Ephesus (Efes) Tuesday June 19

We got up at 3:30 a.m. and got our stuff together and walked to Taksim and caught the Havatas bus for 12 lira apiece. It took us about 35 minutes to get to Sabiha Gokcen Airport where we had a 6:40 a.m. flight on Pegasus Airlines to Izmir. We had a quick (and expensive) breakfast at the airport and then boarded our flight which was almost full for the one hour and five minute flight. It is a 9 hour drive from Istanbul to Izmir so a flight is definitely recommended for someone who wants to visit Ephesus which is about a 50 minute drive from Izmir.
The night before our drive I saw on the weather channel that temperatures would be near 97 degrees. We decided we would rent a car rather than riding buses so we would have control over our destiny. That was a majorly good decision. We got a straight drive Ford Focus with good AC for $70 with unlimited mileage and including a prepaid toll car for tolls. We picked up the car from Avis and followed the well marked roads to the exit for Selcuk, which is he closest city to Ephesus.
Immediately upon exiting the freeway, we saw a neat looking little place for breakfast. We stopped and went to the open air restaurant called Kayayurt and sat on the shaded patio of this family owned restaurant and enjoyed another great Trukish breakfast for 50 lira for four of us. The place also had very nice restroom facilities.
We drove on to Selcuk which is an unremarkable city that looks to be only 40 years old or so. We drove the 3 km past Selcuk to Ephesus. As you approach Ephesus (called Efes in Turkey--which also happens to be the national beer), it is easy to miss the exit for Ephesus. We drove past and made a u turn. Driving back, we saw the coliseum built into a hillside.
We pulled up and paid the 7 lira parking fee. We ran the gauntlet of vendors selling everything from water to fake Rolexes to purchase our admission tickets for 25 lira apiece. We entered the grounds and began to see the many ancient architectural remains which make this place so amazing. Pictures are attached.
One thing that was surprising was the mass of tourists at this site as it is a rather isolated part of Turkey and we didn't see many fellow tourist types at the airport in Izmir. Soon we realized that the tourists had come from cruise ships that had docked at nearby towns. The tourists appeared to be European and Asian with very few or no Americans. It was very hot at the site and we wondered how some of the elderly folks were handling it.
The site has some incredible old structures, most prominently the library, the coliseum, and a column lined road. It is worth a side trip to see, especially considering round trio airfare on a 737 from Istanbul is only $75 per person. We left a very hot Ephesus and drove to the coast. More on the rest of the trip later.