Vol 54 Day 7 Selcuk

I’m sure you are wondering why there has been such a pause between blog posts. Throughout my vacation I was burning CD’s and DVD’s of all the photos I was taking every few days as my 1 gig and 2 gig memory cards were filled. I had a DVD burned in Selcuk on Day 7 and then went back to the pension to look at the photos on the computer there. But that computer only has a CD player so it was not able to read the DVD. I poked around on the internet for a while (inadvertently passing along a worm that computer had to some of you, sorry), then I moseyed off. I did not realize I had left the DVD in the CD drive until after I had left Selcuk. I contacted Dervis and he promised to mail it to me in Oman. He sent it 3 weeks ago and it is still not here so I guess I have to let it go. Whah!!!!! I had some really good photos of the ruins. I have the photos from the first half of the day as they were on my 2 gig card and I hadn’t erased them when I realized I had left behind the DVD. The photos from the second half of the day were erased though and unfortunately all of the really cool stuff is in second half of the ruins. So, I’ve found some photos from the internet of the second half of the day. If my DVD arrives later I’ll swap them out for the ones I’m posting today.

And now, back to my vacation story. We left off with my going to bed with dreams of Turkish men dancing in my head…..

I awoke with "I Feel Pretty" flitting through my head. Honestly, that much positive male attention go to a girls head and can be a bit addictive . Perhaps I ought to move to Turkey? Perhaps I really was extraordinarily beautiful?

At any rate, on day 7, after breakfast on the terrace, I walked down to Osman's shop and whiled away a few hours, chatting and flirting. Then I headed out to Ephesus (pronounced Efus) with Osman dropping me off at the upper gate.

Ephesus is the best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean. It's over 2000 years old. A trading city, known as a center for the cult of Cybele, an Anatolian fertility goddess, who became Artemis, goddess of hunt and moon and later became Diana.


This is the Odium, a small theater dating from AD 150 and used for musical performances and town council meetings.





In addition to my love of photographing staircases in Omani forts I seem to have developed a thing for Roman doorways......


specially when there is a sweet little kitty posing for a photo.

The wall on the left is topped with rams heads.

The first half of the ruined city is pretty cool but aside from the theater, not spectacular.

At one point Ephesus became the Roman provincial capitol known for brisk sea traffic, rich commerce and right of sanctuary in Artemis’ temple. Roman Ephesus was the capitol of Asia Minor. At its height it’s population was 250,000.

Fountain of Pollio from the back.

And from the front. It was the most beautiful fountain in Ephesus.


The Temple of Domitium. Successive emperors vied with one another to beautify the city.

Look Mom, it's those cursed shoes! I twisted my ankles about a million times this day. Perhaps they don't look that bad but by this time I had a serious hate-on for those shoes. This is the last of my photos. From here on they are taken from the internet.

This is Curetes Street with it's marble pavers. Pretty for the eyes, treacherous for the shoes....


The Temple of Hadrian.

The figure in the center is Medusa.

Across from the Temple of Hadrian are the terrace houses. They are covered by a giant building to protect them from further damage by the elements. Admission is separate for the terrace houses and tickets must be purchased at the main gate.


I had no idea how cool they were so I didn't buy a ticket. Now that I've seen these photos from the net I'm kicking myself. They are described in my guide book as being the best chance, after Pompeii (Italy) to appreciate the luxury in which the elite of the Roman world lived. The walls are covered in frescoes, the floors in elaborate mosaics.


The Library of Celsus, Ephesus' most impressive structure. Celcus Polemaeanus was a Roman governor of Asia Minor and is buried under the western side of the library.


The library held 12,000 scrolls in the niches around its walls. A 1 meter gap between the inner and outer walls protected the valuable books from extremes of temperature and humidity.


Niches on the facade hold statues representing the virtues. They are copies of the originals which were taken to Vienna when Ephesus was first excavated in 1910.


Despite the fame of the cult of Diana, Ephesus acquired a sizable Christian population and is mentioned many times in the Bible. John, Jesus’ favorite apostle, brought Mary to Ephesus to retire. The apostle Paul preached his gospel here and some say was run out of town as his words were a threat to the Ephesians way of life.

The Great Theater, seated 25,000 and was used not only for concerts and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions and for gladiator and animal fights.

The city’s decline began when the harbor began to fill with silt but it was still important enough for the 3d ecumenical counsel to be held there in 431ad. When the emperor Justinian was looking for a location to build St John's basilica, he decided to build it in Selcuk instead. (I visited the basilica the next day so more on it later)

Osman picked me up and brought me back to the carpet shop. He ordered pide again. I miss that pide so much. It is way better than pizza, partly because the dough is so damned good and partly because there is no red sauce. I'm not a big fan of red sauce on pizza. I phoned the Iranian Embassy in Oman (yes, that is where I was originally scheduled to go next. If that freaks you out then you need to research traveling in Iran. Don't judge its people by its leaders. The Lonely Planet webpage says there's no room for preconceptions if you're packing to visit Iran), to see if my visa had arrived yet. They informed me that my visa had been denied. Denied. Denied. I went into a kind of shock. Denied? But I wanted to go to Iran sooooo bad. I had arranged places to stay with incredible sounding couchsurfers. I guess even though I knew there was a chance my visa may not arrive in time, I never really believed it could actually be denied. Late yes, denied no. Who doesn't like Canadians? And now what? I was supposed to fly in 28 hours! I called my travel agent, Dilip, back in Oman and had him cancel the flight. I was within the 24 hour cutoff period for cancellation so I was only out a service fee.

Dervis dropped by the shop and asked if I wanted to go to the Wednesday vegetable market? Did I? Hell yes!

Unfortunately, the photos I took of the market were on that missing DVD sooooooo here’s more photos I lifted off the internet.


In case these photos don't get the idea across, this was the nicest produce I have ever seen. The tomatoes were perfect. The potatoes were perfect. Apple, beans, melons, carrots, eggplant. All perfect. Beautiful. Delicious.

Looks to me like Turkey has the ideal climate for growing. It was all just so lovely. I couldn't stop taking pictures. Which I hope you will be able to see soon because I think they were better than these…..

We bought a crap load of stuff. Dervis told me it was only enough for 3 days at the Pension.

I had dinner with the other guests at the pension and everyone tried to help me decide where I ought to go next. Dervis and Osman both thought I should simply stay in Selcuk but I had it in my brain that I was visiting 2 countries and my brain was insistent.

Dinner was delicious. Soup, salad, stewed cauliflower, rice pilaf, stuffed vine leaves, bread and yummy Turkish wine. We discussed traveling to Jordan, with its desert climate and the ruined city of Petra. Greece, for its beauty, its people and it's Ouzo. Spain, for its beaches. Egypt, for the pyramids and the world-class diving in the Red Sea. And Morocco. The consensus was that traveling in Morocco as a lone female traveler was not wise. So of course I chose Morocco.

Meanwhile, Dervis was still courting me, though I had succeeded in avoiding his would-be advances at the vegetable market. He kept breaking into song throughout the evening. He has a nice voice actually and the song he was singing was called "Susannah". Again with the ego boost.

I poked around on the internet for a bit, looking for flights, (forgetting the DVD with the photos from the day in the computer) and was early to bed. Another awesome day.