On our 9th day in Turkey, we went to the ancient city of Ephesus.
Located on Turkey's Aegean Coast, about 1 hour drive from Cesme, where our rented AirBnb is located, Ephesus is one of the largest and most impressive ancient cities in the world.
We enter this area using our Museum Pass - told ya, it's worth buying! And we also skipped the long queue to buy the entrance ticket!
This place is HUGE!!! Compared to Acropolis in Greece, there are much more to see at Ephesus.
Somehow this place reminded me of Jerash in Jordan which we visited in 2009.
The ancient city of Ephesus is very impressive, with many of the important buildings party restored.
The city was founded by Greek colonists in the 10th century BC.
Info from Mr Google - Ephesus has been a city since neolithic times, but it came to full prominence under the Roman Empire, as the capital of Asia Minor. As the second most important city of the Roman Empire, Ephesus gew and prospered. The city came to prominence under the ancient Greeks, who built the famous Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
It was a scorching hot day! It was end of May, summer was about to begin... thanks god I did not forget to apply my sun block!
The ruins were well preserved! I was quite impressed!
Facade of the Library of Celsus - one of the most famous ruins here in Ephesus.
The library is considered an achitectural marvel and is one of the only remaining examples of a library from the Roman Empire. It was a repository of over 12,000 scrolls and was also believed to be the third largest library in the Roman Empire.
The library is indeed now a silent witness to the city's stature as a great centre of learning during the Roman empire.
Mama's one and only boy 💓
Nowadays, agak payah untuk ajak bergambar... 😏
Uncle and niece - walking towards the amphitheatre.
The Amphitheatre of Emphesus.
This great theater is splendidly well preserved!
Truly breathtaking sight to be here! A couple of tourist were doing the sound check by singing in the middle of the theter.... it was indeed surreal to hear them singing! We got free entertainment here in the great Amphitheater of Ephesus! 😎
Ephesus is obviously a famous place to visit when in Turkey and always crowded. If you wanna come here, go early to avoid the crowds.
The terraced houses.
To enter this area, visitors need to buy an extra ticket but yes, if you have the Museum Pass, you can enter this area using it.
Good and bad news to share about this terranced houses site:
The good news - this whole area is roofed and air-conditioned. So it was a relief to escape from the scorching hot sun outside!
The bad news - lotssss of stairs to climb in the hilly area! 😜
The houses are beautifully restored. Look at those mosaics!! Amazing right?
Those houses must belonged to wealthy Romans during their time.
It was just surreal to experience to wander through the remains of the houses where people lived thousands of years ago! MasyaAllah....
The highlight of the visit :
Izzaty checked her final semester result here in Ephesus and alhamdulillah... she was happy and super grateful with her final CGPA. Mama and Ayah are so proud of you baby girl!!! 😍
Syukur alhamdulillah... our girl has officially graduated with a Degree in Financial Engineering!
The happy face - priceless!
Fun fact - She checked her FIRST semester result in Osaka, Japan 🇯🇵 and her LAST semester result in Izmir, Turkey 🇹🇷.
Later, we had lunch in Izmir.
First time tasting Kumpir or 'baked potato' - a famous Turkish street food.
It's definitely not the ordinary baked potato ya. It was eaten with butter, cheese and with overwhelming assortment of toppings like pickled, veges, olives, sausages, ect... kenyang giler!!! It's a big portion too... had to share mine with hubby... could not finish it all alone 😃
*** to be continued ***
