubbles were constantly floating to the surface and fizzing around us. The bubbles stick to your skin, and as we discovered, you can leave a handprint or even write something in the bubbles on your skin. We also discovered what a hilariously strange sensation it was to open your mouth under water and stick out your tongue and feel the bubbles tingling and tickling - a bit like warm soda water!
None of us wanted to get out of the water, but eventually it was closing time. It felt very cold when we got out, so we rushed to get changed and then a few of us went down to the terraces for a last look at the setting sun.
Our bus then took us down into the village to our hotel. We all had dinner, and then spent the rest of the night in the hotel's pool, which was full of thermal water. A lot of us had very pruny skin by the time we got out of the water, although some of the boys were in the pool for most of the night. Even a power cut to the hotel and the entire village didn't coax them out of the warm water.

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