Ruins, ruins & more ruins.

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The first photo is of Hadrian's Gate in Antalya. The next four are of the ruins of Ephesus: the 25,000 seat theater, library cornice, main street with the collums leading in and the library.

The next ruin is of St. John's Basillica, singing and dancing on hotel terrace, getting lost on mountain roads, market day in the town of Tyre.

The van dropped me off at the "otogar" (bus stop) back in Antalya and a bus was leaving for Fetiye as I arrived—no time for even a bathroom stop. They rushed me on just as it was pulling out of the station. Fetiye is a town up the coast about five hours away. It isn’t much now because it was leveled by an earthquake a few years ago but there was a nearby place on a small bay that I’d heard was nice.

The ride took us through farms, pine and fir forests and mountains (1850 meters on map). Turkey is agriculturally rich and is said to be one of the few counties in the world that grows enough food to sustain itself. There were little farming communities with horses, sheep, goats and crops that included beans, corn, cabbage and melons. Many people got on and off carrying bundles of things and most of them stood in the isle for hours. It was an enjoyable drive and as soon as we arrived I got a minivan to the nearby beach town of Oludeniz.

This must have been an idyllic place once but its now overrun with European tourists. Everything is quoted in Euros (always a bad sign) and very pricy for Turkey. The town is full of the typical tourist junk and is big on paragliding and other water sports. I had not prebooked a hotel and a visit to the tourist offices told me rooms here were not going to be cheap. It’s a small town so I walked around and found a new hotel for 40 E with comforts like a flat screen TV, patio and pool and included breakfast. It was time for a treat and I was ready to luxuriate. I did laundry, gave myself a facial, painted my toe nails and all those girly things.

Two days later I was on my way to Selcuk, a town near the ruins of Ephesus. When I arrived back at the otogar in Fetiye, I was told that the bus leaving next was full and the one after that departed four hours later. There was a lot of pressure to buy the later ticket but it was 100 degrees and the humidity was nearly as high so I was determined to find another way. I stood quietly for a while without succumbing to the pressure—which wasn’t easy. Finally, a man behind the counter quietly told me I could take a bus as far as Aydin and from there it was a short minivan ride to Selcuk.

Problem solved. It left in one hour so there was time for lunch. This was another five hour ride through rich farmlands and the route took us near the coast at times. Some of the scenery was similar to California. We arrived in Selcuk and the town had a nice feeling—small and interesting. It was a short walk to the Bella Hotel where I was to stay.

The hotel was instantly inviting and I threw my stuff on the bed went upstairs to the rooftop terrace where everyone was. It was a wonderfully homey place with Turkish cushions, carpets and pillows all around. The owners welcomed and chatted with everyone and immediately included me and asked if I wanted dinner. After the long drive, it was nice not to have to go out to eat. The owner provided transportation to Ephesus in the morning so it was time to enjoy the place.

Some very nice people, including families, were there during my stay. They were from several countries and we all enjoyed the company in the evenings. One night some musicians came by and played traditional Turkish songs and people danced. They were friends of the owners and just doing it for the fun. There were two big baby storks on a nest perched eye level with the terrace. Also, directly across the street was The St. John Basilica ruin which was built in 300 AD. St. John, the gospel writer, is buried there. It’s lit up at night.

The ruins at Ephesus are some of the most impressive in Turkey and the Mediterranean. They are early Roman and were under a field for centuries. Much of it was uncovered only in the last fifty years. Some people said they surpassed what they saw in Greece. The upper level of the Grand Theatre was only discovered in the 80’s. You actually walk down the marble streets so it’s easy to imagine life then. The library was the second largest after the one in Alexandria, Egypt. Columns and cornices still line the street. Many artefacts are lying on the ground—they are so numerous. You can walk through the entrances to the baths and chambers and many rooms. The original mosaic patterns on the exposed floors of old structures are still visible when you walk off the beaten path. Marvellous! The only down side to this experience was the arrival of cruise ship passengers that descended upon the site that morning. One guy said there were four thousand on his ship.

The next morning I overheard a guest asking about a car rental. She was up for having company and sharing expenses and so the two of us took off to explore the region. It should have been a warning to me when Kaitlin said her goal was to get lost on some adventure that day. She’s an American who’s been living in various places around the world (the last one being Afghanistan) working with groups on local economies. She’s also going to Stanford this fall.

We take off without much gas but it doesn’t seem to be a big issue. She’s driving so I keep quiet because the first little town is nearby. This town is really more of a village and we soon pass through it to unpaved roads that go all over the place. Occasionally we pass small vineyards or olive orchards but no homes.

Up and down and back and forth we go—each of us quite confident that our “superb navigational skills” would lead us in the right direction. We merely had to cross this range of hills to get to the highway we knew was on the other side. After more than an hour of this, we come upon roads in which the thistles are scraping against the car and the center of road is high with weeds. We try backtracking but realize that none of the road marks are familiar and we are definately lost. To make things worse, the gas light has been on for the last ten minutes. My first thoughts were to begin rationing the water I had been so freely drinking. You’d think a Stanford grad student and someone my age would know better.

We came across another vineyard with a one-room structure on it. We saw a man and a woman and, as we approached, they came out all smiles and waves. They must have thought we were nuts! They got the gist that we were lost and pointed us in the right direction. It was downhill so we figured that even if the gas ran out, we could coast for a while. (the photo is on our way out) I must say that the experience could have been worse with someone else. We both kept our heads, didn’t panic and just worked together to find our way out. Finally, we rolled into this little town gas station on fumes and even talked the kid there into hosing down our car. We didn’t want any evidence of our little escapade. I’m sure somewhere in that contract in Turkish was a clause prohibiting going on the very roads we had traversed. A few minutes later we were having shis kabobs under a tree at a roadside restaurant.

Undaunted by the experience, we were on to our next stop, which was a town with a big Tuesday local market. It was hot but interesting because this market was for the locals and contained all kinds of interesting things. Check out the color of those magenta beans. We go east through farm lands with much bigger farms and lots and lots of nurseries. We go north to where the coast juts out and overdeveloped beach resorts seem to go on and on. Finally we come to the Aegean where you can see Greek islands twenty-six miles away. Some of these little places are nice and again it reminds me of driving the coast of Calif.

We have dinner in a little resort town and get back to the hotel afterdark. All in all, we spent 70 lira to rent the car and 70 lira for gas. That’s about $8 gallon. They next day I caught a mini van to the airport and flew back to Istanbul.

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