Bodrum life: Mom's trip - Ephesus Visit!!

So i'm way behind on my blog posts, so I figured I'd do some Throwback Thursday style blog posts!

This weeks throw back is when we went to Ephesus with my mom! It was her last full day in Turkey so Paris, Betül, Mom and I drove up to spend the day touring the Ephesus sites! Its about a 2 and a half to 3 hour drive depending on how often you stop :)

About an hour or so outside of Bodrum there is this wonderful small site that Betül took us to. There is a large marble temple and an amphitheater. The site is in very good condition, and because there are so many of these sites around I don't think its visited as often as some of the larger sites.

Mom Paris and Me

Moms and Paris!

Corinthian Capitals :)

mothers learning about the site :)

We checked into our Korean hotel right near Ephesus in the city of Selçuk (all of the signs were translated into Korean because it is the largest group of foreign tourists that come through the area and apparently stay in this hotel). Paris spent the day at Şirince which has a beautiful village area and academic buildings. When we got there, young kids were studying math in the large lecture hall :)

Theater village area

Marble sculpture in Math village

Betul, mom and I headed back to Selçuk. Şirince is in the hills about 20 minutes outside of the city and is a very pretty drive (though a little stressful at times driving on a narrow road on a high hill...)

In Selçuk there is a large medievel castle on a hill. You cannot tour the castle, though it makes for nice scenic photos!

Walking into Ephesus the first think you see is a long walkway that leads to its massive amphitheater. During the summer, concerts are still held there (just like the amphitheater in Bodrum!). There weren't too many tourists when we visited and it actually got pretty sunny and hot! We decided to save the amphitheater til the end and walked to the Library Facade (what you see in all Art history 101 text books).

moms at the theater :)

Library Facade

amazing details

Next to the Library is the Forum (Roman market place). Half of the Forum you can't access but there are still some columns that they've resurrected around the area.

taking in the view :)

side of forum next to library

Betül :)

In this area there is also replicas of statues and reliefs for blind visitors which i thought was pretty cool.

The site is very large so we walked along and checked out the many temples, houses and another smaller theater.

i don't think thats how it originally looked...

Mom and Betül in the small Theater :)

cat hidin from the sun

fountains and nymphaeums use to be all over the place here!

making mom pose some more :)

we walked back towards the library and went to the terraced apartments that were excavated in the hillside. There are amazing wall paintings and mosaics in these houses dating to the 3rd century AD

ancient graffiti in the red area :)

very sunny so some squinty eyes

the site from above

Amphitheater time!

After Ephesus we drove to the top of one of the largest hills to see the Church of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that she once lived in this small house turned church and is a pilgrimage site. The drive is amazing and gives you great views of the city, Ephesus and even the sea!

Oh hey mary! Shes located near the base of the hill on the way to the church.

This was translated into approx 10 languages

an olive tree growing within an old olive tree on the outside of the church

tiny sweet church

The church itself is very small and simple. Several Popes have visited and left gifts. Just below the church was a wall were people could attach a prayer they wrote on a piece of paper.

Wall full of prayers

The sea in the distance!

A view of Selçuk and its castle :)

There was one more site to see which was the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers. It is believed that 7 christians came to hide here from the Romans and that they slept for 200 years (This story was one that led Christians to believe in resurrection). it was pretty interesting - it looks like a large catacomb, much more than 7 tombs.