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Published: October 6th 2008
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Fez Bus: Sector 2 - Canakkale to Selcuk
The next day was very hot and very long and for the most part we were stuck on a bus with no air-con. We set off at 8am and stopped soon after for a tour of Troy - now I have never really thought about it but if anyone had ever asked I would have guessed that Troy (and a number of other amazing sites) was in Greece but Turkey is actually home to a huge number of famous ancient cities and is far superior to Greece in that it is a) cheaper and b) a lot more relaxed and less touristy than Greece (I know this is starting to sound like a tourist brochure but Turkey is FAB!). So yes, we visited that Troy - the one of Helen, Horse and Brad Pitt fame. There were actually 9 settlements on the site dating from the Bronze Age and it was quite cool to see walls that have been standing for thousands of years. I haven’t actually seen the film Troy but will definitely be seeking it out when I get home.
From there we headed to Bergama, an ancient city
dating from the 3rd Century BC which was initially ruled by Alexander the Great - we headed to the acropolis where we saw the Roman Baths, the amphitheatre (which I braved 170 steps in the midday heat to photograph) and the Temple of Zeus. The sire was basically deserted and for me surpassed anything I had seen in Rome or would expect to see in Greece. Despite my interest in ancient ruins I have to say that my highlight of the day was the Nut Stop on the way to Bergama where I want to the freakiest toilet in the world - it was either fabulous or scary depending on your taste (opinion on the bus was divided) and completely indescribable - you will have to look at the photo and make up your own mind!
After a 6 hour drive in the sweltering bus (it reached 30 degrees inside) we finally arrived in Selcuk a small town frequented mainly for the ruins of Ephesus nearby. We had a lazy day on the Friday, relaxing and spending some time working on our itinerary for the rest of Turkey and on the Saturday Col headed out to Ephesus (I was
too toilet equivalent of bed bound that day). The city of Ephesus is the jewel in Turkey’s crown and a massive tourist attraction (this is where you get crowds the size of those in Greece / Italy) and poor Col visited on a Saturday to make things even worse. The main highlights are the Library of Celsus and a 24,000 seat amphitheatre with (as you would expect) perfect acoustics. Ephesus along with Pamukkale (calcified terraces and swimming among fallen Roman columns) are top of my must see list for when we come back to Turkey.
Another highlight of Selcuk was the market that is held every Saturday and basically takes over the whole town - I often wonder when abroad where the locals shop and here I got my answer - it was a massive market with a fruit and veg section the size of an average tesco store and a cheese counter to die for. Being at the beginning of our tour of Turkey we were very restrained - although Col did splash the cash and buy some Turkish Delight.
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