Ephesus and Sirince...GREAT day out!
Trip Start
Apr 25, 2007
1
23
31
Trip End
Jun 20, 2007
Selcuk,
Turkey
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Bought a borek (Turkish filo-style pastry filled with a light cheese) for breakfast at the station and it was surprisingly very good. The pastry was light and layered, reminding me of the old-style curry puffs I used to buy from the Indian bread man who would come around to our neighbourhood on a daily basis on his motorbike.
The train filled up pretty quickly along the way but the trip was uneventful thank goodness. Jo had a lovely older Turkish lady try to have a conversation with her with Erkut translating though! She was so warm and friendly that to Erkut, this lady epitomized the positive aspects of real Turkish culture. As opposed to the head to toe black-covered chadors some Turkish Kurd women wear to represent an imposition of their conservative beliefs on a whole country that has done very well separating politics and religion yet maintaining their spiritual beliefs and culture.
I think Turkey is actually progressing in the right direction compared with where Malaysia is today. Not saying they don't have their own problems but the country is moving ahead. Turkish people identify themselves as Turks first and foremost, not Muslims first, like a majority of the younger Malays polled here in Malaysia (Muslims, Malays, Malaysians in that order). 70 million people and most at least look like they have a home to live in and enough food to eat. Compare that with other countries with an estimated 70 million population...Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and probably some in Africa and S.
Aerial view of one room
America. They have great roads and a public transport system that is cheap, reliable, safe (the bus drivers are so not kamikazes!) and clean. Their public toilets are way cleaner than Malaysia that's for sure and most countries in Asia as a matter of fact and I'm talking about their squat toilets. Turkish women here have cleaner toilet habits and consideration for others than most nations including some of those in the west. Maybe I've not been here long enough but in 3 weeks, I've consistently been able to experience or observe all of the above...Again, we watched the terrain change as we headed back out to the coastline towards our next destination.
Selcuk is a really small town and is a base for travellers wanting to visit the old Roman city of Ephesus. We checked into the hotel (Jimmy's Place) and all had double rooms, this time again sharing with Fi.
Lunch were some of the best pides we have ever had and then it was off to see some of the local historic sites....on foot.
First was up the hill to the Basilica of St. John who died here around 100AD and was buried on the hill (specific site unknown). There is a slab where the altar used to be that represents his grave. His tomb was previously sheltered by two churches before Justinian, a 6th century Byzantine emperor, had a basilica built worthy of a saint's reputation. Apparently it was one of the most ornate and largest in existence before the Mongols detroyed it at the beginning of the 15th century. Definitely worth a visit even while restoration is still on-going. Some intact paintings in a sheltered building (you can only peer inside) gives you an idea of the richness of the place.
After the Basilica, we walked downhill to a very beautiful mosque, Isa Bey Camii, which architecturally represents the transition between Selcuk and Ottoman styles. It has a courtyard garden in the middle on the outside within the mosque compounds. The high ceiling and roof inside the mosque itself is supported by some old Roman columns. Otherwise, it is very beautiful and elegant in its simplicity. There is hardly anything else except carpets for the congregation. I think this was my favourite mosque as a place of worship....beautifully simple.
We ended our afternoon self tour at the Ephesus Museum, another place well worth visiting. Some great items from Ephesus, more Eros than I care to remember, and a couple of stunning giant statues of the goddess Artemis with multiple testicles (they are not breasts!!)
Enough time for tea and a bit of shopping, I opted to enjoy more tea and just wandering around town for a little while. 3 of us gals had decided it was time for some personal maintenance...waxing! Alex had assured us the salon was very competent as Turkish women are used to taking it all off as part of personal beauty and hygiene! Okay. So, to varying degrees, Jo, Fiona and I got waxed before they enthusiastically removed everything down there!!! And prices were more than reasonable so that made it more than okay.
Dinner was cool and a little bit more upmarket with wonderful cheesecakes for dessert.
Alex and Erkut
Mel, a friend of Alex, joined us that evening. She lives in Sirince and would be joining us for the Ephesus tour tomorrow. It was great to be able to talk to someone who knows a bit more about the place locally than the rest of us.The next day we were up pretty early as we had to meet Nail, our Ephesus tour guide at the entrance by 8 am. Breakfast was included all you can eat buffet style which was great. They had fresh wholemeal bread and hard boiled eggs in addition to the usual Turkish breakfast of olives, tomatoes, cucumber and cheeses and Turkish white bread (which was also just as yummy).
We took a taxi to meet Nails at the top entrance (there are 2, the other being at the bottom of the hill) which is recommended. Nails is in his 60s, energetic and slightly shorter than me. Unfortunately, Nails had seen other large coach tour groups descending and starting their tours at the same time and he wanted to get ahead of them. So, he had us literally running to catch up with him for the first 15 - 20 minutes as he whizzed from ancient site to ancient site. After we seem to have lost the hordes of other tourists, he slowed down....although one wonders how as this place is seemingly packed to the brim with tourists from every other country you can imagine and this early in the morning too! Apparently, the crowd gets worse in the afternoon and everybody seems to crowd around the library...so get there early!
