Kusadasi, Turkey

Kusadasi is a resort town on the western coast of Turkey, the Asian side.  It is the closest town to Ephesus, an ancient site.

We were on a half day tour to Ephesus which was once a powerful trading port.  The Ionians built a temple to honor Diana at Ephesus and this became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, today only the foundations can be seen.

One of the best preserved structures is the Library of Celsus, the 3^rd largest library of that time.  Under the library there is a tunnel which leads to the brothel and municipal baths.  The baths still have the latrines.  This was a men’s only area and it was a large square with a pond in the middle (with nice smelling stuff in it) and surrounded on all sides by marble bench with holes cut out for the toilet seats (approx 40). You sat on the seat and there was a ditch in front which had running water and you scooped the water out to wash your bottom.  Doing your business was a communal outing!  You can still see the pipes used for drainage and the water pipes.  It was very clever and they even had heating for the cooler months.  The story goes that the women would go shopping whilst the men were supposedly in the library but had actually used the underground passage to visit the baths and the brothel.

The Romans were certainly very civilized and advanced when it came to water storage and sewerage.  The massive aquaducts are still visible and inside the baths there were changing rooms, warm water room, hot water room, steam room, cold water room etc and all was done by the way they built the structure. There were two amphitheatres at the site, one small and one larger one which was estimated to hold over 25,000 people.

It is estimated that 80% of Ephesus is still underground and waiting to be discovered.  It is recorded that Cleopatra and Mark Antony visited the city. It is said that when they arrived they poured red wine down the main avenue to the harbour to welcome them.  It is believe that this is where the tradition of laying out the red carpet came from.

The ruins were fascinating and our guide was excellent.  It was very hot around 35 but I didn’t suffer too much today as it was a very dry heat and there was no reflection off white walls.

Back on the bus and off to a carpet factory we went.  Again the carpets were just magnificent and would have loved to buy one but the cost was just a bit too high.  We then wandered thru the streets of Kusadasi (which make up the Bazaar), up and down alleys and market stalls and eventually wound our way back to the ship.

Another lovely day in Turkey.  We are both very impressed with Turkey and have no doubt we will come back here.

Trivia: A new brick 2storey townhouse of 200sq mtrs with 2 bathrooms, pool and overlooking the ocean costs $155,000.   Very tempting…