May 21 based in Selcuk on Aegean coast.
Slow morning to catch our breath, respond to emai, finish laundry and plan the day. We have a car rented for the day which was delivered to our door by a young man from the travel agency who spoke very little English. We just filled out a form – no credit card required, no upfront payment, no checking our drivers licenses. Just sign the form and you get the keys. Bill is our designated driver for the entire trip.
We didn’t go far on our exploration drive, maybe 70 or 75km but we picked a beautiful destination – the Milli National Park on the Dilek Peninsula. I had thought we were going to see the renowned Priene ruins which are also on this peninsula. But our touristic map was crap and we took a wrong turn – so to the national park we went. Drove through the port city of Kusadaci where all the cruise ships dock – not impressive and we are glad we didn’t stay there. However one thing we noticed is that the post war buildings throughout the Turkish cities and villages have much more charm and architectural design than Greece does – good use of colors and materials and shapes. Whereas in Greece all the new buildings are just square concrete boxes – all with the same balconies, flat roofs and rebar sticking out of the roof, in hopes of avoiding the tax man.
Beyond Kusadaci we drove through mostly rural farm areas with a few small villages and one town with no ATM’s that dispense euros, only Turkish liras. In Turkey, especially in Istanbul, euros are widely used and many prices quoted in euros, even though Turkey is not part of the EU and its official currency is the Turkish Lira. We have had prices quoted in dollars, liras, euros and even British sterling pounds. So its’ confusing to do two conversions to estimate what something costs. Found a good app for my phone from xe.com.
The views from the National Park were stunning, looking over the Aegean sea with the Greek of Samos in the distance.
http://www.kusadasi.biz/info/around/national-park
We drove to a beach that had just a few sunbathers and nice facilities – changing room, showers and bathrooms. The water was cold and beach was very rocky but we wanted to say we swam in the Aegean. Actually it was the Straits of Mykale.
After swimming, I was reading a guide book about how a boar was part of the mythology on how the location of Ephesus was first chosen (The Oracle at Delphi told Androcles a fish and a wild boar would lead him to the location in which to build his city. As he was cooking fish on an open fire one day, sparks lit nearby bushes, and a wild boar ran out. He chased the boar and killed it, then established the colony on that site. ) And down the road comes running a big hairy ugly boar scavenging for picnic scraps. At the car we encountered a herd of mama pigs and their babies.
There were very few people on this beach. As we were leaving we started talking to some girls at the next picnic table. It turned out that they were the same Russian girls that sat next to us on the plane ride from Cappadoccia to Izmir. What is the chance of meeting up with someone who was staying in a different town and didn’t have a car (they took local dolmus bus to the beach)? But that is one of the small pleasures of traveling. This happened several times during our travels where we would run into the same people in different cities.
We stopped at a seaside restaurant just outside the park for late lunch. It is early in the season and many venues are not yet open. We were one of two tables that were occupied at this little place. Waiters didn’t speak much English, but enough to understand that Barb can’t eat garlic. But not enough to get the order correct – they brought things that we didn’t order and of course we ate it all. Calamari, octopus, sea bass, sea bream, beets, dips – all good. And a view to die for.
On our drive home we took a detour up a hill to the House of the Virgin Mary was perched looking down on Selcuk and Ephesus. Site was closed but the panorama views were worth the drive.
I had read about an old Greek village of Sirince on the turkeytravelplanner.com website and we thought it would be a nice place to drive up to just before sunset and have dinner. It was 8 km up a windy rural road, too far I think for most tourists to stay overnight. What a disappointment this village was to me. The old houses where the Greeks once lived were abandoned and in ruins. The one Greek Orthodox Church was abandoned and stripped inside of its ornamentation. The main part of the village had been turned into a Turkish bazaar for the benefit of the busloads of tourists who came up each day. Booths selling junk were setup in front of the houses and touts trying to get your attention as you walked by. And every booth selling the same junk, probably made in China.
The Sirince Museum was the village’s only saving grace. It’s located in the old school house and shares the space with a restaurant. I love folk life museums that showcase clothing, utensils, photos and furnishings.
Back to our little apartment in Selcuk to eat snacks for dinner and to start packing for our next leg – Greece.