My first stop in Turkey, after flying from Sofia to Izmir via Istanbul, was Selçuk. Selçuk is the city which is closest to the ruins of ancient Ephesus, and is a rather quiet and relaxed place: Old men seem to be sitting in front of tea houses all day, playing Rummikub, Backgammon, or Chess. However, it was also a very nice place to stay, eat at one of the numerous restaurants. and visit Ephesus and the mountain village of Sirince.
Ephesus was clearly a very interesting sights, albeit overrun by large tourist groups. After extensive excavations and reconstructions, the layout of the city which used to be the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor and in its heydays had over 200,000 inhabitants, can be clearly seen and foundations or facades of some of the most important buildings from temples and tombs to shops, residential houses and fountains for water supply give a quite clear impression how the city used to look like when it was still in use. Most impressive was the huge theater with a capacity of 20,000 people, in which apostle Paul is said to have given a speech to the Artemis-worshiping Ephesans.
Another excursion from Selçuk was the little mountain village of Sirince, which is supposedly a typical representation of how villages in the area used to look like. While it is a cute little town, it is also quite touristy and shops along all streets are selling local wine, soaps, spices and handicrafts to tourists. Also, it was again so hot that walking through the village was quite exhausting, so I returned early and went for a swim in the Aegaean sea instead – the beach close to Selçuk is nice, but the water is quite muddy and it is thus not the nicest place for swimming – but there will be more places to come 🙂
Next up on the itinerary was Pamukkale, with its absolutely stunning white travertines (mineral deposits from water flowing down the mountain from the springs on top of it). While Pamukkale surely is a quite touristy site, it is nevertheless extremely beautiful and extraordinary, walking up the almost snow white mountain (Pamukkale means “cotton castle” after the white color of the mountain), the path covered by water flowing down, which has over the years has formed pools and very interesting interference patterns out of calcium carbonate on the ground. On top of the mountain, some remains of the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis can be visited, which was located there due to the healing properties of the mineral springs. The probably best preserved building is a giant hillside amphitheater.
The next stop in Turkey was Bodrum on the coast. It was described as a very touristy and party type place in the guidebook, but the town was a positive surprise. In the daytime, it is a rather laid-back place, with white houses and a nice coastline. In the old castle, it has a museum of underwater archeology, which displays archeological finds recovered from the sea, such as amphorae, tools, coins and jewelry, goods such as glassware, and even the remains of entire boats. While the museum itself was probably not the most interesting archeological museum I have ever seen, its location in the old castle is quite unique and made it well worth a visit.
Pictures will follow at a later point.
Tags: Summer Break, Travel, Turkey