Winter in Turkey impressions #14: Ephesus surprised me not only with its sheer size and the huge roman theatre, but also with some incredibly well kept mosaics and wall paintings in some excavated houses. Lucky i arrived early, because i spent way much more time than estimated before. It was so amting to roam trough these contemporary witnesses from so many eras and history.
Winter in Turkey Impressions #3: Heliopolis, an ancient roman town, lies just in the mountains above Pamukkale. Get your impressions here:
In the tiny rental car the Judaean Desert felt even more huge. A black bitumen road navigates between stony fields, rocky areas and along deep, dry valleys with some rare, green oasis. I have to admit, i always do enjoy traveling trough lonely deserts. All in a sudden a deep blue surface appeared on the edge of a plateau. I reached the Dead Sea region.
Not far from here i arrived at the foot of a mountain. On top of it is the legendary fortress of Masada.
Built by Herod the Great it has two palaces for himself and fortified city on the plateau of the mountain. Beside the space for the inhabitants it also has huge storage rooms and a clever system of water drains and cisterns. King Herod enjoyed life up here with big, painted halls, terraces overlooking the Dead Sea and even heated baths.
Later the fortified city was occupied by the Jewish on the First Jewish-Roman War. The story tells a sad end of the folks up there. When the Romans besieged the fortress, they even build up a ramp to breach the walls. The people inside the city decided not to go in slavery but rather commit a mass suicide.
Nowadays a cable car brings the tourists on the top. There’s still a long, steep way uphill for the wanderers. I preferred to spend some time up there and wander between the ruins. Some wall paintings are still well preserved, as parts of the Roman bath is too. Even the earthen ramp, which was built to breach the wall, is still good to see.
The view is just stunning. On the back raises the mountains of the desert with its nice rock formations. On the front lies the blue Dead Sea with the Jordan mountains on the other side. It was so beautiful and magic, i spent longer than planned, but regret not one minute of it.
It’s not the most impressive Roman remains. Neither by its size, nor its preservation or buildings. The location is it, what makes it for a nice stop on my way up north along the coast.
And the location gave this town also the name: Caesarea Maritima For more details to its history follow the link i provide.
Altough there was already a few bus loads of tourists, the site wasn’t overrun. At the amphitheatre, overlooking the sea, a group of young Americans sang even a few short songs for the audience. I enjoyed it with the crowd, but later i went my own way.
The trick is, to bring patience and let pass the tour groups, try to move between the groups and find farther niches, which let me imagine how the life was around 2000 years ago.
Looking over the mosaic floor trough the archway and stepping out on the terrace to catch some sea breeze. Life wasn’t that bad here 2000 years ago…
rene bauer photography 