#3 for me!

Yup the third of seven ancient world wonders on the "to do" list for today. Got a bus to Ephesus. £5.00...and the buses here, they're what we call shuttles in the city. The Turks would likely be appalled by the muni busses in SF. Before you get into the archeological site, there are shops and a few eateries, and (to date) my favorite shop sign/motto: (ya ready? It's awesome promise!) "Genuine Fake Watches!" I nearly fell over laughing...made mom find it for herself, (way too fun to spoil it by pointing it out!) oh yes, pictures were taken! Walked around for about 4 hours, saw 2 amphitheaters, one for games and plays the other (smaller) for government business, (speeches and the like) and concerts. This was a huge port city. The most famous ruin is the library...makes the SF main library look like plain Jane. The library was constructed well after the city was built, and was given what little space was left in the city walls. To make up for it's size, the architect used grander, the two story structures facade is still amazingly gorgeous. Marble, 8 statues, the columns and stairs are set in a way to trick the eye into believing the space is much larger than it really was. There's the remains of a public latrine, a bath house, some homes, terrace houses, the umm oldest female profession area (look it up if you're unaware) a gate of Zeus that was created to be small enough that no chariots could come through. Some temples dedicated to various emperors. On to Artemis procession way (woo who must be getting close to Artemis' temple), more shops (stoa)...and we're at another paid entrance. (be tee dub, ya can get the genuine fake watch at this entrance too- I know you had to be concerned about this!) Frick...how on earth did we miss the biggest temple of Ephesus?!? Whatever, I'm hungry and about to get nasty about it...(did I mention it's frigging humid and H-O-T...with an occasional breeze) ask the guard, (repeatedly) may we go eat and come back in? "Yes, go ahead." oh yay! After a leisurely (70+) minute lunch, I go say hello to a shop keepers puppy, to discooovvveerr. Artemis' temple...yeah it's not in the Ephesus archeological site....umm alrighty then. So happy I asked!!! I'm in Kusadasi specifically to see said world wonder...no the tiny "dedicated to" from such and such family on the procession row wasn't what we were looking for, (nice try mumsicle) get back to the gate, and cause a bit of a hullabaloo...am shown the fine print that states (basically) no in and outs...yeah dude, thanks for the reading lesson..this was why I asked, 3 times if eating was okay...you said yes...and since when does going to some type of monument/park etc have a no reentry rule?!? Good grief. Said my oops sorries, and with £20 (each) still in my pocket, an empty bladder and a refueled system, headed the kilometer+ back to the other gate, grabbed a cab, and off to the temple of Artemis... Zee temple of Artemis (no entry fee) is now mostly under a lake. There's one pillar left but not much else,(lots of cute baby turtles though, and geese and there's a stork nest on the top of the last standing pillar)  the grounds are HUGE, this would have given a Vegas hotel property a run for who's bigger. Though this was officially part of ancient Ephesus, I'm glad we cabbed it...(about the same as walking from the outer Mission to the Marina in SF, hills included, add heat) walked into Selçuk, went by a mosque, saw (another) castle of St. John (spelled Jean here) opted "no" on the entry fee for this one...(castle #4 for us, no offense but it's nearly 5, and we started around 10ish) got directions from the guy working at the castle door (4 points to Turkey, none of the "just go straight") get back to the bus and head back to Kusadasi. Gorgeous sunset, walk to the center for dinner (we're sidetracked, more about that on the next post) get home around 1:30am, and off to sleep. We're headed to Pumakkale at 8am!!,
More info on Ephesus: http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/ephesus_history.htm
Temple of Artemis: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-temple-of-artemis
Quotes:  
"Every exit is an entry somewhere.” -Tom Stoppard
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu
“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell