Ephesus Off The Beaten Path

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I suspect that the Curetes street in Ephesus is one of the most beaten path in the world, haha! Hundreds of tourists crowd there all day long and it’s very difficult to take a photo without catching one or many strolling persons in front of a sight!

But I could notice several off the beaten paths in Ephesus… Really these paths exist there! You won’t see any tourists and guides there. Are you intrigued? Yes, these are goat’s paths which you can see at my pictures. Only goats can walk upwards the hills around Ephesus and enjoy lonely walk above touristic crowds, haha!

You can watch my 1 min 12 sec Video clip Ephesus's goats with Nalan – Cayir-Cayir Turkish pop music.

Not much remains of the Church of the Blessed Virgin. It was built in the late 5th century B.C. The church had various additions over the next five hundred years but fell into disrepair like everything else in Ephesus. Unlike the rest of the site, I could not approach the church ruins for further inspection as the grounds were fenced off. I almost considered this a bit of a tourist trap for this reason but who knows this may change after time.

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Near Selçuk, after a few kilometers of a road among orchards, we found the nice village of Sirince. The village is surrounded by orchards, vineyards and olive trees.
On the top there is an old orthodox church. The population of this village was greek before 1922. Then, it was called Kirkintze.
The old village and the sorroundings are very well described by Dido Sotiriou in her novel "Matomena chomata", (Farewell Anatolia).

It is said that St. John lived here in the last years of life. The Basilica of St. John was built by Justinian the Great, the Byzantine Emperor, in the 5th century on the spot were they supposedly found the tomb of St. John. The church was said to be astonishing in its day but today it is a very large ruin. This is because of the centuries of earthquakes and pillaging. It was restored to some degree about one hundred years ago. If you want to visit a good Byzantine ruin after your visit to Ephesus, then by all means come here as the place was quite interesting. The ruins are located northeast of Selcuk on St. Jean Cad.
The Basilica of St. John is open from 8am to 6pm daily and costs $2.00 for a visit.

Not truly off the beaten path...this one actually IS the beaten path, haha...but interesting.

While doing some research on the Net before my trip, I found a web site with a picture of "Christian graffiti". Apparently early Christians carved these markings into the paving stones of the Arcadian Way.

These carvings were made by totally ordinary people, with no intention of making them last thousands of years. But here they are. Quite impressive considering they are stepped upon by thousands of feet daily. They're not far from where the Arcadian Way meets the Marble Street in front of the amphitheatre.

For an explanation of the meaning of the graffiti at lower left, go to
http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/resources/www/pictures/turkey/symbol.html.

Priene was a welcome relief from crowded Ephesus. A dramatic setting with a haunting beauty. There is a peacefulness here. You can hear the wind sighing in the pine boughs. The theatre and the Temple of Demeter are breathtaking.

Don't miss Priene if you get a chance to visit.
I'd choose it over Miletus if time were a factor.

Here is another great detail of a fassade, looking even good , although taken out of one of my old super-8 movies.Sorry for the bad quality of the photo - it is a scanning of my Super-8-film, that is actually like a slide with a size of just 4mmx8mm

I may simply admire these great artists, having been able to produce such works of art with old techniques

You may see small fragments of fassades or statues, lying around at many places and so it is worth to explore also the side-streets whenever possible.
The person standing next to this great sculpture may show you the big size of this rock and you may imagine how difficult it was - especially with just the old technical means - to get a stone of this size on the right place of a fassade.
Sorry for the bad quality of the photo - it is a scanning of my Super-8-film, that is actually a slide with a size of just 4mmx8mm