Turkey (Kusadasi, Selchuk)

Another new keyboard to learnö Turkısh thıs tımeç
(This is what happens when you use a Turkish Keyboard)

A little Turkish pronunciation guide for yah... the language is all but impossible to learn (or was for me anyways) the translation for "Do you speak English?" was only 4 words but about 50 syllables long...

• Pammakale (Paam-ah-kahl-ey)
  
• Kusadasi (Koosh-ah-daas-ee)
  
• Selcuk (Shel-chook)


• Cappadocıa (Kapp-ah-doke-e-ah)


• Scircise (your guess is as good as mine I think Sheer-see (the Greek Village)

Got into Samos on the overnight ferry, the ferry ride was beautiful here are some pics (see pics) sleeping was another matter we arrıved at 3:00 AM and had to wait outside the tourist offce for about 4 hours for it to open so we could go to Turkey. It was alright though, I took a stroll along the harbor, and saw the cutest little girl walking around drinking chocolate milk so of course I had to take her picture.

On the ferry ride to Samos

Dave at the harbor at about 5:00 AM

A little girl drinking chocolate milk

Fnally got through customs and into Kusadasi and were picked up by 'Ned' (seems odd for a Turkish name?), he was really cool and helped us out a lot at our stay at Attilas Getaway which was really nice (see pics) and cheap too (about $9 a night).

Turkey is both more westernized and more green than I thought it would be, it's a very beautiful country...

// Day 1: Attila's getaway, R&R

Attilas Getaway was a kind of resort locale, the people were really nice and we met some interesting people here, this was our base camp for Ephesus and Selchuk. The place was really neat had sitting areas, a bar, pool table, pool. (see pics)

The pool at Attila's Getaway

Attilas Getaway again...

Met some really cool people here, Scott and Paul from Australia, Sunday the bartender, Attilla, the owner who was an Aussie-Turk and seemed to want to propogate with every girl who came through there, and Ned and his Dad who owned a carpet shop, which was a strike against them but they turned out to be really cool.

// Day 2: Pammukale(Paam-a-kal-ey), Climbing Another one of Dave's mountains //

It was a 3 hour bus ride to Pammukale, my impressions were that the white cliffs were not worth it but the ruins definately were,(see pics)

The "City of the Dead" at Pammakale

A crypt in the City of the Dead

more ruins...

Paul the Australian

Some weird lady at the Ampitheatre who wanted us to take her picture

Me at the ruins...

A photo of Kirsten taking a photo

Scott and Paul...

I did not even know it but there were several different civilizations that flourished in this area, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine. Dave wandered off by himself again to explore the parts off the map so I hung out with Scott and Paul from Australia and checked out the ampitheatre and the pools.

When we got back Dave had not had enough adventure for the day so he wanted to climb up the hill behind the hostel. I was up for it so we grabbed the camera and went, even managed to get Paul the Australian to come with. It was a brutal ascent and the grade was sometimes 50 degrees or more but we made it in time for a georgeous sunset (see pic) and still got back in time for dinner.

Sunset from Dave's Mountain (#2)

A view from the top of Dave's Mountain

Day 3: Ephesus, St. Johns Basilica, Temple of Artemis, Selchuk, Scircise

Ephesus

Ephesus was really neat, all marble and one of the best preserved ruins in Turkey, it's funny that it used to be a port city with this roadway (see pic) leading down to the port. But...the river that fed into the harbor silted up and the harbor filled in and Ephesus went to ruin. The harbor is about 20 kilometers away now. Our guide for the ruins was excellent, had studied to be an archaeologist for a time, and was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the area. She sat downa dn gave us about a 45 minutes lecture on Ephesus alone which was very interesting. Pics from Ephesus...

The walk that used to go to the harbor (the harbor is behind that hill now in the distance)

Closeup shot of the ruins, those are eggs in the top of the picture, weird...

Hallway while I was exploring the ruins,

The Roman Ampitheatre in the town

The remains of the library, it has been restored to some extent

Dave doing a statue pose...

Me doing a statue pose...

St. Johns

This place held special significance for me as it is supposably where St. John is buried, although I heard that his body had been moved?? Anyways, it is labeled a church, but it is a ruin. The people at the time cannibalized the nearby Temple of Artemis and built a church with the material. It was a spiritual place for me, but kind of ruined when a busload of Japanese tourists showed up and started taking pictures posing on St. Johns grave...

The ruins of the church...

The burial place of St. John, although this remains controversial...

Temple of Artemis

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world...it used to be a colossal greek temple but now is two pillars moored in a swamp. If you look at the foundation and use your imagination you can imagine what it looked like a couple of thousand years ago.

The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, complete with swamp

Closeup shot of the ruins

Selcuk

Selchuk is a small town and a convenient place to stay while you explore all of sights in this area. It was kind of deserted while we were there, but still plenty of pushy restaurant owners and carpet salesman about.
//Flashback...// This is where Dave had his first Turkish dining experience, we ordered these crepe like things and his had a rock in it! We think it was a rock anyways, and he chipped both his upper and lower tooth on it, we were in Turkey though and what can you do??

Scirsise, the Greek Village

This is a short dolmus ride from Selchuk, our first time on the dolmus and this one chugged along these canyon roads with sheer drop-offs right next to the door and the door never closed! (see pic) We were used to Turkish driving by this point though. The village itself was trapped in time, it was settled originally by Greeks either colonizing or fleeing from Greece and hadn't changed much in a couple of hundred years. We just wandered around town, everybody was very friendly and they all wanted us to try (and buy) their fruit wines which are grown in the region. Apple, peach, mulberry, cherry, you name it and they have it. I liked the mulberry and the peach the best so I bought a couple of bottles to take home. I was going to give one to Sharrow but I figured he would rather have a nice red than "fruity" table wine.

On the dolmus (Turkish mini-bus), no big deal that the door was wide open while we driving;)

Kirsten checking out the town

Racks of fruit wine, the town's main export!

Don't know why I took this picture, looks rustic though...


Next Stop: Cappadocıa... (Kapp-ah-doke-e-ah)
- posted by mark @ 10:20 AM