Newly Excavated Ruins 18 Years Later at Ancient Ephesus

Day 104, 2025 Grand World Voyage

Friday, April 18, 2025; Kusadasi, Turkey.

I last toured Ephesus, near the Turkish harbor of Kusadasi, in 2007. While you might think such a historic site of ruins dating back more than 2,000 years wouldn’t change much in 18 years, it was well worth another visit today. Excavations have continued, so we saw much more than on my first visit.

At first I silently rued that the private tour I joined had a 7:10 a.m. meeting time, cutting into my early morning coffee hour. But it quickly became evident that the early start was a great idea, as we were ahead of the crowds from the three cruise ships in port today. Only one bus beat us to the House of Virgin Mary, where many believe the mother of Jesus came with the apostle John to live after the crucifixion.

All that remains of the original structure are parts of the foundation, with a chapel recently built above it (no photos allowed inside). We pretty much had the wooded area to ourselves, and my Merlin app had no problems identifying the noisy birds as song thrushes and Eurasian wrens. However, I never spotted them in the leafy trees.

The real objective today were the ruins of Ephesus, the once booming city made famous for Christians by the presence there of Saint Paul and his letters to the church of Ephesians. But the city was built almost 10 centuries earlier on the coast of the Ionian Sea. Today, it is about 20 miles from the sea, as silt filled its harbor. It’s the largest Roman archaeological site in the eastern Mediterranean, and in its Roman heyday its population is estimated at almost 60,000 (although some sources put it at more than 200,000).

As is typical, our bus driver dropped us off with our guide at the high point of the city’s excavations, and we slowly worked our way downhill for the next 90 minutes. Parts of the walkway consisted of slick marble and tiles, and I later heard that a number of fellow passengers slipped and fell. I was overly careful to stay on the rough concrete where possible.

Among the ruins we saw were legislative assembly buildings, markets or agoras, public toilets and Roman baths, temples, theaters and villas for the wealthy of the day. The ruins are a combination of stones, carvings and columns, reconstructed with plain concrete blocks to portray facades, arches and structures as much as possible.

Our guide said it is like a jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces that have been difficult to reconstruct. However, he said now the pieces and fragments are scanned, and AI (artificial intelligence) is used to facilitate the process.

The Great Theater, where on my previous visit we wandered among the seats for 24,000, was closed today as reconstruction continues. Ground-penetrating radar shows that at least another 2,000 seats are still to be excavated.

The highlight is the Library of Celsus, with its façade reconstructed from original pieces. It held as many as 12,000 scrolls.

We left behind the ruins of central Ephesus – as well as the growing crowds and the many cats who call it home today – to pass through the obligatory plaza of souvenir shops.

Next was the Temple of Artemis, where only one of the more than 100 original marble pillars stands. It is another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (see Lighthouse of Alexandria and Great Pyramid of Giza), and today the site represents the multiculturalism of Turkey with a mosque, church, temple remains and castle in the same photo.

I’m convinced that you cannot avoid the opportunity to buy a rug when visiting the resort city of Kusadasi.

Tours frequently end with what seems like a compulsory visit to a carpet shop, which is difficult to leave without seeing dozens of the wool, cotton and silk rugs. Thinking our tour would end at one of the shops by the port, I had planned to simply leave the tour first. But our visit came amid our return to town, combined with our delicious lunch (complete with a large dog intent on sharing).

It was better than previous experiences, with our host showing us three rugs in progress as well as how the silk threads come from cocoons and are spun into fibers. We saw numerous finished products, most of which were beautiful. A nice silk runner came with an initial price of $4,500 (shipping included), but alas, I have no home for a rug. Or the money.