An adventure in Ionia

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I really wanted to visit the sites of Priene, Miletus and Didyma to the south of Ephesus. Priene and Miletus were important Greek cities and Didyma was a wealthy sanctuary of Apollo where an immense temple of an unusual design was built. Normally it's easy to find a one-day tour to all three sites but tourist numbers are so low that no one is offering a tour right now. So I decided to try to do it myself, using local buses (called dolmuses) and taxis if necessary.

I set off and quite soon met Al, a man from Edmonton who was aiming to do exactly the same trip. What a stroke of luck! With a combination of dolmuses, hitchhiking and a couple of paid rides we did it and got back to Selcuk in time for cocktails.

Al travels a lot and it really showed. He was fearless at approaching people to ask for advice and, when one man offered to drive us from Miletus to Priene (about 25 km) for TL 50 (about $25) he was ready to haggle. Quite a guy.

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