Wendel Travel Blog: Our Trip to Izmir/Ephesus

So when we mentioned to local Turks that we were going to Ephesus for the day, they thought we were insane. I guess that is the equivalent of coming to NYC and taking the day trip to Niagara Falls. One of the reasons we choose Tayf Tours for our excursion is because they advertised we would not have to get up at the crack of dawn for our flight. Well, we had a 9am flight and p/u at hotel was 6:30am, putting us at the airport at 6:50am with nothing to do but stare at the Turkish toilets, women in burka, and the men on their iPhones. This is one of my pet peeves-as my husband will attest. On the positive side, I successfully used the handicap bathroom as the automatic door functionality was clearly explained in English. No need to moon the Turks, I reserved that act for the Germans 😉.

One of the odd (by American standards) observations I made the first morning at the hotel breakfast, is how rarely the women speak. Even with a family where the boy is misbehaving, I don't see the mother disciplining him. Then when we walked through town (in Edirne), there was a tour bus disembarking passengers to view the historic bridge, and all 35 tourists were men-not one woman! On our free shuttle buses to/from the bus stations also only transported men. However, we went to a cafe in Old Town, and a young couple heard us speaking English, the mHe is a student in Chemical Engineering, and his girl friend was studying Food Engineering. She was clearly the brains behind the operation, but she was whispering into his ear what to say, and he was translating. To his credit, he was telling us it was her idea.

Anyway, back to the journey to Ephesus...we sat in the Emergency row on Pegasus Air ✈️ and hoped I wouldn't need to operate the Emergency door as the double-sided velcro had worn off on the handle cover. Wasn't a comforting sign if the door was as worn as the Velcro 😳!

Not sure I can even begin to describe my experience at Ephesus in one blog. It would take probably a 30-slide presentation which I may be doing to the Westfield Historical Society next June, but I will try to hit the highlights.

Ephesus (Efes in Turkish) is one of Turkey's best preserved ancient cities and arguably the world's finest surviving Greco-Roman classical cities (although Pompeii may rival it). Not merely rocks on the ground, but a cast-iron replica of what life was like between the 1000BC and until 431AD. Set in a strategic trade route, it first won fame as a cultural and religious crossroads. First shrines were built honoring Artemis, the ancient Goddess of Fertility, then St Paul arrived, caused a riot and then left. Finally, according to legend, St. John visited with the Virgin Mary, to fulfill a pledge to jesus to protect Mary, who lived out her last 16 years in Efes. The city survived Alexander the Great, the birth of Christianity, and the Byzantine Empire until falling into despair with the Arab raids and finally the silting of the harbour. At its height, it swelled to a population of over 500,000.

We were able to trace the fault lines of ancient civilizations during our tour, while taking in the spectacular landscape of ruined temples, amphitheaters, public latrines, the library, fountains, temple houses, roman bathes and brothels all along colonnaded streets.

You enter via marble portals of the Arcadian Way-the ancient Rodeo Drive-and walk from the top of town to the bottom. A truly historic day for me!!

The sun and sea at last!! It has been 4 days of rain and fog so we were delighted to see the sea! My first visit to Asia Minor!