Selcuk, Ephasus, and the End of Turkey Tour

We were up the next morning in Selcuk for breakfast, and the. We made our way in the late morning to the small village of Sirince, which was the home of St. John's Basilica.


We had a fruit wine tasting and then walked to a small restaurant at what had to be one of the highest hills in all of Turkey. The view was worth it, and a local woman straight out of central casting made us lunch. Since the local restauranteur cooked over an open fire, we had plenty of time to enjoy the view and each other's company!


After finishing at the village, we headed back to Selcuk and took a look at what remains of another of the seven ancient wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis. Not much is left, in fact, all that is left is a solitary column, but apparently this place was really something back in the day.


After a quick rest, it was off to Ephesus to meet our local guide, Celine, who was able to tell us all about the ancient city. As we walked through, I clicked a few snaps of the ruins.




















Ephesus was amazing! We walked all through the ruins, and the heat wasn't too bad since it was later in the day when we visited. We also missed most of the people who were visited, as most come from the cruise ships in very large groups, so it was nice to have missed that. After the long walk through Ephesus, we then were treated to a compulsory gift area which sold some interesting items.


Since our driver was too cheap to pay the entrance fee to the car park, we then had to walk another quarter/half mile in the fading heat of the day to the bus. Once we finally got to the bus, we were taken back to the hotel. We enjoyed a dip in the pool and then freshened up for dinner. We split up this night for dinner, as some wanted to visit a hammam and some didn't. Those who wanted to visit the hammam did so after dinner, while the rest of us just had a leisurely dinner and then hung out back at the hotel. Most went to bed early since we had to be checked out of the hotel by 6:10 the following morning to catch the bus to the shuttle to the airport to catch the plane to Istanbul. We boarded our flight and had a short flight (approx. 1 hour) to Istanbul and then were taken to our hotel in Istanbul in the Taksim area of town. We were on our own this last afternoon, and some went to a different palace, but Derek and I went to the Haiga Sofia and the most famous hammam in the world, the Cagaloglu Hamami. It was an interesting and cultural experience. We then met up with the group for our farewell dinner, followed by clubbing at a club called Tekyon. Since I had to leave at 3:30am to catch my 5:50am flight to Frankfurt, I just stayed up, said my goodbyes to the guys at the club, headed back to the hotel, packed up, and then headed straight to the airport. It was a long and fun two weeks, a great trip with a (mostly) great group of guys, and certainly a trip I will never forget! Now back to Shreveport for 6 days before I'm off on the next adventure: Central Asia!

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