Ephesus

Ephesus was one of the first places we visited when we got to Greece. It's one of the most intact ancient cities in the country, maybe of all ancient Greek ruins, I can't really remember. It was such an amazing and breathtaking place. It was gorgeous in all of it's entirety. The streets were paved with marble (one part was a full mosaic). The buildings and carvings were so intricate, it was incredible. The library was insanely intact and there were full sculptures in it that barely had any wear to them. The whole city was huge, I can't even start to describe it with words or through my pictures. It was probably one of the coolest places I've been. It really put you in such a crazy perspective walking down the marble road and through the buildings and structures, you really felt apart of the city.

A description of the foundation of the city said that it goes back to the Neolithic Ages (6000 B.C.). Researchers in the recent years revealed settlements from Bronze Age and Hitite period on tumuli (prehistoric hilltop settlements) around Ephesus where a castle is located. The city was founded around 300 B.C by Lysimakhos who was one of the generals of Alexander the Great. The city lived during the Hellenistic and Roman period, and had a population of 200,000 as the capital and largest port city of Roman Province of Asia.