And did those feet in ancient times ...

The reason why all of the tourists come to visit this area is to see the ruins at Ephesus, to walk the exact same streets where people like the Apostle Paul, and John the disciple of Jesus walked in their day.

It was a brilliantly clear but freezing cold day when we went out to the ruins of Ephesus, about 3 kilometres out of Selcuk. Rather than employ one of the many eager guides, we rented an audio guide - a little gizmo that speaks the appropriate information when you press the right buttons and shuts up when you want it to.



So I walked the streets of Ephesus, listening to my audio guide, and trying to imagine what it was like to live in this place thousands of years ago.



This is a small amphitheatre near the higher end of Ephesus, built to seat a few thousand people. But the theatre we were keen to see was the one at the lower end of town the huge one, where "The Ephesian Riot" mentioned in the New Testament took place.



We sat there in this huge theatre that seated over 100 000, and imagined all those people shouting and shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" ... Later we had a look at what remains of the temple of Artemis, and in the museum we saw statues of their goddess Artemis - what a strange one she was!

There were a great many very impressive bits and pieces to look at and wander around. One of the most specatacular sights is this facade of the building that was the library.



We walked through Hadrian's Gate, and were surprised to realise the connection with Hadrian's Wall in the north of England.

We came to a very large section under cover, still being worked on but open to the public for an extra fee of 10 lira. We decided to give it a go.

Inside we found a remarkable display of a number of ancient hillside residences.



We walked through the display on carefully constructed steel and glass walkways that enabled us to have a look at everything without causing damage to anything. Of course being there in the 'low' season was probably much more pleasant than it would be when this place is swarming with astonished tourists.



These ancient homes were remarkable firstly because they have been so well preserved over the centuries. And secondly because of the opulent lifestyle of the people who must have lived in these huge homes.



We came to the Agora, and had a think about agora phobia ... here there were puddles of water that were frozen over, there was a keen wind blowing and the sprinkling of tourists were huddling in corners and pulling their jacket hoods over their eyes and ears despite their guides prattling on.



Finally we came to the end of the village road, and there were all the tourist stalls waiting for us ...



And finally there was the one little room we were all looking for - although we had to pay to use it.



"Only 50 cent is enough to feel the magic atmosphere."

We had caught a taxi from the hotel to the top end of Ephesus, and it cost us 10 lira. Now there was a taxi at the gate, and we asked what his price was - he wanted 20 lira, so we walked away, and someone else climbed in. We hung around for a few minutes, and soon saw the same taxi return, followed by a second one. We thought we would try our luck with the second one, but Mr Nasty in the first taxi drove his car at us, trying to block our way and stop us from getting in. Still, we are the ones with the money and we made our choice, only paying 10 lira for our ride. The taxi driver, Tunc, was such a nice chap, with good English skills, that we booked him to return us to the airport on Friday when we returned to Istanbul.
(If you are going to Selcuk and want a reliable taxi driver, leave a comment and we'll give you his number ...)