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| View of the entrance to the Getty Villa from the bus stop across the street. The building at the top of the hill is a private residence and has nothing to do with the Getty. |
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| Excavation of a section of Terrace House 2 in Ephesus with frescoes and a mosaic floor. Photo: OeAI-Vienna Niki Gail |
The Terrace House area is a separate admission from
the other areas and because of time constraints, not many people get to visit
this excavation.
Of course the main reason I attended the lecture
(other than having been to Ephesus) was because of the above photo on the Getty
website: a beautiful mosaic in excellent condition. Apparently, many mosaics
were discovered in the Terrace House residences.
In the two and a half days we were in Turkey I was
extremely impressed and hope some day to return for a longer period of time. Perhaps
next time I will be able to stay in Ephesus long enough to explore it
thoroughly.
I almost didn’t make it to the lecture. A friend who
was going with me cancelled. And it looked like a big storm was coming in. I
had planned to go by bus and didn’t want to get soaked, but after checking the
weather forecast I decided to brave it.
It so happens October 20 was National Archaeology Day. I don’t
know if that was part of the reason the museum was overflowing with visitors. I
heard somebody say they were turning people away at the gate who didn’t have a reservation.
And the lecture hall was standing room only. So one lucky person on standby got
to take my friend’s seat. I was happy it didn’t go to waste.
Since the Metro Expo Line train station arrived in
Culver City, the bus lines that cover my part of town (LA Metro, Santa Monica
Big Blue Bus and Culver City Bus) have tweaked their bus routes to stop near
the station. So now I am a short walk from the Line #534 Express bus stop that
takes me all the way to the front gate of the Getty Villa via the Santa Monica
Freeway. I used to have to take a bus several miles east to the bus center on
Fairfax, change to the #534, then backtrack all the way west again. This made
for a very long journey to the Villa. So, even more good fallout from the
train!
Once you get to the Getty Villa, you show your entry
ticket to the guard, then press the button for the shuttle to take you up to
the museum. Unfortunately, there is no accommodation for visitors to walk up to
the top of the hill. Personally, I think this was a huge oversight when they
remodeled the museum in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Maybe there were
insurance reasons, I don’t know, but there are plenty of stairs inside the
complex so it makes no sense to me. It’s almost like they are discouraging
public transportation as it can take longer to wait for the van as it would to
walk up. Plus, leaving the museum it is a circuitous journey around the back of
the compound and through the streets back to the gate.
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| View from bus stop on Pacific Coast Highway looking towards Malibu. |
The bus stop for the homeward bound part of the trip
is on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway. Two bus seats are perched
precariously in the dirt at the top of a small slope above the beach.
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| View across Santa Monica Bay with Palos Verdes on horizon at right center. |
But what
a view! Even though it was a gloomy, cloudy day, the perspective looking out across
the Santa Monica Bay to the south and Malibu to the north is astonishing. Must
be one of the best bus stops in the world!
In case you are interested, the bus came at 4:00pm
and I was walking through my front door at 4:55pm. I could hardly make that kind of time in my
car!
Please click on the photos so you can see tham at a decent size!
(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)
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