Today, the exceptional remains of Ephesus and the town of Selçuk and Kusadasi were to be discovered. We had a splendid day as the weather was much better than the days before, and we could enjoy walking around.
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| Library of Celsus |
But before we could start our visit at Ephesus, we had to visit a carpet factory. Thereby, we got a free ride up to the entrance, 😉 That’s the Turkish way of entrepreneurship!
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| Carpet wool |
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| Impressive display of carpets but all too big for our camper |
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| Starting the walk along the main road of Ephesus |
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| Odeon – a small roofed theatre for 1500 people |
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| Entrance to the theatre |
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| Strong walls at the side of the theatre |
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| Stone carving of the goddess Nike |
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| Marble road down to the library |
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| Temple of Hadrian – rebuilt from the surviving architectural fragments |
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| Library of Celsus |
This building was commissioned in the 110s AD as a funerary monument for Iulius Celsus and completed during the reign of Hadrian. The library is the only remaining example of a library from the Roman Empire. It was the third-largest library in the Roman world behind only Alexandria and Pergamum, believed to have held around twelve thousand scrolls. Celsus is buried in a crypt beneath the library in a decorated marble sarcophagus. Its interior and contents were destroyed in a fire that resulted either from an earthquake or a Gothic invasion in 262 AD. The facade was destroyed by an earthquake in the tenth or eleventh century. It lay in ruins for centuries until it was reconstructed by archaeologists between 1970 and 1978 with the financial support of the Austrian entrepreneur Anton Kallinger-Prskawetz.
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| Theatre – at the moment under renovation |
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| Marble road leading to the harbour |
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| Lunch break |
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| İsa Bey Mosque |
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| Citadel of Selçuk |
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| Column of the Basilica of St. John |
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| Part of the ceiling of the basilica |
It was Saturday and therefore market in Selcuk. It was fun to do our shopping at the market. Later we drove to the harbour town of Kusadasi, where we walked along the waterfront and chose a restaurant for dinner.
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| Old man selling matchboxes |
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| She gave me more lemons than I wanted, but I didn’t mind 🙂 |
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| Kusadasi |
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| Parking for the night at the modern harbour |
