On the recommendation of our host, we had hired a guide to escort us around the Ephesus ruins and had arranged to meet him in front of our sister hotel at 8:30 AM. Nazmi, the hotel owner, drove the three of us to the archeological site. We spent the next 3 hours spellbound by Mahmet's commentary and the physical structures around us. From the small theatre called the Odeon to the larger or Great Theatre with room for 25,000 spectators, down the Curettes, Marble and Arcadian Ways, we saw temples, bath houses, public latrines, and brothels. One of the most impressive structures was the Library of Celsus (the large building in the background in the first two pictures).
At the end of our tour, Nazmi picked us up and arranged for us to have lunch at a small local restaurant serving traditional tribal food where we ate lunch lounging like sultans. Rich and I both had gozlemes (the thin crepe-like pancake I mentioned yesterday), although I had the mixed vegetarian option and he, of course, opted for one with meat. We also toured the Cave of the Seven Sleepers and, later in the day, the house of the Virgin Mary,which is where Mary is believed to have spent her last years. We also did a little shopping in town, bought our train tickets for tomorrow (as we head back to Izmir and then onward to Athens), and had dinner at a quiet neighborhood kebap restaurant.
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