This morning we are picked up by our guide in a mini bus and taken to Ephesus, which was a Greek and later Roman ancient city. This is our third visit to Ephesus and it just keeps getting better.
We start at the top entrance with the baths, Odeon and Agora area and then walk down the marble colonnaded road through the arch.
The latrines are in very good condition as they were 35 years ago when we first visited the site.
The terrace houses that have been excavated are amazing with their wall murals and mosaic floors, they are very impressive. The pipes run through the walls and under the floor for heating.
The library is as impressive as it was 35 years ago.
The large theatre has excellent acoustics and is simply magnificent.
Next we visit the Temple of Artemis which is one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Today there is only one pillar left standing in the middle of a field, as the temple was discovered and excavated by British architect John Turtle Wood in 1869 and sent to the British Museum where it has remained.
We return to our hotel to pick up our cars and say farewell to our hosts for last night.
This afternoon we have a 175 km drive to Bergama and it is forecast to be 46 degrees, so we have about a 1 hour lunch stop just the other side of Izmir to give us and the cars a rest. The perspiration is just oozing out of us as we keep drinking bottle after bottle of water, so far we have drunk 2 litres each and we still have the rest of the day & night to go.
Our hotel in Bergama is a beautiful restored stone building which is lovely & cool inside.
After a brief rest we walk through the narrow streets to the base of a cable car.
We catch the cable car to the top of the hill where we walk over the ruins of the ancient city of Pergama. The remains of the main temple look a bit precarious the way they have been placed together. We look over the top of the very steep theatre before climbing down into an arched corridor under the base of a temple. This corridor is in very good solid condition, but it is still quite hot at 6:30 pm and we head for a cold ice tea.
After catching the cable car back down we walk through the cobble stone streets to the centre of town and buy the makings of dinner for the 6 of us. We buy bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, salami, olives and halva to take back to our hotel where we buy beer & wine and sit in the roof top restaurant for a couple of hours, a fabulous way to end a very hot day.
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