Ephesus: One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Recently I visited Kusadasi in Turkey which is home to the ancient city of Ephesus (Efes) it is one of the best well preserved classical cities from Roman Times. This is a site of major archeological interest due to its beautifully preserved architecture.

Ephesus was a "strategic coastal gateway to the Eastern World" and during the Roman Empire grew to be the second largest city.


I went to Ephesus without much knowledge about the site itself, which I think in hindsight was a really good idea. Its a huge site and despite this I still thought there were too many people walking around! I was just thinking that there were probably hundreds more people here now than there ever was before.

It is simply amazing how the architecture has been found and rebuilt so beautifully, as you walk around there is still the old walkways, some are cordoned off but others are more sturdy so you are able to walk around on them (for example on the left)

The layout has been preserved throughout but there are gaps where they couldn't or haven't yet found the ruins to piece back together, the excavation work on Ephesus dates back to 138 years ago and is still continuing today as you can see below and although that ruins the scenery, imagine if they could resurrect the whole of Ephesus it would be outstanding!

Ephesus was a beautiful place to visit and so awe-inspiring I just didn't stop taking photos, it is simply a beautiful place, away from the crowds of tourists I can imagine the site to be very peaceful.

Turkey currently have plans to create an electronic railway throughout Ephesus, which is unfortunate as I think it will distract from the beauty Ephesus has to offer.

The wikipedia site is very helpful about the history of Ephesus if you would like to see more:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus