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Blogs from Selçuk, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East
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Roman ruins and fruity wine in Selcuk
Published: June 24th 2012Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Selçuk
June 17th 2012
HE SAID... We jumped on a local bus for a 25 minute trip to the bus station in Bursa. We then transferred to a bigger and more comfortable bus for our six hour Selcuk trip. Looking out the window of the bus, we could have been travelling through rural Spain, although there was a little more green foliage. Olive trees spread to the horizon, and tiny farmhouses dotted the landscape. We stopped a few times for toilet breaks, and a guy brought around drinks and snacks during the journey. It was a comfortable bus, and the views of the Turkish countryside were fabulous. We eventually arrived in Selcuk at 5pm. We couldn’t believe the heat when we jumped off – it was around 37 degrees, and the sun was intense. We walked to Dream’s Guesthouse, dropped ... read more
Epic Night Bus in Turkey (Istanbul to Selcuk)
Published: June 14th 2012Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Selçuk
June 14th 2012
Got to Istanbul a few days ago and found it to be the most awesome city I'd ever been to. If anyone asks me what makes it so awesome, I would have no answer. I can't pick anything specific about it. Everything is just...right. The food, the people, the sights, the bars... After spending a few days in Istanbul, I checked with other travelers that I met in the city and it seemed that the next logical destination is the ancient city of Ephesus. To get there, I would need to take a 12 hour bus ride south from Istanbul to Selcuk. I'm no stranger to long bus rides having taken many in South America and New Zealand but I was a little apprehensive about this one. Everybody said not to worry. The buses here are ... read more
June 13th 2012
Finished up with the main sites in Selcuk today. Started at St. John's Basilica, which is literally right across the street from my hotel. This was a massive place in its day, and actually holds the tomb of St. John. Fun to just wander around the ruins. Next checked out a cool ruined mosque just down the street before heading to the absolutely pitiful remains of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis. All that's left of the temple is a lone column in a field full of blackbirds. But in it's time this temple was basically like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in terms of size and religious importance. Really makes you think about what buildings of ours will still be around 2000 years from now. Then I got ... read more
June 12th 2012
Selcuk is a huge agricultural town, so breakfast today was all about fruit: honeydew melon, cherries, apples, apricots, you name it. On the way out to Ephesus this morning we drove right through all of the farms. The hotel offers free transportation out to the site, and I got to know the driver pretty well - he owns a carpet and tile store right next to the hotel. Ephesus is an absolutely massive ancient town. It has some of the best and most important ruins around, and you can really get a feel for life some 2500 years ago. It's most famous for the Library of Celsus, which has an incredible two-story facade still intact. Ephesus is also such an important place because this is where Christianity took hold and actually began to spread. It has ... read more
June 11th 2012
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). ... read more
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Ancient Ruins, Purple Rain and the Fattest Cat in Turkey
Published: May 27th 2012Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Selçuk
May 24th 2012
Having seen all of the major sites at Gallipoli on my guided tour on tuesday, I then re-visited them all with my new German roommate Daniel on wednesday (16th May), so as to see everything at my own pace and in doing so hopefully gain a greater appreciation of each place - which we did by taking a minibus to Kabatepe and then walking from site to site; followed by the fifteen kilometre trek back to the hostel in Eceabat. Thursday morning I took a ferry across the Dardanelles strait to Çanakkale, followed by a bus five hours south to the city of Izmir; and then finally a smaller bus one hour further south to the town of Selçuk - the site of both the Roman ruins of Ephesus and one of the seven ancient wonders ... read more
October 4th 2011
Got up, packed up, had brekky, checked out and were dropped off up the road at the Pamukkale bus company's office. The man here was very friendly and chatty with us. Quite a few people waiting for the bus. Also chatted with an Australian Turkish couple who were here for holidays. He did his military service in Pamukkale about 30 years ago. At 9:30 the bus arrived and we all loaded up and away we went. This bus went all the way to Selcuk without having to change bur did still stop in Denizli and various other places along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. When we got to Selcuk otogar we disembarked and grabbed our luggage. A guy from the bus company asked us where we were staying. We said Hotel Bella ... read more
September 27th 2011
We took a one hour flight down to Izmir, caught atrain to selcuk just in time, and arrived at our hostel just before dark. In the morning we had breakfast at the hostel before takinga minibus out to the ruins at Ephesus. Theruins were pretty impressive, especially the Library, but I was a littledisappointed that they had done a lot of filling in with concrete. Some parts of the amphitheater were entirely... read more
August 10th 2011
I went to Turkey to live there. For a long time. Maybe even a lifetime. And that didn't work out. I'm back in Kuwait now, teaching English at a university. But some people have asked me to write about my life in Selçuk, near Izmir and Kusadasi on the Aegean Sea, even though it wasn't technically a holiday. But, I wasn't working, so it sort of ended up being a holiday after all. Originally I wanted to open a business there with my then boyfriend Enis, who is a carpet dealer working for his pony-tailed brother in Selcuk, but after a few months, I figured out that wasn't at all what I wanted. Not with a carpet dealer, not with man like Enis, who changed so drastically once I gave up everything to live in the ... read more
July 18th 2011
We’ve had another day visiting building rubble. We visited the PMD ruins, properly known as Priene, Miletus and Didyma. These were 3 large cities close to Ephesus that existed at the same time as Ephesus. However, unlike Ephesus they don’t get much tourist traffic and so it is possible to have a reasonable wander around them without tripping over other people. They haven’t been excavated to the same extent as Ephesus and I think that the amount we were quoted was something like 2%. The first stop was at Priene which lies partly up a fairly steep and craggy hill. The main features of interest at Priene are the Temple of Athena and a theatre. The Temple of Athena sits in a position on the hill with good views out over the surrounding plain. There ... read more
