May 20, 2014
We really enjoyed our time in Cappadoccia. It is has a surreal landscape, great views and hiking, layers of history and good food. Sorry to leave but on to Aegean coast of Turkey today.
Flew to Izmir where a car was waiting to bring us to Selcuk. Our driver was a little nervous that he was going to get a camera ticket if he stayed too long waiting for us and we were an hour late. Beautiful ride through rolling farmlands and hills to the town of Selcuk where we had reserved a small vacation cottage. The owner is a Brit expat living 30 years in Turkey. She made all our travel arrangements on this leg of the journey – car, airport pickups, taxis, ferry tickets etc. She made it very easy and her prices were good. Here everyone is trusting and you pay your bill in cash when you leave.
Arrived at a cute little house in a Turkish town close to Ephesus in time to rest and then visit the famous Roman and Byzantine town in the late afternoon. Crowds were gone and as you can see we were alone at some of the major sites. Selcuk is a working Turkish town about 2 1/2 miles from Ephesus. We scavenged from our food for lunch, took a rest and a driver picked us up to take us to the upper level of Ephesus.
Ephesus has been home to ancient civilizations since 11th century BC – first by the Ionian Greeks, Persians, Romans, Byzantine, Ottoman empire and important people from history including Alexander the Great, Sts Paul and John and the Virgin Mary.
Back to town to do some shopping for dinner at home. The grocery shopping was comical – noone spoke English and all the food labels were in Turkish and I don’t yet know the basic words for milk, cheese, yogurt and it’s not always obvious which is which if the packaging isn’t familiar.
We did find fresh bread, tomatoes and cherries.
Our rental house has a small pool and lovely outdoor seating area and views to the west of town and its fortress. It is small inside with all modern amenities. Weather is lovely for sleeping with the windows open – except for dogs barking at night.
The porch has views of the fortress and the setting sun. Barb and Bill called it an early night while Les and I stayed up reading and writing. Across the street, an accordion player was entertaining their hotel guests (and us) on their roof top terrace. Thankfully this house has a washer so we can get caught up on washing clothes. Barb is in charge of hanging clothes to dry on the clothes lines where things dry quickly with sun and dry heat.