Nails is the best guide you can hire in Ephesus. I'm glad Intrepid uses him as he deserves every Turkish lira you pay him and a generous tip on top of that. The man is passionate about archaeology and ancient culture. He is self taught in 5 languages including ancient greek and learning Aramaic now. Seems to know the archaeological teams, restoration plans and gets a whiff of their daily finds as mentioned to us (but not revealed to the public). He might take you to a few places that are off limits if you are a very small group to avoid the crowds but where there may be snakes! He makes Ephesus comes alive for you and that, was what made it such a thrill to be visiting this otherwise crazily tourist congested hell-hole. I hope he will still be here in 10 years time as it will be interesting to walk through some of the further restored sites with his knowledge and seen through his eyes. His daughter aims to be an Ephesus tour guide in future so hopefully all his knowledge (and enthusiasm) will not be lost.
The amphitheatre is also stunning at Ephesus.
Another great and cheap place to eat in Sirince
This is the very place where Paul delivered his message to the Ephesians. This awed me more than St John's Basilica actually. We were treated to live aria solos by a Korean tourist as the rest of us encouraged her for an encore. The ingenuity of audio architectural engineering then...I was sitting at the top of the amphitheatre (see photos) and could hear every word she sang. The Ephesus Festival in July also holds live concerts at this amphitheatre which would be just as fab a location as Heliopolis. Also from that same location, you can see out to where the old Ephesus harbour used to be. You can understand then on how they were smart enough to capitalize on trade, get so rich to build a wonderfully livable city.We also paid the extra to visit the terrace houses that are still under excavation. It's well worth it to see the old frescoes that are still on the walls in full colour and floor mosaics that have been restored or are still intact.
In addition to all that, we were able to ask Nials of some of the meanings of the carvings we saw at St John's Basilica yesterday. We learned a little ancient Greek, and also learned how the alphabets came about from the simple wheel sign (old crosses) that became abcs. We learned how the unusual picture on some of the basilica columns was actually a spelling for the emperor Justinian who had it built, and what St. Paul's were. A great way to spend a whole morning.
We then walked a good 2 Km to the meeting for lunch. It was where Alex and Erkut had come a couple weeks before for really good Gozlemes (Turkish crepes with primarily savoury fillings). And again, she didn't disappoint. The road leads to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers where there is a shrine dedicated to the seven sleepers. Paul (our "social worker") believes it's a myth. However, it's mentioned in the Quran apparently. Anyway, food first...the gozlemes were delicious and the setting was perfect. We ate outdoors but with proper roof cover structures Turkish style on low tables and floor cushions with backrests. Quite a few Ayrans (Turkish yoghurt drinks) and gozlemes later...it was hard for me to follow up with more sites. So some of sat on whilst the others went to check out the cave.
After that, we walked back to town (surprisingly not far) as we cut through some fields and a cemetery. Back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and we caught the dolmus to Sirince.
Sirince is a small originally Greek built hill village that's about 600 years old. It is famous for its fruit orchards and more importantly, its fruit wines. As testament to that, and a friendly no-pressure sales guy...Jo, Sherrin and I bought 3 bottles each but not after we had sampled and re-sampled every single flavour he had! Kiwi, Peach, Black Mulberry, young pomegranate, 2 year old pomegranate, cherry. We settled for the same flavours surprisingly: Peach, Black Mulberry (with a higher fruit content) and the 2 year old Pomegranate. Hic!
For Erkut, Sirince is famous for its very good barber that came highly recommended. Paul decided to give it a go and we all agreed the end results were quite spectacular. The barber is actually a young guy (in his mid-20s? and very good looking!) who seems to have his values in the right place. He did a really good job on both guys including threading all fine baby hair etc from their faces. And he had to deal with Sherrin, Jo, Fiona and I popping in and out from time to time to check on "progress" especially with Paul! It ended up that he did not charge them a lot all as he figured we had drawn some good publicity to his place with "tourist" patronage!
We also visited Mel at the hotel where she worked. It was a hike up to the very top of the hill too but definitely worth it. The place is called Nisanyan House Hotel. It has rooms as well as cottages to rent out and all are beautifully decorated by an Istanbul-based couple who are in the interior design business. The hotel makes and bottles their own elderflower syrup which, after the hike up, tasted delicious and refreshing. Unfortunately, it was not for sale. Mel was able to show us a couple of rooms as the guests had not checked in yet and what we saw we liked. It's a great place for a romantic holiday especially if you're going to visit the madness of Ephesus. There's enough to visit and experience using this place as a base for the surrounding area for sure.
The village is still very authentic as we walked around and the women still make their own lace and knit woolen socks for sale. I bought some socks as gifts for about 7 Lira each. Also bought a ring from a shop that worked on the set for the movie Troy. How did we know? Photo of Brad Pitt hanging on the wall with one of their designs. In any case, the workmanship was very good after having looked at a gazillion other shops with some original designs...but still not as good as the one in Cappadocia (which was shut!)
We met for dinner and had more fabulous Turkish food that was almost as cheap as Malaysian hawker food stalls dollar for dollar. After dinner, we discovered we had a bit more time to mooch around and everyone decided to frantically do a bit more shopping instead! In that short period of time (15 - 20 minutes), Fi had bought a bottle of fruit wine, Jo another piece of jewellery and I had picked up the pairs of wool socks!
What a great way to end a fabulous day! As if that were not enough, all of 7 of us managed to squeeze into the station wagon that Mel was driving. There were 9 adults in the car...3 of us in the back where luggage would have been! I could feel the suspension sink under all that weight! We all agreed it would have been all right and not so harrowing if Mel had not driven like maniac and careened around the hill bends! No one realized she was such bad driver, so Alex, Fi and I were lucky to have been sitting backwards. Small adventures, yay! We arrived back at the hotel in one piece and unloaded safely.
One of my best days travelling!!!.
Another one - could not identify
