Aegean Coast
Ephesus
The best-preserved classical city of the eastern Mediterranean. Walk marble streets past the two-storey Library of Celsus, terraced Roman houses with intact frescoes, and a great theatre that once seated 25,000 spectators.
- Where
- Selçuk, near İzmir
- Best time
- Mar–May & Sep–Nov; first hour after opening
- Getting there
- 3 km from Selçuk — reachable by taxi, dolmuş or even on foot. Selçuk is 1 h by train or car from İzmir's airport.
- Eat & drink
- Şirince, a hill village of old Greek houses 8 km away, is the place for a long lunch of village breakfast, gözleme and fruit wines.
- Tip
- Hire a guide or audio guide — the stones come alive. Don’t skip the Terrace Houses (separate ticket).
The story
Ephesus was the New York of the Roman East: a harbour metropolis of 200,000 where the Temple of Artemis — one of the Seven Wonders — drew pilgrims from the whole Mediterranean. St Paul preached (and started a riot) in its great theatre; the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last years in a small stone house on the hill above. What survives is astonishing: marble avenues rutted by cart wheels, a two-storey library facade that held 12,000 scrolls, public latrines, a brothel and advertising carved into the pavement.
Don't skip the Terrace Houses under their protective roof — Roman townhouses with mosaic floors, frescoed walls and central heating, abandoned mid-renovation in the 3rd century and looking as if the painters just left. Come at opening or in late afternoon: tour groups from cruise ships flood the site midday, and the marble reflects serious heat in summer.
In pictures
