The lightning over Türkiye's world-famous ancient city of Ephesus in Izmir listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List recorded late Thursday created an early summer spectacle, forming a site to behold, unleashing local photographers' enthusiasm and providing a rare look at the site.
The unexpected phenomenon came with the strong rainfall at the heels of a hot weather spell in the past couple of days where temperatures hovered around 34-37 degrees Celsius (93.2-98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
One of the main landmarks of western Izmir province located in the Selçuk district, the site is believed to date back to the 10th century B.C. and played the role of a crucial port city. The area also served as a cultural and commercial center at all stages of its history, which started in the prehistoric period and was inhabited uninterruptedly throughout the Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman, principalities and Ottoman periods.
The number of visitors to the ancient city, which hosted 1.81 million people in 2019 before the COVID-19 epidemic, regained momentum after the two-year hiatus with a number of visits reaching 1.65 million in the first 10 months of last year, according to the official tourism data.
The historical place was also the second-most preferred location among domestic and foreign visitors during the recent Qurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha) holiday, hosting some 100,233 people.
Thunderstorms and unusually high occurrences of lightning were recorded in other cities in Türkiye in June as well, including Istanbul and northwestern Bursa, providing local and international media interest.
