The walk, monument by monument
Ephesus is one street on a hillside. These are the buildings along it, in the order you meet them coming down from the Upper Gate.
One street, ninety metres downhill
Ephesus is not a museum you wander around. It is a city you walk through, from the civic quarter on the ridge to the road that once ran to the harbour. This is the order you meet it in, starting at the Upper Gate.
The Odeon and the upper city
A roofed council chamber for 1,500, and the civic quarter nobody stops in.
Curetes Street
Four hundred metres downhill, with the whole city arranged along it.
Temple of Hadrian
Four columns and an arch — and almost everything on it is a copy.
The Terrace Houses
Seven apartments with the paint still on the walls. Separate ticket, and worth it.
Library of Celsus
A tomb with a library on top, and a façade built to look bigger than it is.
Marble Street and the Agora
The processional road, the marketplace, and a footprint carved in the pavement.
The Great Theatre
Twenty-five thousand seats, and the best view of the harbour that isn't there.
Harbour Street
A lit avenue to a harbour that silted up and left.
The Church of Mary
Where the Council of Ephesus met in 431, and almost nobody stops.
All of it, in order
The Odeon and the upper city
A roofed council chamber for 1,500, and the civic quarter nobody stops in.
Curetes Street
Four hundred metres downhill, with the whole city arranged along it.
Temple of Hadrian
Four columns and an arch — and almost everything on it is a copy.
The Terrace Houses
Seven apartments with the paint still on the walls. Separate ticket, and worth it.
Library of Celsus
A tomb with a library on top, and a façade built to look bigger than it is.
Marble Street and the Agora
The processional road, the marketplace, and a footprint carved in the pavement.
The Great Theatre
Twenty-five thousand seats, and the best view of the harbour that isn't there.
Harbour Street
A lit avenue to a harbour that silted up and left.
Ephesus Experience Museum
Included in your €40, and most people never find it.
The Stadium
A 200-metre racetrack by the Lower Gate that everyone walks past.
The Church of Mary
Where the Council of Ephesus met in 431, and almost nobody stops.