About Ephesus
Ephesus, also known as Efes in Turkey, holds an incredible amount of ancient history. The entire site is a UNESCO World Heritage that takes you straight back in time. If you're interested in cultural and ancient Roman history, this is a must-visit whenever you decide to travel to Izmir, Turkey. Ephesus is an amazing place to experience how life was celebrated in 300 BC. The site is about 7 square kilometers and is one of the largest sites available to visit in this region. For the full experience, plan your trip to Ephesus in advance as you can spend quite some time here. I suggest you reserve at least between 3 and 5 hours minimum for this trip and go without a guide to wander around the magnificent area on your own.
Entry tickets currently cost 700 Turkish Lira for tourists, which is about 24 Euros at the time of writing. If you are a resident of Turkey, this will cost you only 100 Turkish Lira. If you are staying somewhere not near Ephesus, it is absolutely worth traveling there, even if it may take a few hours to get there. Visiting (any) UNESCO World Heritages is on my bucket list, and I love to visit them. Every time I visit one, I get the feeling of experiencing something special that needs to be preserved.
Ephesus was a place where successful Hellenistic and Roman settlements decided to set up a place to thrive. Excavations have revealed huge monuments of the Roman Imperial period. For example, the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre are monuments that are famous for their current state. There are still little remains of the Temple of Artemis, which was once labeled as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World". This drew pilgrims from all around the Mediterranean to visit Ephesus. And of course, the House of the Virgin Mary just 7km from Ephesus became a well-known chapel that became a major place for the Christian pilgrimage. Ephesus is a great example of a Roman Port City. Very much worth the visit.
Ephesus is well-preserved
Personally, I love to fantasize and to emphasize how people used to live here. I love to visualize the vibrant lifestyle of ancient Roman times. It makes me wonder what people would do for entertainment, how they sell their goods, and how the labor was. After all, Roman architecture is just stunning to see. The craftmanship of the details is remarkable, the amount of time that went into making these structures and buildings must have cost many years to complete, this of course, after mastering the craft of sculpturing and doing the math to create buildings that last for centuries to come. Simply amazing.
In this blog post, I will show you a few places of Ephesus which caught my interest and time. I did not expect this site to be so large, so here's a tip for you if you plan to visit Ephesus: spend the whole day here and bring enough water.
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Explore Ephesus
Check out the Library of Celsus, with the Mazeus & Mithriadates Gate right next to it, the Harbor Street, the Great Theatre and the Church of the Virgin Mary. Hopefully, I will return one day to see the rest of Ephesus. And if you're just like me, you can also cut the day in half, and visit Şirince to taste some wine (I can highly recommend that).
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Overall, a great place to experience ancient Roman times
Wandering around here was such a nice experience. I am surprised by how well-preserved some pieces are. It also shows how strong and sturdy the materials were that they used to build these structures.
Have you ever been to Ephesus or another ancient Roman site? I would love to explore more old places.