Bus to Selcuk

---

Left Bergama in the morning on a small bus and drove about 2 hours to Izmir. This is a giant city right on the sea, and the bus station was massive. As usual, though, the Turkish people proved themselves to be extremely kind and caring. The attendant on the bus down to Izmir, seeing that I was a little confused, personally walked me over to the bus that goes down to Selcuk. What a nice old man he was - it saved me a lot of walking around.

This second bus only took about an hour and a half, and went through some beautiful countryside: lush hills covered by trees. Selcuk, too, is I think the prettiest town I've been to in Turkey. It's quaint, and honestly feels like a Colorado mountain town (like Vail almost). I'm staying at the Hotel Bella, which is a little place right in the middle of all the main sites. I got in early so I spent the rest of the day just walking around town. I bought an awesome souvenir at a shop, and got to talking to the artist who owns the place. As is custom, he invited me to tea. He had actually been to the US, and really all throughout the world selling these leather shoes he makes from scratch. A very cool guy.

Tomorrow it's off to the main site: Ephesus. Outside of Rome and Athens, this is probably the most important ancient city around. Also, this is where Christianity first took root (Paul and Peter both preached here for awhile). There's also Mary's house just outside of town, where St. John took her to live out the rest of her life after she left Jerusalem. So, there's plenty to do here, and I can't wait!

---

Photos

Guy in Window
If you can see the guy in the window - he was working really hard on putting together I think some type of carpet. I was just sitting and having coffee.

Around Town
The old man with the cane was working really hard to get across the street.

Comments

[Granddad]

Great Blog and Pictures
Matthew: Liked the hotel picture and human touch...should get pair of shoes from old shoemaker before you leave and could be his US rep maybe..?? GrandDad W.