After the teasing Greek cities of Troy and Pergamum, we were quite excited to finally make it to Ephesus, famously known as the best preserved city of the ancient Greeks. Its reputation surely preceded it. As we arrived at the site – a short drive from Kusadasi – we were greeted by swarms of tourist buses. But it is a large place, so we were hoping to still enjoy the experience without feeling like we were back on an Istanbul dolmus.
Our tour leader this time around, in stark contrast to the unforgettable Captain Ali and the competent Pergamum escort with the cool stories about the origins of clapping, we were a bit underwhelmed by our Ephesus guide. Rather than bill herself as an art historian, archeologist or some other type of academic authority, she described herself as "the best finder of shade." Hmm. While this was undoubtedly useful on a hot August day with temps topping 100 degrees, after such stellar guides with impeccable credentials, this didn't seem as reassuring.
Sadly, what I most recall now from the tour isn't the spectacular, just-short-of-being-a-world-wonder Library of Celsus, or the breathtakingly enormous amphitheatre but rather the shortcomings of both our guide and the rushed pace of the tour. Jon was being uncharacteristically photogenic and wanted a funny shot of him sitting on the public toilets. Unfortunately, about 100 other people had this same idea and it actually became logistically impossible to backtrack where I could get a picture of him. (He was lagging behind a bit as usual ha ha.) So we rushed to the Library, where the group had evidently been waiting for us and then moved on after about two minutes, which isn't nearly enough time to take in the amazing condition of this ancient building.
Our tour guide also erroneously told us that one of the four statues outside the Library was "Sense of Humor" and not Knowledge or Wisdom. She was completely wrong. What does sense of humor have to do with a library? But we were at least in a shady spot as she related this inaccurate bit of trivia.
So we left Ephesus feeling quite disappointed, not at anything in the city itself (except for the several thousand tourists) but at the general shoddiness of the tour.
And to add insult to injury, after the tour was finished our tour guide took us to an exorbitantly overpriced and touristy restaurant. Since lunch was included we didn't bother to think about the cost of the drinks – the only part of lunch we needed to pay for. Our guide informed us (again mistakenly) that it was a law in Turkey that you couldn't bring outside drinks into a restaurant. What a scam to get us to buy drinks that we might not have gotten otherwise since we still had a big bottle of water from the morning. The restaurant was overwhelmed by several buses arriving at once so we had a wait a loooong time for our cop sis. Jon ordered an extra drink because we were waiting for so long. When we got our bill at the end we found out that they charged 4 YTL for cherry juice! So he paid 8 YTL for two small cans when you could've gotten gallons of cherry juice for the same price in a local grocery store. What a different Ephesus experience from when I went in November 2003. We had the place to ourselves and maybe one other tour group. It was fabulous to take as much time as we wanted to marvel at the architecture as we imagined walking through the agoras of ancient Greece. 
The Aegean coast of Turkey is filled with ancient Greek cities. It's difficult to differentiate them in your mind after the fact - was that cool amphitheatre at Aspendos or Aphrodisias? - but these three stick out in my mind. This is partly because I've now been them twice but also because they are among the most visited by tourists.
Let's start with Troy. Troy is certainly the most famous of the three. I never knew Troy existed in real life until my first Turkey tour in 2003. There is so much allure and appeal to Troy because of its well-known history. I was so excited to visit the set of one of history's most well-known stories. Unfortunately for us there is little left to show that Helen, Paris, Hector and Achilles once dwelled in this place. Apart from an endearingly cheesy life-size replica of the infamous Horse,
all that remains are old foundations, a couple of walls and a large ramp that was used for chariots (and alas, historians are sure that it wasn't used to pull the horse into the city).
Our tour guide Captain Ali, who also showed us around Gallipoli (and had plenty more jokes about his wife and his short stature) did a nice job of pointing out some of the interesting details of the place like the difference between Greek and Roman walls. (Greeks had more emphasis on aesthetics for those of you dying to know.)
While Troy is notable for its famous myth/history, the site of Pergamum offers more, well, sights and quite a few interesting tales of its own, told to us by another very interesting and knowledgeable guide . As a weary traveler Pergamum lets you take in more of its history without struggling to imagine what it must have looked like in each of its nine different incarnations. There's the Temple of Trajan, albeit in a ruined state,
and a breath-taking old theatre that could hold about 10,000 people. It is breath-taking merely in its steepness. I felt my legs wobble as I looked down upon it.
This is where, reportedly, the act of clapping first came into existence. Apparently, the Emperor used to come to see shows at this place and at the end of the performance, the Emperor got first dibs on leaving the place to avoid the gridlock that follows such an event. Unfortunately for the attendees, one Emperor didn't have such a great attention span and used to fall asleep during the performances, forcing the poor spectators to spend the night until he awoke. As this continued to happen, the clever theatre-goers began clapping at the end of the performance in order to wake up the sleepy Emperor, which is a practice we've now continued to this day.
Pergamum is also where parchment was invented, after the Greeks were no longer able to acquire papyrus. The creation of this parchment was highly successful, and as a direct result or not, Pergamum also became home to the second largest library in the ancient world, only after Alexandria. However, no books remain from that library because the whole collection was given to Cleopatra as a wedding gift. The Pergamumians (?) were seemingly quite generous because they not only gave up their lovely library but also their entire kingdom. The last king of Pergamum, before it became Roman territory, actually just handed over his whole empire to the Romans. Apparently, he had no heirs or was off his rocker at the time of death. This region of Turkey is one of the few areas of the Roman world that wasn't taken by force.
Ironically, what was taken from the Turks was an important part of Pergamum's history and it wasn't the Romans who were to blame. The exquisite Altar of Zeus
with its marble friezes of an epic battle between the gods and the giants, is nowhere to be found. Where it used to be, there is nothing left but some foundations and an old tree. You have to travel to Berlin, Germany to see this ancient altar at the Pergamum Museum. There is of course much controversy over this, much like Elgin's Marbles at the Acropolis in Athens. It is unlikely that these will be returned, as the Germans would have to change the name of an entire museum to do so.
While both Troy and Pergamum are fascinating and beautiful, the ancient city of Ephesus is simply spectacular. And, not realizing that I could write this much about both Troy and Pergamum, Ephesus truly deserves its own separate blog.
