Ephesus - Marble Street where Saint Paul walked

Early in the morning it was time to leave the hotel - I am not usually a morning person but when in the Middle East you have to get up early to avoid the midday sun in the summer.

 

At 9 in the morning I got to the old city of Ephesus at it was already starting to warm up nicely - over 30c in the shade - not that there is that much shade inside the gates to Ephesus. I went in armed with about 3 litres of water for the tour around the place.

 

Inside Ephesus it's on to explore the ancient Greek city which later became one of the most important Roman harbour cities in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The main street is the old marble street which is a bit slippery when dry hence one can only imaging what it would be like in the rain.

 

Going through the old city you can imagine how it would be with the people sprawling all over meting in the parliament or at the public toilets next to the marble street. Where you could have walked pass Saint Paul when he was in town on his trip around the world to spread the words of the Jesus.

 

Heading down the marble street one building stands out as something extraordinary the remains of the old public library. A very impressive building which show how big an importance these matters used to have among the Greeks and Romans in the ancient period.

 

Next stop on the tour around the place is the impressive old Amphitheatre from the top there is a view out to where the old harbour used to be.

Today there is just a green area. The reason for the city's decline was the harbour fill up with sediments which cut the city off from the sea leading to a decline in trade and importance.

 

After spending a couple of hours amongst the old ruins in the blistering sun it is time to leave heading out the entrance I check my water supply - somehow I managed to go through 2½ litres of water in just over 2 hours in Ephesus and it is still just over 11.

 

Going outside Ephesus all the big tourist busses were arriving with the entire charter tourist who were leaving the beach for one day to do something cultural and seeing an ancient city. When one of the busses came the guide told the tourist they better stuck up on water because they could not buy any inside Ephesus and the day before it had been the hottest day in Ephesus in the last 70 years and today seem to become even hotter.

Apparently the day before 2 people had died the day before as a result of dehydration - at least this is what the guide told his group it could just be so they would drink more water. But thinking how hot I had felt it inside and considering I am younger and in better shape than most of the overweight day-trippers coming to see Ephesus I could easily imagine some of them getting in trouble when the temperature would climb above forty in the afternoon.