An Exhausting Day at Ephesus

We were still smiling even though we had to wake up SUPER early for a 4 hour bus ride!! And, our tour guide only spoke Bulgarian!

Silly selfies with Mama!

Our Mercedes Benz bus!  Pretty snazzy!

The huge amphitheater was so impressive!  U2 and Elton John have had concerts here!!

An ancient toilet!!

It is hard to believe that these columns were first built in 10th Century B.C.!

Sitting in the outdoor theater...

Danni did not like Ephesus... she was hot and tired of walking!

Taking a stroll down an ancient city road...

Sarcophagi guy...

Super cool pillars and brick work...

Danni loved meeting the Ephesus kitties!

Another view of the amphitheatre... 

The library... probably the coolest structure we saw there!!

The library in the background was just amazing!

I found a camel friend...

 I think that one of our least favorite days in Turkey was the day that we visited Ephesus... It was a super long and exhausting day -- and Danni and I thought that Ephesus was pretty kid unfriendly!  We woke up while it was still dark outside and caught a tour bus ... little did we know that we would be stuck on that bus FOREVER! (Or that our tour guide would not speak a lick of English!!  Our bus was filled with mostly Bulgarian tourists, so the guide narrated the trip IN BULGARIAN!)  We stopped for a bad breakfast (bad in my book meant that there weren't any Cocoa Pups or pancakes...) and then continued on.  When we finally made it to Ephesus, the sun was out and it was HOT!  My feet (and I!) were both surprised at how humongous Ephesus was!  It was an ancient city that was founded in 10th Century B.C.  and was a thriving city for hundreds of years.  It was near a river which eventually became filled with silt... so the people of the city had to move, and it was abandoned in about 15th century A.D.  Archaeologists have restored many of the structures there -- the most impressive to me was the stone toilet!  ;)  Although, the library was a very close second!!  Danni and I were happy when we boarded our bus to return home.  We did not get back to our hotel until 8:00 p.m. - our journey took us about 15 long hours.  We went to dinner at our favorite Bodrum restaurant (Et Mangal) ....  we were so ready for bed after our bellies were full!!  I am glad that we saw this ancient city... but I hope that if we ever return, we won't have to take a tour bus to get there!