Troy, Pergamon, Smyrta and Epheus

Wow! Turkey is full of cool stuff! We are having an amazing time learning basic Turkish (enough to use the Bayan and order Börek), sightseeing, and drinking fine Turkish wine.

I recently discovered that the Greek (300-30 BCE), Roman (until 4th cent. AD), Byzantine (not sure on dates), and Ottoman (1X00 until 1923) empires flourished all along the coast of Turkey - leaving tons of marble and stone ruins for archaelogists to dig up. Interestingly, they date the buildings and settlements based on the ceramics found at the sites. These empires typically added on to the previous work so a variety of architecture is found among the ruins.

Ephesus was the most impressive - home to one of the seven wonders of the world: Temple of Artemis, goddess of fertility. This temple - now a hole in the ground wıth one reconstructed column - was over 400 ft by 250 ft at the base and had 130 columns at over 60 ft each. The entire thing was made completely out of marble! The ancient town of Ephesus was home to St. John and the Virgin Mary (they both died here and there were large churches built in their honor during the second century AD). The most impressive ruin was the library at Ephesus because its is largely intact from over 2000 years ago (see photos). The large marble streets of Ephesus were lined with fountains and large marble and bronze statues that rested on marble bases with Greek inscriptions. Currently, most of the statues are in museums or were taken for gifts to emperors but the bases remain.

The theater at Pergamon was amazing! This Greek theater (later used by the Romans) was located in the hillside with spectacular views of the countryside and river valley. The capacity was 100,000 people (the theater at Ephesus was similar but less impressive with capacity of a mere 25,000 people).

The weather is nice, 50s, and today I got a bit sunburned. Our hotel overlooks the Greek island of Samos. We are at Kusadasi, a resort town in the summer but rather calm in the off season.

I uploaded more photos, please sign in to Kodak gallery following the link below to see them. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=z6muajd.4687rrdd&x=1&y=78vgf0

Güle güle,
Katie