To reconstruct or not, that is the question?

After a pleasant wash in the sea we headed down to the advisably unmissable ruins at Efes. We kept an eye out for a bakery the whole time as Alex was out of bread. We found one about lunchtime so made our purchases and ended up picnicing in the car out front. The owner came out and gestured to us to indicate the tables around the side and a urn of tea set up that folk appeared to be helping themselves to. We thanked him and enjoyed our Turkish biscuits with an Alex approved cup of tea, (sans milk). I think the biscuits were made from rice flour. They were very nice, like good quality shortbread but with less sugar.

We made it to Efes about one thirty and only just made it around by the kicking out time at five. It is ENOURMOUS! It just went on and on. It was the Roman capital of Asia Minor so it makes sense but it's impressive how much of it there still is to see. The Archeologists have taken a very differernt tac to those of Delphi and reconstructed quite a lot of bits. After my critisism of the former it was interesting to see the alternative. I think many would cringe at the ham-fisted way the theatre has been done- lots of concrete and random pieces of remains stuck together again in roughly the right shape. On the other hand, the almost complete facia of the librairy, with statues and intricate frills and carvings all over it recreated in plaster, all attached to a new wall to support it, is what makes the site so well known and popular and the colums erected along each of the main streets make the layout and pomp of the place emerge. The height and floor space of the buildings is so much grander than anything I had seen before, this would have been an incredibly impressive city, even by today's standards. Photos of the excavations have been included on each information board, showing the state in which each area was found. I supose this is a nod to those that do not agree with the reconstruction. I have been left in two minds- there are strong arguments for and against such reconstruction but I suppose there is room is this world for both, indeed the site is so large that there is room on the site alone for both with extensive areas excavated and but now overgrown with vegetation. Were they anywhere else they would be treasured as significant finds but against the main streets they are less special so left to nature.

As with everywhere we'd been in Europe, there were many cats and kittens all over the site but, while I still bend down to stroke a few of the healthier looking specimines, I no longer go goey eyed at the sight of them and have begn to regard them in a similar way to pigions. There are so many things I forget to mention in the blog, despite the epic quantity of words I am already compelled to write, there are so many more things, especially those that, once I have been suprised by them the first time, and written about in great detail I gradually become de-sensitised to them and never even mention it when it next crops up. I wander how I will be writing after a month in Iran or on they way back?!

Alex rememberd an excellent beach spot he'd seen on the way to Efes and we have settled down in our own spot- sharing the extensive stretch with fishermen and families and friends out from town for a barbecue, all spread so far apart that I do not think they will even hear my fiddle which I will shortly play.