Turkey Guide
The central and southern Aegean
Ephesus
With the exception of Pompeii, Ephesus (Efes in Turkish) is the largest and best-preserved ancient city around the Mediterranean; and, after the Sultanahmet district of İstanbul, it's the most visited tourist attraction in Turkey. The ruins are mobbed for much of the year, although with a little planning and initiative it's possible to tour the site in relative peace. Certainly, it's a place you should not miss, though you may come away disappointed at the commercialization and the extent of areas that are off-limits. You'll need two to three partly shady hours to see Ephesus, as well as a bottle of water – the acres of stone act as a grill in the heat of the day, and the water sold from the on-site kiosks is expensive.
The first hint of the city is the rather eroded (and pilfered) remains of the Vedius gymnasium and the stadium, funded by Nero. Once past the entry gate, take a sharp right along a path signed "Meryem Kilisesi", which leads to St Mary's church, an absurdly elongated hotchpotch constructed between the second and fourth centuries AD. The building, originally a Roman warehouse, was the venue of the ecumenical council in 431 AD; its baptistry is in good condition.
The so-called Marble Street begins near the base of the theatre and heads almost due south; wheel-ruts in the road and the slightly elevated colonnade remnant to the right indicate that pedestrians and vehicles were kept neatly separated. Directly across the intersection of the two major streets looms the Library of Celsus, originally erected by the consul Gaius Julius Aquila between 110 and 135 AD as a memorial to his father Celsus Polemaeanus, who is still entombed under the west wall of the structure. The elegant, two-storey facade was fitted with niches for statues of the four personified intellectual virtues, today filled with plaster copies (the originals are in Vienna).
Just uphill from the Roman city's main intersection, a Byzantine fountain looks across Curetes Street to the public latrines, a favourite with visitors owing to the graphic nature of their function. Continuing along the same side of the street, you'll come to the so-called Temple of Hadrian, actually donated in 118 AD by a wealthy citizen in honour of Hadrian, Artemis and the city in general.
Behind and above the temple sprawl the first-century Scholastica baths, named after the fifth-century Byzantine lady whose headless statue adorns the entrance and who restored the complex. There was direct access from here to the latrines and thence the brothel, though it seems from graffiti that the baths, too, were at one stage used as a bawdy house. Clay drainage pipes are still visibly lodged in the floor, as they are at many points in Ephesus.
The main thoroughfare skirts the large, overgrown upper agora, which lies opposite the civic heart of the Roman community – the prytaneum. This housed the inextinguishable sacred flame of Ephesus and two of the Artemis statues in the Selçuk museum, in spite of Hestia (Vesta) being the presiding goddess; it also served as the reception area for official guests.
Practicalities
Approaching the site (daily 8.30am–6.30pm; winter closes 5.30pm; last ticket 30min before closing; 15YTL, 4YTL parking fee) from Kuşadası, get the dolmuş to drop you at the TusanMotel junction, from where it's another easy kilometre to the lower entrance and ticket office. From Selçuk, many of the hotels offer free transport, or a taxi costs around 6YTL. Alternatively, you could walk the 3km, although you'd have to fend off the constant entreaties of the horse-drawn-cab drivers who ply the route (10YTL per cart): the first 2km of the walk along a mulberry-shaded lane paralleling the busy highway are rather pleasant, the final 1km along a narrow hill with no pavement, less so. There is also a second, upper entrance on the southeastern side of Ephesus, on the way to Meryemana – perhaps a more sensible route in summer since it enables you to walk downhill through the site (tour buses tend to drop their clients here, retrieving them at the lower gate). Visiting Meryemana first by taxi from Selçuk will allow you to use the upper gate: 40YTL (per car) should include a half-hour wait at "Mary's house", then a final drop-off at the top of the Ephesus site.