Ephesus

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  Selchuk, Turkey
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

A lot has happened since we left Istanbul. It has been an incredible ten days or so learning what life is actually like in Turkey outside of the big city. Thats been a learning process as well as the two of us learning how to travel together and communicate our varied concerns to one another. We have spent a lot of time on buses and a lot of time planning when possible for the next stop in Turkey and that has at times been a stressful process. I think some of what we have realized is that this kind of travel is just inherrently stressful. Of course we have had ups and downs with each other, as well as some physical ups and downs. Most of us would have expected John's stomach to be the first to buckle under the pressure of foreign food. To our surprise and Kristinas discomfort, it has been hers. It has not yet reached emergency status, but there has been a close call or two. We think she is on the mend now.


Channakkale turned out to be more of a stop along the way than something to write home about

John and Nike

. It is the tourist home to the Galipoli peninsula across the water. The peninsula is most famous for the WWI landing of the Ausies and Kiwis on April 25th 1915. That day, some 100,000 allied troops as well as some 100,000 Turkish and Russian troops died. It was a day in which the industrialized world realized what happened when technology's new possibilities collided with old style warfare. Generals on both sides sent their men to certain death, knowingly. They stood in the trench, blew a whistle and the infantrymen charged out of the trenches to be mowed down from as little as 8 meters away by the opposing machine guns. The Turkish war hero of the time, and later President, Ataturk has some famous words for his troops. He said, "men, I'm not asking you do fight, I'm asking you to die" pretty powerful stuff anyway. Its a sentimental spot for ausies, kiwis and turks. Every year around that day, there is a huge memorial service. As our first stop outside of Istanbul, we were still vary wary of the touts trying to get our money constantly, so we were naturally stand offish with the locals. As we began our 6km walk from the battle sites back to the small bus stop, we were picked up by "the T shirt man" We hopped in his car and he took us all the way back across the peninsula to our hostel. We tried to offer him money, he wouldn't accept it and appeared to take the gesture as an offense. It was a welcomed refreshment, for the most part Turks are incredibly hospitable and nice.

Bergama was our next stop

Lirbrary at Ephesus

. This was home to the ancient Roman city of Pergamum. There are some great ruins there which we checked out. As the day grew later the site was of course flooded with tourists. We stayed a few days in an incredibly friendly pensiyon as they are called, run by a hillarious elderly man and his entire family. We ate dinner with them the first night as they sipped heavily on the Turkish choice alcohol, raki. They became increasingly friendly and funny, while the younger son of 29 or so began to spill his guts to Kristina about his engagement seemingly turning sour, the father continued to toast his family's health and our own by mixing his raki with John's beer and Kristina's wine. To lighten the son's spirits and to show us an unforgettable sight, we were taken to a local circumcision party that night. The poor boy was only 7 years old , and the whole town threw him a huge party. Turka Cola flowed freely, and we danced with all the locals. A young girl, maybe 6, and clearly manifested down syndrome fell in love with John. Our friend who had taken us to the party kept saying, "wow, she really have love for you" Much to Kristinas dismay, this girl clearly knew that Kristina was treading in her territory and periodically butted Kristina out of the way with her posterior. We also spent some time with Stan. Stan was a hilarious German staying at our pensiyon also visiting the ruins. He gave us a history lesson one night, and he was so excited about every mythological story and factual anecdote that it frequently almost brought him to tears

Relieving himself

.

Needing a break, we headed south again to the small Town of Eski Focha. This is a holiday town for well off Turks, there are not many foreign tourists here. Thats why it was so great. We pretty much relaxed all day, one day drinking chay and Turkish kavfe, and one day taking a relaxing boat tour on the aegean sea and eating lunch at sea, which included a whole grilled fish for each of us! All came to a close with a nargileh, turkish water pipe, by the water that night. Our time in Eski Focha really offers a good idea of what turkish life is like. It's not rushed and stressed like ours is in California. They live simply, chay, backgammon and water pipe are constants, and their time seems endless- unlike ours which is spent in a constant rush.

Further south, we landed in Ephesus. This is one of the best preserved Roman sites in the world. Possibly the best preserved, Brandon you'll have to verify that. It is extremely impressive. Some German university sponsored research fund has been restoring the site for 30 years and has managed to do a very good job. Aside from the ruins, what is amazing about the location of Ephesus is that just 2000 years ago it was bordered on one side by the silk road and the other by a harbour. As tourists in 2006 that is very surprising because the aegean is now 7 kilometers away from Ephesus. In only 2000 years the water level has receded 7 km from the shores of Ephesus
While in Selchuk, the town where Ephesus is located, we also visited the temple of Artemis which was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. More than anything else, it was sad to see the ruined temple. There was very little to see besides hordes of tourists, a murky swamp, and one poorly reconstructed column.

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