Troy, Pergammon, Ephesus

Troy or Troia.
A fascinating place; nine cities, each built on top of the former; each probably destroyed by earthquakes. Faded in size and importance from about #5 or #6. Was Schliemann a visionary or a vandal? When you look at the trench that he dug and comments from our Tour Guide you would think the latter. It appears he may have capitalized on the work of someone else and got the credit. But then again – he had the money to fund the project.

Walls of Troy.










The wooden horse was an interesting sideline. Did it happen? A sea port at the mouth of the Dardanelles with fresh water and vast arable land was a more likely reason for popularity than some woman.

Troy; Fertile plains and distant sea.


A cross-section of the cities I to IX

The Bouleterion (=Parliament)


Mary and Kate with the Trojan Horse

Mary and Kate in the Trojan Horse

Bergama, site of the ancient city of Pergammon, was famous for its library, now destroyed, which was the 2nd biggest in the known world with c.200 000 scrolls. Cleopatra used her wicked ways to accumulate close to 1 million scrolls so she could claim the largest library at Alexandra – before it was decimated by fire. Actually to say the Pergammon library was destroyed is probably not accurate. There is a Pergammon Museum in Berlin with many interesting artefacts from this region. Why have they not been returned? Perhaps the same reason the Elgin Marbles are still in Britain!


Remnants of Library at Pergammon


Ruins of Pergammon

The ruins, again on top of a hill (acropolis), are quite spectacular. But being on a hill, it can get very windy

Wind-swept Tour Group at Pergammon

The theatre is the steepest around and quite spectacular. It is on the side of a hill and a bit scary to walk down.

Pergammon Theatre

Everyone who visits, has their photo taken underneath the arches!

Arches from above

Underneath the Arches

A cable car has been built in the past 12 months so access to the ruins is now easy.

Ephesus.
Extensive restoration has occurred. The ruins cover a large area already but they estimate only 18% of the site is excavated. There are 3 dominant streets with much to see all the way along.


Curetes Way

The small forum or parliament (bouleterion) has no evidence of drainage within it, so it must have had a roof.

Bouleterion at Ephesus

Wonderful sculptures abound all the way along the streets; here’s a few from along Curetes Way

The Medical Precinct: Note the symbol!


Trajan’s Fountain


Goddess Nike; Can you see the ‘swoosh’ in her robe?


The library is spectacular. Photos speak for themselves.

The Library dominates the skyline


Team Photo in front of Library


A Librarian in the Ephesus Library.


The Library from Marble Way, although, it must be said that it is a magnificent façade for a relatively small library space behind.

Further down Marble Street is the Theatre which could seat 25 000 people. (Usually about 10% of the population – so Ephesus was a big city!) Evidence of drainage in the orchestra pit suggests there was never a roof. Acoustics are still good. Classical music concerts still occur once a year, but Rock Music is now banned because of damage. (from vibration, not vandalism). The story of the artisans of Ephesus trying to have Paul thrown out of town for talking of Jesus and therefore affecting their trade in Artemis (Diana) images is fascinating and takes on more meaning when you stand in the theatre where the drama unfolded. (see Acts 19 if interested)


Theatre at Ephesus


Theatre - from a distance

Mary’s Church was the site of the Council of Ephesus in 431AD, so a significant site in Christian history.

Site of Council of Ephesus 431AD

The technology at the time was quite remarkable.



They had terra cotta pipes for water supply and drainage; even ‘sliding door’ technology in the baths.


And, of course, running water for the latrines and water for washing along the channel in front.

No visit to Ephesus is complete without the obligatory photo.


The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – now it is reduced to one marble pillar in the middle of a paddock with Gypsy traders pressuring tourists to buy their postcards, books etc.

Recycling is not a new concept – many of the pillars from here have been re-used. We saw several in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul which was built about 4th to 6th Century.

Lunch was traditional gozleme, a paper thin bread dough rolled out, folded and filled with cheese, spinach and/or ground meat then cooked on a hot plate over coals.


Extras today included a visit to a Turkish Carpet co-operative (we are now a few dollars poorer)


The small rug below had just been finished and we were part of the ceremony to cut it off the loom. Why a ceremony you ask? Well it is in silk, took 4 weavers just over 3 months to complete (so 13 months work) and went on sale for $20 000. We didn’t have that much change so we opted for a cheaper one.


Of course we visited a factory for leather coats where Kate and Leon joined the models on the catwalk.
Mary has some photos – will post later.

We resisted the temptation to buy (too expensive - didn’t have our size) but Mary and Leon purchased later from Benny’s in Kusadasi. The wine he served was quite nice and didn’t harm the chances of closing the deal. Thanks Andrew and Michele!

After dinner we spent a pleasant few hours at a local hookah bar (I did spell that correctly!) smoking from the water pipes. Sounds dodgy, but quite good fun and legal. A part of the culture here where locals relax. It is poor etiquette to be in a hurry or leave early. A line from Tour Guide Ahmet’s book (unpublished as yet) attracted my attention. ‘…the Hookah is the indispensable friend of the conversation experts’. A nice line! Jane has posted these photos already.