Selcuk,
Izmir,
Turkey
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Well today has been hot!!!! On Monday we left Instanbul and went to Gallipoli. Had a really good tour around Gallipoli and saw a lot of the major sites. The sites with graves were very touching. I can't understand how people could write those epitahs for their sons who died half a world away! Suffice to say I had a few tears. We saw the grave of Simpson from the stories of Simpson and his Donkey and that was cool. We went to ANZAC cove as well as the new site for the ANZAC day memorial. We went to Lone Pine which is I think Australia's largest cemetery at Gallipoli - again very moving. Don't know how I will make it through El Alamein. We then had a lot of rain as well as thunder and lightning which apparently isn't very common for that region. We are just lucky. After Gallipoli we went to Cannakale to stay at ANZAC house which I had heard a lot about since it is where most Aussies stay for the dawn service. However, it was a dump! We were staying on the third floor and there were no elevators so I had to carry my very heavy suitcase up those stairs. Once we got upstairs, we found out that the rain from that day had come through into our room from the roof and had wet one of the beds as well as the floor. We changed rooms and were given a dorm room for the two of house, so one of the other girls joined us as her room was basically a closet. The following day we had the morning to do what we wanted because I didn't want to go to Troy as there is not much there. We then had a supposedly 6 hour drive to Izmir and then a 1 hr drive from Izmir to Selcuk. We should have arrived in Selcuk at 7 - 7:30. That didn't quite happen! There was bad traffic so we were late getting into Izmir and then we were supposed to have a private bus to take us to Selcuk but there were people on our bus and they could only take 10 of us and then the rest would have to wait 50mins to get picked up by the next bus. We all decided to wait so the bus company arranged for one to arrive sooner. Once we got on the bus there was only just enough room for the luggage. as we were driving to Selcuk we heard this loud noise and then I could smell rubber burning and we thought maybe it was the tyre. 2 mins later there was another loud bang and yep the tyre had blown. So we all got off the bus and waited for them to fix it without a jack. We didn't get into Selcuk until 9:30 and people still wanted to go for tea. I couldn't believe it. I don't think we got to bed until after 11 and we had to be up and ready to go to Ephesus at 8. Luckily we are staying in the nicest hotel we have had yet. Had a really good night's sleep for once and woke up feeling a lot better than I had the previous night. We walked to Ephesus today which was about 3km and on the way we passed the ruins of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. Now all that is left is a pillar. We continued to Ephesus which was a major city during late pagan and early Chirstianity times. It is also where the Virgin Mary stayed once upon a time. After Ephesus we had lunch (another yiros) and then went to the Basilica of St John which is actually where he is burried. It was nice. After all the rain we have had over the past couple of days today has been amazing. Very warm, but nice. Tomorrow we drive to Pamukkale which is supposed to be very picturesque. Well that's all for now.
Bye
