Well today was a great, great day. We finally hit one of the true highlights of ancient Turkey and the one place everyone else who has been here has told me I have to see…Ephesus. We started the day at the Ephesus museum to take at look at some of the artefacts that have been found in the area and at the archaeological site itself. Very neat.
A few of the statues at the museum....including Monica and Winston.
Yeah....I'm not sure either but I like it.
They also had an exhibit on the items that had been found in the Gladiator graveyard. This of course would be the place where gladiators who were killed were buried. In some cases they were able to identify them by name but in all cases they could identify the cause of death. Some of the examples: sword to the throat, sword to the back of the neck and my personal favourite, pitch fork to the head.
They also had a little run down on the history of sport itself and when the lust for blood was removed from the equation….or has it? Most interesting was the fact that they claim sex is the only other thing that can invoke the same emotion as sport. Remember that the next time you are watching hockey.
Anyway, the next stop was the site of Ephesus itself. The group noticed straight out that it was much busier than the other places we had visited.
It looks pretty empty from here but we had to take this picture quick before the cruise ship groups started heading out way. This was taken looking down the sacred way. If you look way in the background you will see the famous Library of Celsus.
We have gotten use to visiting ancient ruins on our own, without any other tourists but today we had to share the space with a whole lot of tour buses. Of course we passed the usual bath first and then the latrine (yeah that’s right), a brothel and the sacred way (only certain people were allowed to use it and it was set up so chariots would be unable to travel on it).
One of the mosaics you can find at the site.
One very cool spot was the left over’s of what would have been a “hospital” or at least a clinic. I stopped…took a picture. It seems I can never completely get out of the hospital.
Liezel taking a picture of one of the local cats......and the local cat being very interested in Liezel's camera.
Biggest highlight of the site was of course the Library of Celsus. It has been very well preserved and just looks amazing. It would have at one time held over 12,000 scrolls in niches around the wall.
Out front there are 4 statues representing the Virtues. These are Arete (goodness), Ennoia (thought), Episteme (knowledge) and Sophia (wisdom). These statues are replicas as the originals are in a museum in Vienna but the Library is truly fabulous.
Yeah, I have no idea either. I think I told the boys to pose and this is what they came up with.
Of course a trip to an ancient village is not complete until we visit the theatre. Once again it was very grand and amazing, but Aspendos is still the best and I am not sure anything will compare. 
What does this look like to you? Apparently this is a warning that there is steep fall and not to get too close. I think it is suppose to be a person.
Look, you can get genuine fake watches at Ephesus too. And to think we thought it was just about the history.
The boys trying on what I can only guess are genuine fake sunglasses.
After lunch we headed to another site. This was the Temple of Artemis. You really had to use your imagination at this place as all that remains is one column. Originally there would have be 127.
That one remaining column and the remains of one other.
The last stop of the day ended up being an expensive one…...for me anyways. It was at a leather shop. We got to watch a little fashion show first and then it was into the store.
Monica, Ed and Liezel taking part in the fashion show.
So I bought a jacket and I guess it is probably good that I settled that bill before they opened the door to the purse room or I would have to come home early. I am not sure when handbags became a weakness of mine….I am blaming New York City for this just……..I blame Candice for my shoe weakness and Tara for my love of pedicures but the rest I blame on New York. I did get out of there only having bought a jacket you will be happy to know. It is really cute too. It was a total group effort (although it would have been fun if we could have split the bill). Sorry you will have to wait for some pictures but there will be some at a later date I assure you.
So it was out to dinner and then back to the hotel to play some Texas hold’em….and have a few drinks. Well it turned out just Paul and I were drinking and we learned very quickly that they like to free pour in Turkey. Let’s just say they mix stuff about 60/40 here (and 60 would be the booze). So it is a good thing we were not playing poker for money because I don’t actually know how to play however I had to learn pretty quick. I think I lost.
Anyway, it was a great day and a great night. And there will be a lot more to see tomorrow.
Julie
Biggest highlight of the site was of course the Library of Celsus. It has been very well preserved and just looks amazing. It would have at one time held over 12,000 scrolls in niches around the wall. 
Out front there are 4 statues representing the Virtues. These are Arete (goodness), Ennoia (thought), Episteme (knowledge) and Sophia (wisdom). These statues are replicas as the originals are in a museum in Vienna but the Library is truly fabulous. 
Of course a trip to an ancient village is not complete until we visit the theatre. Once again it was very grand and amazing, but Aspendos is still the best and I am not sure anything will compare. 
