Ephesus (Izmir)

About — Ephesus (Izmir)

The nearest airport to Ephesus is Izmir Adnan Menderes (ADB), with more than twenty flights a day from Istanbul and a 50-minute drive to the site. Kusadasi (20 min) and Selcuk (5 min) are the best towns to stay in. The site opens at 08:00; in summer cruise groups arrive after 10:00 and temperatures pass 35°C, so enter at opening and walk downhill from the upper (Magnesia) gate.

What to see at Ephesus: the two-storey facade of the Library of Celsus, the 25,000-seat Great Theatre, the Temple of Hadrian and the separately ticketed Terrace Houses, well worth it for the mosaics and frescoes. The House of the Virgin Mary on Nightingale Hill is 15 minutes away. For our Gulf guests the most meaningful stop is the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, considered to be the cave of Ashab al-Kahf described in the Quran, 2 km from Ephesus and free to enter. In Selcuk, Isa Bey Mosque (1375) and the remains of the Temple of Artemis deserve half an hour.

Family tips: the marble streets are slippery and hard for pushchairs; bring trainers and a carrier. There is very little shade; a hat, sunscreen and a litre of water per person are essential. There is no food inside the site, but halal restaurants are found in Selcuk at the exit. Children enjoy testing the acoustics on the steps of the Great Theatre and shopping for handmade soap in Sirince village (8 km). Pamukkale is 3 hours away and makes an ideal two-day combination.

City Guide — Ephesus (Izmir)

Ephesus (Turkish Efes) was an ancient Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selcuk in Izmir province; it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths; the town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614, and its importance as a commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Cayster River (Kucuk Menderes). Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia cited in the Book of Revelation; the Gospel of John may have been written here, and it is also the site of a large gladiators' graveyard. Today's archaeological site lies 3 km south-west of the town of Selcuk; the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, partly owing to their easy access from Adnan Menderes Airport and via the port of Kusadasi. The area was already inhabited in the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), and the city itself was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on the Ayasuluk Hill. The mythical founder was a prince of Athens named Androklos, who founded Ephesus where the oracle of Delphi became reality ("A fish and a boar will show you the way") and united the twelve cities of Ionia in the Ionian League.