Blogs from Selçuk, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East

21 Feb 2020 Izmir - Selçuk Today we caught the train to Selcuk and we're staying at St John Hotel for the next three nights. The dude at the front desk hasn't made a great impression, and neither has the damp smell in the room. There are about ten things on the list to do here over the next two days and I'm wondering if we're going to fit them all in. We arrived at around 2 and had a delicious bowl of lentil soup for lunch. The restaurant is owned by a lovely couple. The dishes are made for the day and you basically choose what you want from whatever is cooked on the day. I did notice on the board out front that they serve Moussaka. I asked the owner if they have it ... read more

This evening a few of us take a short trip from Selcuk to see a pretty little village up in the mountains called Sirince. The houses are very old and are of Greek style. For centuries the village was populated by Greek people whose families had been there for generations. In 1921-22 Greece and Turkey began a conflict that meant the two nationalities instead of living peacefully together began to hate each other. To resolve the situation the governments of the two countries came to an agreement in 1923 to exchange residents based on their religions so Greek Christians had to leave their homes in Sirince (and many other parts of Turkey) and go to Greece and the Turks moved into their homes. Because there were more Turks than Greeks many houses remained empty. Today Sirince ... read more

Yesterday and today were a tale of two goddesses. After leaving Pamukkale I visited Aphrodisias, a fascinating site originally based on a sanctuary of - guess who - Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. In its heyday it was a major centre for stone-carving, and many beautiful relief panels have been found. Today I saw Ephesus, which was famous for its huge temple to Artemis, the virgin huntress (and no friend of Aphrodite!) The Artemision was one of the seven wonders of the world, but is now sadly reduced to miscellaneous chunks of rock and a single standing column. Very different places, both then and now. Ephesus was command central for the Romans in this part of the world, whereas Aphrodisias became a bit of a backwater. But the most obvious difference was the presence of ... read more

Our beautiful Hotel Bella is a true gem! It's facade is a sea of brilliant green vines while the interior is decorated with true Turkish flair - Ottoman furniture, carpets on the floor and walls, glittering mosaic lamps and gorgeous ceramics. We have a small balcony where we overlook the ruins of St. John's Basilica. We have the best sign in our bathroom though. It reads, "Welcome to the ancient city of Selçuk. Please do not 'flash' anything down the toilet"! Try as we might, I think the toilet water has been flashed once or twice:) After unpacking, we went upstairs to the gorgeous terrace area to meet with Erdal, one of the owners. He explained things we could see, excursions we could take, as well as giving us some history about Selçuk. Just off this ... read more

Geo: 37.9538, 27.3714 GÜN 75 GÜNLERDEN PAZARTESİ: Benim için çok zor bir gün başladı. Ayağım bayağı şişmiş.. Ayşeciği, bunu, Türkiye'de baktırmak istediğime zor ikna ettim.. Maria bize bir taksi çağırdı. Limana gittik .. Zar, zor gemiye kadar yürüdüm. Merdiven çıkmayayım diye, bana gemi kapağının yanında bir iskemle verdiler .. Martılar, halime bakıp kahkahalar atıyor… Keramoti'ye vardık . Park ettiğim Minibüse erişmek için tekrar bir taksiye bindik .. Minibüsü buldum ve koltuğuma kuruldum .. Araç kullanırken, belirgin bir acı yok .. Belki de araç kullanmağa yoğunlaştığım için acıyı hissetmiyorum. Tam net değil … Hemen çıkış... read more