Devin's Travels: Selcuk

Leaving Fethiye mom and I traveled to Selcuk, the small town located just outside of the famous Greek ruins of Ephesus. We arrived in Selcuk late at night and were quickly picked up by the pension (hotel) owner that we had booked with and got settled in their fabulous pension for the night. We were welcomed with some amazing leftover stuffed vine leaves before heading to bed.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed a delicious fruit breakfast, a nice change from the standard Turkish breakfasts we were used to, and got organized to head to Ephesus. The hotel dropped us off at the upper entrance to Ephesus and upon entering we obtained an audio guide to serve as our guide through the ruins, that combined with overhearing the hundreds of other guides served us pretty well. The first stop was the Odeon, a small theatre that is fairly well preserved and seated about 1500 people. After the theatre there were a few other smaller ruins in the immediate area that we saw before heading into what appeared to be a region of caves. Inside the caves was really interesting, not only because it was a cool relief from the heat and the hundreds of other tourists, as it contained posters talking about all of the different research projects that had taken place at Ephesus over the past few years. Continuing down the hill from here we entered Curetes Street which was one of the main streets in Ephesus and runs down past shops, houses, baths, and workshops. Also lining the street were statues of gods and famous athletes although now only one statue remains in place. Walking along this street we were able to see the ancient toilet house, houses built into the hills (although we didn't enter the terraced houses), the foundations of shop houses and the Temple of Hadrian.

After Curetes Street we came to the most famous sight remaining in Ephesus: the library of Celsus. The front wall of this library is the most famous structure in Ephesus but also as a result it was always the most crowded. Leaving the library we continued to the Great Theatre, the largest structure in Ephesus, and marveled at how big the city must have been to be able to fill up the 44 000 person theatre. Leaving the theatre we came upon a short play being preformed for the tourists (pretty certain that it was for the hundreds of people on cruises that happened to tour the site the same day as us) and got to see some people act out some dancing, entertainment and even a gladiator fight all dressed in traditional costumes. Our final stop in Ephesus was the church of Mary.

Returning to Selcuk the rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying a relaxing lunch, using the internet and organizing the our onward travel. That evening we enjoyed a fabulous home cooked meal in our pension before retiring for the night.

The next day we spent the morning relaxing in Selcuk before heading out to the nearby beach where we spent the day relaxing on the sand and swimming in the Mediterranean. That evening was again spent enjoying another home cooked meal in our pension.

The third morning in Selcuk was my last day there as I was leaving my mom to continue on to Greece alone. We spent the morning getting organized to head out and then seeing the Basilica of St John the Apostle. This is quite a fabulous ruined church and said to be one of the largest in the world at the time of its construction. That afternoon after a sad goodbye to mom I boarded a bus to Izmir and from there on to Chesme where I would take a ferry across to the Greek island Chios. More on that in my next update.