Biblical Landscape

You can take a bus to just about anywhere in Turkey – buses are to Turkey what trains are to India – it is how this nation travels. However, I learned of a rail route that would take me in a similar direction and after my mostly pleasant rail journeys in India, I decided to give this one a go. It wasn’t going to be straight forward though, but that was fine; it would just make the journey more interesting. My destination was Selcuk (pronounced Sel-chook), near the western shore of Turkey.

I first needed to catch a ferry and from my map I deduced that it was easily close enough to walk to the terminal from my hotel. The ferry departed at 07:00, so I checked out at 06:10, swatted the eager taxi drivers away and trudged towards the ferry terminal. It turned out to be further than I anticipated, especially when loaded up with my backpack and all my gear. I made it though, with 3 minutes to spare, and a very hot and sweaty foreigner staggered thankfully onto the ferry. And boy, what a ferry! These Turks sure do travel in style; it looked like something out of a James Bond movie. It had multiple decks, the lower one for cars, one for passengers in economy class and above this, a deck for business class passengers. Perhaps there were further decks (first class?), I don’t know, I didn’t get past economy class. There was also a large cafeteria onboard and televisions around the air conditioned cabin. I could even access the internet on my laptop during the trip and if you couldn’t be bothered going to the cafeteria, staff with trolleys wandered around serving people in their seats.

In just two hours we had crossed the Marmara Sea and docked in the town of Bandirma. Right next to the ferry terminal I caught the train to a town called Izmir. As the 5 hour journey rolled by I noted the terrain we were passing through. Flat agricultural land, but it seemed very dry and the brown grass showed that it had been months since it last rained here. Fruit trees however seem to thrive in this hot chalky soil. We passed orchards of oranges, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, pears and pomegranates. Fields of watermelons and grapevines and maize and sunflowers and tomatoes, there seemed to be no limit to what could be grown here. We passed through several small towns and cities too. A favoured form of housing seemed to be tall square apartment blocks. Lavatory coloured buildings of lime, mauve, tan yellow and baby blue. I suppose they are economical to build, even necessary but they do look quite unnatural jutting out against the surrounding landscape. We almost reached Izmir but it seemed that some maintenance on the railway track prevented the train from going any further. Instead we were off loaded into three buses waiting for us and made the last hot leg of the trip to Izmir by bus. Unfortunately the bus took us to the train station in Izmir, which logically is where the train would have terminated, however I needed to go to the bus station if I was going to get to Selcuk. I opted for a quick (5 minutes) but expensive taxi (cost almost double what I’d paid for the 5 hour train journey) to get to the bus station and from there another hour or so on a minibus would have me safely in Selcuk.

Selcuk is a small village just 3 km from the ruins of Ephesus (as in the city where the Ephesians from the New Testament lived). Up until this point on my journey I hadn’t realized the significant role that this region had played in the bible. Selcuk is also the site of the St. John Basilica ruins where John was buried (as in the apostle John, author of the Gospel of John and Revelations) and the house where Mary (mother of Jesus) is believed to have spent her final years can also be found near here. There are a few small shops and restaurants and the streets are paved or cobbled. Fig and Mulberry trees seem to grow naturally near the roadside. The landscape looks biblical, rocky dry hills and hot valleys - I suppose its more popular culture than reality; who knows what this landscape looked like 2000 years ago. More importantly, for some of you I’m sure, this place has given its name to Turkey’s most popular beer – Efes Pilsen, and I must add it’s quite a good drop, grown in big 500 ml brown bottles and served in an ice-cold frosty glass. I think you can definitely get along with a people that understand good beer.

The next morning I made my way to the Ephesian ruins. I really don’t like tours. I have tried to think what it is exactly that I dislike about them but struggle to define it. Perhaps it’s the fear that you get mixed with group you don’t get along with (or worse can’t communicate with) which, when travelling alone is often more of a consideration than when travelling with people you know. Perhaps it’s the herd mentality to rush around a site with a guide before charging off to the next place. Always dissatisfied with the here and now, only eager to be somewhere else. No doubt there is a place for tours and they seem very popular. Whatever it is I try to avoid tours at all times so when my hotel offered me a free bus trip to the ruins, I turned down the offer and walked there. As I walked up the hill in the early morning sun, already knocking on 30 0C, I guess about 20 tour buses stormed past, the passengers looking at me blankly. Along the way I paused under the shade of an old wild fig tree, took in the view and sampled a couple of fresh figs. The tree was loaded with fruit; I guess nobody comes this way.

Refreshed, I continued and before long arrived at the entrance to the ruins. I paid the entry fee and surveyed the scene. Tour buses jostled for parking space and tour guides herded their groups around the site, which to my eyes appeared to be utter desolation. I think when the word “ruins” was invented they were thinking of this place. I should qualify that statement by admitting that this is the first ancient site I’ve visited in a country that traces its history back to 8000 BC (most of the monuments I had seen in Asia were not much older than 500 years). It gives a new perspective to the impermanence of human existence, this was a thriving community only 2000 years ago, a city of about 200 000 people. I overheard one of the guides say that only 20 – 30% of the site had been excavated and he described different sections of the site; this was the governors’ house and that was the bathhouse. Frankly, he could have said it was anything and it would have been plausible. One brochure had billed this place as the best preserved example of an ancient roman city in the Mediterranean – I was not impressed. There were many broken columns and a small amphitheatre but then it got a lot better. Just around the corner and down the hill you enter a large paved marble road lined with re-erected marble columns. The paved street was lined with the ruins of old market stalls and a decorative mosaic was still visible along the shop fronts. Following the path down the hill there were public latrines, small houses and best of all, the large library. Finally there was a very large amphitheatre and some people tested its acoustics, which were still excellent. Much of the city has not yet been excavated so I wonder what else they may eventually find.

Next I headed back to town via dolmus (public minibus) and intended to visit the castle visible on the hill. Unfortunately it was closed indefinitely for safety and nobody could remember when it was last open. I went to the St. John Basilica ruins instead and although there wasn’t much to see (the place had been utterly destroyed by a series of earthquakes hundreds of years ago) there was a decent model which showed what it would have looked like. Even today, it would have been one of the largest cathedrals in the world. A portion of the ruins on the western slope have been converted to a mosque.

And that was it for my time in Selcuk, next day I would be testing the intercity bus system on the way to the Southern coast of Turkey.

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