Let us talk about a different country for a change. This mega-trip of Southeastern Europe also included my first time visiting Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey). I have always wanted to visit Türkiye, mainly the Istanbul area, but I was perfectly okay with visiting any part of the country. The Celebrity Infinity docked in the port town of Kuşadasi. It was a beautiful, quiet morning as the cruise ship pulled into the dock. The town itself looked like a picture from a postcard, with the sunrise looking over the buildings on the hills.
After disembarking the ship, we met our tour guide as she loaded us onto the bus and made our way to see the ruins of Ephesus. I made sure to appreciate the scenery and attractions on the way to the ruins, including a water park called Adaland.
The Ruins of Ephesus is an archaeological site which was once the city of Ephesus; a Greek settlement that was under the control of the Roman Empire at the time. I am not much for walking around ruins (and there was much of this during this trip) but I thought it was cool to see how the Greeks/Romans lived.
I got some pictures/videos while standing on a lookout overseeing the ruins.
Even now, there were workers excavating the site in the hopes of finding new artifacts.
The ruins got busy at certain points, as illustrated by the picture above. It was also a hot day, which was why many people were carrying umbrellas/parasols.
I think the most interesting part of visiting the Ruins of Ephesus was how people went to the bathroom. There were community latrine holes, so I guess people would sit side-by-side on each hole while they do their business? This would be unheard of nowadays, but I guess this is how men would bond with each other back in ancient times? I did some additional research on Roman bathroom usage in the ancient times, and there would be sponges attached to sticks that the bathroom-goers would use to clean themselves. There was a channel of water in front of where you would sit where you would wash the sponge. I would sincerely hope that these sticks were not shared between people.
Here are the remains of the Library of Celsus, which is an ancient Roman building and nearly one of the biggest libraries of the Roman world.
Further down the walkway were the remains of an ancient outdoor theatre. I was impressed with the sheer size of the theatre, and it still looks so well-crafted. From my understanding of Ancient Rome/Greece, people would go to the theatre to hear philosophers and scholars spout their ideas and ideals for hours on end.
Coming closer to the end of the tour, there was what looked like a play or a demonstration of some ancient rituals, including dancing and a mock gladiator fight. It looked a bit silly (especially the fight) but this was something to impress the tourists I suppose.
And just like that, that was the tour of the Ruins of Ephesus. The tour was not too bad. There were some interesting things to see, but the brutal heat was stifling, so I could not wait to get back into the air conditioning of the bus. We exited the ruins and into a small shopping area where there were touts aggressively trying to sell their products to the tourists. The Turkish vendors would always try to get up in your face and push their products that they are trying to sell. The Turkish vendors reminded me of when I walked through a market while in Havana, Cuba. The market vendors were begging and grabbing me to take me to their vendors so I can buy something. It was intimidating at first, but I just said a firm “No” and walked away.
This is just the first part of my trip to Turkey. The second part is coming up in my next post. Here are some additional photos/videos.
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