Victoria Hotel Selcuk

... R100GS and invited me for dinner, beer and even to meet the entire family including the farm with dogs and cows! A night in such friendly hospitable company was a real rare experience along my worldtrip.

Continuing up north I was heading straight to the place to visit Efes or Ephesus. One of those beautiful, wonderful, magnificent and mindblowing must-see sights, everybody to set foot on Turkish territory must have seen. It took not more ...

... to resemble the original city.
Returning from our tour, we were taken into an endorsed carpet store where we were given a presentation on the methods used to extract silk from silk worms and then watched as they unrolled many incredible handmade carpets in front of us.
They then proceeded to serve drinks (including red wine) by carrying them over the carpets and handing them to us. We were astonished that they didn't care if people ...

... women!. Ephesus is the famous ruins nearby and they continue to uncover this site .. very impressive. It was also Ramadan so it was a strange combination of experiences since we were awaken everyday at 4am (well actually I slept through it) with a small parade and drum announcing the call to prayer (and then10 times a day) while we visited the House of Mary and St. John's Basilica. Did not buy a rug which is the most popular thing they sell.

... times, the Curettes held a place in the Prytaneum. The main thoroughfare is paved with stone and marble remnants recycled from other parts of the city, added after a 4th-century earthquake; valuable architectural elements like Doric columns and ornamental capitals are now part of the city's foundations.About halfway down Curettes Way and blocking access to the aristocratic reaches of the Upper Agora is the Gate of Hercules. Two of the columns show Hercules wrapped in lion skin.
TUNALIM....

... the word in Ephesus. (Think...The Book of the Ephesians!) Our first day we went straight to see St. John's Basilica in Selcuk. The cruciform layout felt very familiar even though we have not darkened the doors of too many churches the last three months as it has been mostly mosques and temples in Turkey, Egypt and India. Jon and his siblings had fun going on a treasure hunt for the "genuine fake coins' that Papa Krupnick had hidden at St. John's ...

... 267"> Selcuk, Izmir, Turkey jimmyrh

... w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> Selcuk, Izmir, Turkey jimmyrh

... was alive and well in Paul's day and eventually had a church there. It's laid out on a grid (I love grids) and has a theater (it seems every town had a theater), a temple of Athena and a Byzantine church. Miletus was the second leg of the tour today. It was a magnificent port city that is now miles from the sea. One can't even see the sea from here any more because the Meander river has deposited so much silt over the centuries ...

... even though the weather was a little bleak. The afternoon had brought the multitudes of tour groups, being sheparded around the sites by their guides, however, we were still able to enjoy the ruins, and get photos when they cleared off. Missed the terrace houses as the admission was a further 10 Lira, after we had already paid that same amount to get in.....but we later made up with that with the displays at the Selcuk museum which were great. The ...

... of the sites of Ephesus (although not the site where the current ruins lie). Then we went to the Ephesus Museum. It was also quite impressive. It just reinforced what we had already seen. We enjoyed every minute. I have learned so much from being here. Because of the strategic location for trade and military defense, this area of Turkey has experienced a mixed of races, cultures, and religions since the Bronze Age (B.C). It is really quite amazing when you think about it. Today ...