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Published: November 7th 2007
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We both woke and dressed for breakfast even though Turkish breakfasts seem to leave a lot to be desired. We were both pleasantly surprised with the feast that was laid out in front of us. We sat on the roof terrace with a view of the castle and ate breads, spreads, eggs and fruit.
Jimmy the owner of the place told us that his dad could take us on a tour of the sights if we liked. We weren't planning to see Ephesus till tomorrow but this was a one day offer so we took it.
Jimmy kept on talking about Visionary house which neither of us had a clue about and it took us a while to figure out that he said Virgin Mary's house. Anyway we paid 10ytl to get in the precinct which we thought was way too much but Jimmy's dad had already bought us the tickets so we couldn't not give him the money. We walked along a path to a tiny little chapel which we entered and felt out of place amongst people praying so we hurriedly left. As we continued along the path it dawned on us that that was it. Pissed
off at the stupid amount we had paid to get in we figured that we should probably go back and look at it again. The chapel was just a tiny room with an icon of Mary in and then a drawing on the wall. A complete waste of money.
We were dropped off next at the upper entrance to Efes or Ephesus and again paid 10ytl each to get in. We arranged with Jimmy's dad to be picked up in four hours time which he looked surprised at but we were undeterred. Initially we found ourselves in the same position as in Troy. We only had our little guidebook map, all the boards lacked any English and to buy a guide we would have to have left the premises and tried to get back in past the tour groups.
Our first tactic was to walk away from the groups to an area nobody was in. From there you pretty much follow a path around the site which takes you through most of it. We started at the less impressive side and worked towards the main highlights.
Our final stop was a Greek village called Sirince. Legend says
that some Greek villagers settled there in the fifteenth century and worried that others may follow they called it Cirkince which meant ugliness. The current name means pleasantness and was changed by a governor of Izmir in 1926. We went for a savory pancake on a terrace that overlooked the valley and village. St John's church was a short climb up a cobbled street and past plenty of old women selling lace, garlands and shawls etc. Sirince is famous for its grape/vine growth and makes special fruit wines which we were told to try. Some friends of Jimmy's dad own a wine shop, so we went into that one and not one of the other shops selling exactly the same wines. We definitely made the right choice, the owner was so eccentric. He lifted out lots of bottles and put them on the counter in front of us. He then poured two each for us to try which we did. In those four we both loved the black mulberry wine and pretty much decided that we wanted to buy a bottle. After he had put a bottle in a bag for us he then tried to get us to try
more. He must have sensed our hesitation and said he didn't want us to buy anymore but he wanted us to try them as we couldn't get them anywhere outside of the village. When we had finished tasting his extensive array he offered us a glass of elma cay which we accepted. We told him that we had been trying to find some in supermarkets unsuccessfully and so he sold us a packet of his.
At the hostel we sat down to play a game of Pro Evolution on the Playstation. We finished our game and then stayed to watch Jimmy play his friend because it was such a comical game.
Lonely Planet was our aid in deciding on a restaurant. We picked Old House restaurant which was satisfactory food wise but was disappointing because everyone in there was English speaking. The only really good thing about it was that there were pomegranate trees growing in the courtyard.
When we got back to the hostel we went on the internet again until a girl from Ireland came and joined us. We opened the Greek wine and chatted a while. Juju (Jimmy's brother) came and joined us and
long after the Irish girl had gone to bed we sat up chatting about Turkey in general. We learned quite a lot and Juju argued rather well for his country and made us both see it in a new positive light. Turkey appears to be a forward thinking country when it comes to incorporating religion into a modern society. Anyway we learnt a lot and I mean at some point to spend some time reading up on Attaturk Mustafa Kermal.
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kate
non-member comment
duckie and friend
I could make loads of comments of a cultural kind but i'll leave that to others and just say it was lovely to se Duckie again. Love mumxxxxxxx