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Published: March 10th 2009
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Living amid its beautiful past
This house made constructive use of the Roman/ Byzantine columns of an old aquaduct. The supports sure outlasted the 'modern' adornment. Alexander the Great nicely used the long memories and grievances of the Greeks from the now famous battles of Marathon and Thermopylae to launch a huge Greek invasion back on the Persian King who controlled modern day Turkey. His 'adventures' took him from the Gallipoli Peninsular, all the way down the Aegean Coast towards the Mediterranean ... on very scenic route to destinations unknown (India).
So it is not surprising that his passage bolstered the Helenistic Age to Turkey, and the entire coast is littered with history from this, and more so from his successors the Romans, and then their Eastern half which survived on until around 1400 AD as the Byzantine Empire.
Like the great Alexander, we too came hurtling along this turquiose coast 'doing' sites much like he 'did' Persians (and Greek mercenaries). And there we found a cute little town called Selçuk (cutely pronounced 'sel-chook'). Planning on a mere couple of days, we instead found a nice hotel (Jimmy's Place for you traveller types) with a log fire for Arlene, and a wall full of huge volumes of reading material on Turkey's history, sites, and everything else to keep Benj engrossed and remarkably stationary. It was
Ornate
This splendid archway is the entrance to the Library of the city. Incredible building we could not attempt to explain with photos. perfect! So began about 6 days of exploring this little nest of history and good Turkish pizza.
The Selçuk regions main drawcard for centuries now is their stunning Roman city of Ephesus, much of which still lies where it was left. All the rest lies in museums from the UK, Europe, and Turkey. Opting for the DIY tour, we borrowed a small site guide book from the hotel and walked our way through the city, taking in an unforgettable piece of ancient architecture (the Library), the remains of underfloor heating (the Roman bath house), and a hillside of terraced housing for the Roman hoity-toity. Remarkably well preserved main roads forming the heart of the city still sport storm water/sewerage channels, paving, and the occasional remaining statue. As we slowly savoured these amazing and well preserved glimpses of Roman splendour, we were occasionally overtaken by groups of guided tourists, much like a flock of sheep being herded by a shepherd desperate to reach the juiciest pastures and make it back to the campfires before dark. For a further glimpse of thıs magnificent city, the local museum was an excellent afternoon spent viewing amazing stone work, and gladiator history based on
Rare Red-headed Roman
This Ephesusian is still in great condition. the grisly finds and scientific analysis of the gladiator cemetry of Ephesus, and memorial tablets left to commemorate their (apparently unsuccesful) death defying heros.
As we ambled our way back to town along a lovely piece of cycle/pedestrian roadway, we stopped in on the remains of a once massive temple of Artemis. What was once a Wonder of the Ancıent world rivalling the likes of the Parthenon, is now a sad field with a single column humbly essembled out of the detritus. It's demise was begun by the burning by the Goths in the Roman era. Wıth the Byzantines figuring the stone would better serve Christianity, the Basilica of St John made good use of the stone by dragging it up the hill. But the Byzantines were not to last forever, and in the Ottoman ascendancy days, materials from the ruined Basilica were in turn pillaged for Islam and dragged all the way down the hill to build the Isa Bey Mosque. Perhaps this is truly symbolic of life after death.
Just up the hill, the Basilica of St John, thought to be the final resting place of Jesus' most junior apostle, was the sight of a humble
Selçuk Fortress
Enjoying pride of defensive place on the hilltop over the town, the castle maintained its distance, as it was closed from tourism as it is being worked on. church in his memory. Placing a much greater value on his contribution to Christianity, the Byzantines had more resources to throw around, building a massive Basilica over the top. The remains of this made a fantastic few hours of wandering the hilltop over Selcuk. Alas we could only look up at the tempting Byzantine fortress sitting atop the hill, the aged signs of closure indicating this was not a temporary measure.
Keen to see something a little different, we managed a tour inland to Pumakkale, where yet another Roman city based itself around a strong textile dying industry, and beautiful 'health giving' thermal springs, and boasting the greatest Roman necropolis. The offshoot from the springs was the formation of white terraces as the high mineral content was deposited on the hillside as the water cooled creating something akin to the pink and white terraces. Rugged up with scarves and hats, we couldn't help but walk around barefoot (as required) on the terraces, pausing for lengthy periods of time in the warm bits of thermal water to warm the toes.
Different again was the old village of Sirince, up from Selçuk through a productive valley of orchards. Alas the
quaintness of the town and its reputation for producing the best of Turkey's wines have resulted in a touristic conversion akin to NZ's Waiheke or Martinborough - best explored with an impressive budget that is not earmarked for much better things.
The cold wintery weather gave us amazing solitude to enjoy world class historic sites in peace. But one afternoon it was time to escape, and the perfect getaway was to sprawl on a warmed slab of marble, be scrubbed all over with a nice coarse pad, and then be beaten up by a masseur with hands like Zeus, until we emerged the consistency of a jelly fish (although they took it really easy on Arlene for some unknown gender reasons). The Turkish Hamam (Bathhouse) had found another two devotees.
We found Selcuk a thoroughly nice place to park up for a little while. Our delightfully friendly host even invited us home for coffee with his New Zealand wife, young child and Australian friend. Travelling can be a blur of locations, sights and accommodations, and it was such a change to be sitting in someones very own lounge, drinking and chatting the afternoon away.
But once we
Dinnertime
This old chap obviously has this daily routine, and he sure receives an audience. It is so nice to be surrounded by the feline street urchins here, as opposed to South America's dogs. had enjoyed the best of the accommodation, pizza, and history, it could only mean one thing - time to pack our little bags and get going on our little pilgrimage.
Many thanks to this cute little town and the very friendly hospitality she has shown us.
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