Hadas Kuznits Video Diary

Ruins of an Ancient City

At 5:00 am the next morning, we got a knock on our door to wake up. After we ate breakfast and loaded our bags on the bus, we were off to visit the ruins of the ancient city of Efesus!

We made a “pit” stop along the way (get it? Olives? Pits?) There was a restaurant and restrooms and a guy on the corner selling Turkey’s best treats: olives, honey and almonds!

Almond soap:

Me at the entrance:

Our guide Cetin (pronounced Chet-in):

He walked us through the city, explaining who conquered what area, how people lived there and how they conducted commerce.

Mosaic floor.

4,000 year old latrines:

Inside the building where they are conducting new excavations; these were the houses along the main street where the rich families lived.

The central structure of Efasus is the Library:

This is the ampitheater. Apparently, they still have performances here! We were told they used to have all kinds of music concerts, but discovered that the vibrations from the more pounding forms of music like rock music disturbed the rocks, so now they only have classical music concerts in the ruins.

After touring Efesus, we went to the airport to catch a flight to Kayseri. We were all so tired, but it was just mid-afternoon. Nothing like a good meal to wake us up! Koray and Clare took us to this restaurant where the specialty is this dish they call “butter meat.” It looks like cheesesteak meat, and it just melts in your mouth. It’s presented on top of croutons and with turkish yogurt on the side. It was really good.

And then we were off to the town of Esvelli, to our amazing hotel, Esbeli Evi.

Lots of transportation today! From the boat to a bus to a plane and back on a bus!

On the road to Esbelli…

And here the entrance to the hotel, Esbelli Evi:

Later…

We ended the evening with a youth classical music concert on a stage carved out of the natural stone of the town. The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was incredible. Turkey is fantastic!!!

Afterwards, as we were walking to our bus, we could see the stars out here as bright as they were on the boat. It was a beautiful night. We went over to this place called “The Greek House” for a “light” evening meal. They just kept bringing out salad dish after salad dish. It was delicious. I slept well that night.

This entry was posted on July 17, 2010 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.