It’s not often we return to specific tourist attractions. If we’ve seen it once, that’s usually enough. But some are so startling and stunning on first appearance that a return visit is still highly anticipated.

Ephesus is such a place. Not knowing much about it before our visit last year, it provided one of those rare travel experiences that ignited our imagination of living in another place and time. Where goddesses were worshipped in temples, books of the bible were probably written, and an enormous library was erected to house over 12,000 ancient scrolls.

This time we wanted to bring this experience back to you in a new way, and so we let the video roll.

Place yourself there: Imagine strolling on marble streets made warm from the sun. Replace tourists and cameras with Greeks and then Romans, and crumbling facades with glorious shining marble.

And the kitties, well, don’t replace them with anything. They are the current monarchs of Ephesus (there are SO many of them!), and I like to believe they’ve been there all along.