Embarkation was easy and we were handed landing cards, which will act as a VISA for entering the Country since our passports are stored in the pursers safe.
We find our guide Murat holding a sign with Chuckie’s name who quickly moves us to a spacious 18 seat van for just we four, and we’re off to explore Ephesus. Along the hour long drive to the excavation near the town of Selçuk [pronounced Sel-
chuck] our Guide, an archeology major who is going to Spain for 90 days to learn Spanish for tour guides to fill a void in that language, brings us up to speed on the surrounding area. We traveled in the middle of the mountain range that stretches from the Aegean Sea through Torbali. The fertile valley was carved out of the mountains in the 1st century BC by water and is abundant with cotton, tomatoes, vegetables, olives, peach and plum trees.
As we roll through Selçuk Murat points out the church & Fortress of St John and the Isabey Mosque, important as the first asymmetrical building in Turkey. In ancient times Turkey was called Anatolia and is still referred to in this manner by the locals, the guides in particular.We park the van and after a brief introduction, Murat leads us through the Magnesia Gate to where we can see the State
Agora, the civil business portion of the site. Believed to date back to 5000 BC the earliest evidence can confirm Ephesus present location as at least 3000 years old. It is assumed the Ions settled this region led by Androkles. Due to the expansion and contraction of the sea, Ephesus was moved 3 times and is now 15km from the seashore which caused much of its decline as it once played a large part in the sea trade of the region. Ephesus was captured by the Kimmers in the 7th century BC, by the Lydians in 
560BC and the Persians in 546. It was rescued from the Persians in 334BC by Alexander the Great. We visited the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world. The temple was destroyed by a lunatic Herostatus on the eve of Alexander’s birth in a bid to 
become famous [which he accomplished] and when Alexander liberated Ephesus, he offered to pay to have the temple rebuilt but was refused by the citizens. The Ephesians considered him a half God and declared that “a God cannot make a temple for another God”. Down through the centuries Ephesus came to be an important part of the region and much progress was made during the rein of the Roman Emperor Augusts.St John brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus around 50AD for her remaining years while trying to establish the new religion of Christianity. A Basilica was built on the site if his remains and later the Church of St John was erected in its place by the Emperor Justinian around 526AD. Also important n the area is the “House of the Virgin Mary” believed to be the last residence of the mother of Jesus now recognized as a shrine by the Vatican. We had originally been scheduled to visit it but it was too far into the mountains to do in a half day tour so it was substituted
for a visit to the “Terrace or Slope Houses” in the heart of Ephesus.As we stroll along the main street we pass the Odeon with a 1400 person capacity, the place for parliament, civil debate, and gladiatorial battles, adjacent to the
Prytaneion [town hall] where the sacred fire used to burn. After a visit to the Baths of Varius with its three pools, the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium we move onto the Pornaion [brothel] that is on the corner of Curetes street across from the Library of 
Celsus which was completed in 135AD by the son of the proconsul Gaius Celsus. It is rumored that there is a tunnel from the library to the brothels elaborate interior; men would 
head to the library, duck into the cellar and visit the house of carnal delights. We are told something like this exists in Washington, DC, near the Library of Congress… we believe its called the Senate.
On the way to the library we stop to visit the Terrace house, still being excavated. An incredible feat of sophisticated
construction using mosaics in the most elaborate decorations and extremely high tech [for its time] plumbing and construction methods. Tiered into the slope overlooking the Agora, the homes
of the wealthy used the roof of the lower unit for the patio of the home above it, thus the term “Terraced Houses” and were quite spacious, some reaching 1400-1600 Sq feet. 
We spent most of the afternoon moving through each of the important excavations, including Domitialn’s Temple, the Temple of Isis, The gate of 
Heracles [Hercules], the Fountain of Trajan built between 102-114AD adjacent to the temple of Hadrian and the splendid Scholastica Baths. The Emperor Domitian was so despised that we saw evidence of his name being obliterated from some friezes still being reassembled. We 
also saw the first commercial billboard and advertisement for the Pornaion [brothel] chiseled in the walkway leading up from the seaport road.One of the most magnificent structures in Ephesus is the Great Theater, the largest in Asia Minor with a capacity of 24,000. St Paul was dragged into the theater to face the crowds because of his
famous letter to the Ephesians, but was rescued by city's security corps. Well preserved, it is the site of many festivals to this day including an Elton John Concert, “Live from Ephesus”.In the interest of keeping this episode brief, we'll continue our trek through such fascinating ancient history… a lot more interesting than those stodgy college lectures we sat through 40 years ago, and the rest of the day in the next Note.
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and the foot weary but awed by all this history, Dragon Lady
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