2019 Nov 13 Ephesus (Selçuk) · Westbound

Nov 13, 2019 Ephesus (Selçuk) · Westbound
Headed west along the sea, late-Roman/early-Christian ruins kept popping up on both sides of the road. Like in China, the attraction signs are maroon—very international—but mostly in Turkish. I only turned off for sites with Turkish-and-English labels or a UNESCO emblem. Without notes, you’d never guess many of them span almost a millennium, from 400 BC to AD 400. The better-preserved ones are mostly necropoleis: some tombs cut straight into the mountains, some set on freestanding pillars, and many sarcophagi just lying on grassy verges. Almost all were looted—the handsome tomb façades neatly opened with “skylights.” What were once Gates of Hades became literal gates to wealth. Inside the carved but empty chambers there are traces of later habitation; the stone headrest on the king’s burial couch has been polished smooth—surely not by the king. The grandest temple façade even has a sliding-door groove; I can’t tell if it was meant to let the living in or the dead out.
The road gradually bent north and the landscape shifted. Fields stayed green; towns linked one after another—so different from the east, where you might see only a few cars all day. The rolling hills looked soft, and I even saw landforms like three to five UFOs landed together. Over a pass I stopped for a photo and said goodbye to the eastern Mediterranean. I wondered how the Aegean would greet me for the first time ahead.
Ephesus became my stop for the night—tradition says the Virgin Mary spent her last days here. I ate a street-side dürüm under the stare of a dozen big cats, hard to meet their eyes. A distant castle lit in gold looked like a Western dragon; Europeans don’t seem to love dragons the way we do, but I like that chunky silhouette. From a small balcony, with whiffs of grilling meat drifting up, I watched shopkeepers hang shutters for the night. Perhaps an ordinary day, perhaps rich with finds—either way, like us, the town seems to look forward to tomorrow.

2019年11月13日 以弗所 一路向西，鳗说鳗聊
● 一路向西，沿着海，古罗马基督教时期的大片遗址从路两侧不时的冒了出来，和国内一样，景点名称指示牌是枣红色的，这点挺国际的，上面依然是土耳其文，太多了，要是都去肯定不现实，所以只选择标志上有土文和英文并存的或是有世界文化遗产标志的下道去看看，要是没有注释真不知道他们相互本身也跨越了小千年，从公元前400年到公元400年，很有意思的是保存尚好的多数为墓地，有的直接开凿在山体上，有的就这么放在路中间的石柱上，最多的就是把破损的石棺直接放在路边的绿地里。共同点就是几乎全部被盗掘，漂亮的墓门上都被整齐的凿出了“天窗”，本来的地狱之门变成了真实的财富之门，里面除了雕刻空空的墓室，居然依稀还有人生活过的痕迹，以前躺着国王遗体石床上的头枕已经被“盘的”很光滑圆润，我想“盘”他的应该不是国王本人吧，最大的一座神庙门脸儿石门居然还有个推拉门的门槽，不知道这个设计是方便后人进去还是方便先人出来。路的行经慢慢开始向北，地貌也发生了变化，农田还是绿油油的，城市小镇一个个的连接着，不像东部地区一天也碰不到几辆车，丘陵地貌连绵起伏，圆润的像飞碟三五个落在一起的地貌还是第一次见到，开过一个爬坡翻山的小平台，下来照了张照片，和东地中海说再见了，不知道前面的爱琴海会用什么方式跟我打第一个照面儿。以弗所，我准备在这里歇脚，圣母的最后时光就是在这里度过的，晚间在街边的小店上吃了个肉卷，被十几只大喵一只盯着，有点不忍对视。远处的古堡被灯光照亮，有点像金色的东方卧龙，但在欧洲龙好像不像东方龙那么招人喜爱，但造型我还是比较喜欢欧洲龙的憨态。在不时徐徐飘来烤肉香的小阳台上看着街上形形色色的商家挂上门板准备打烊，这一天也许平凡，也许收益满满，也许我们一样期待明天。