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I travelled, via a rather uncomfortable 11 hour overnight bus, down the western coast of Turkey to the small town of Selcuk. Selcuk (pronounced 'Selchuk') is a quaint little town with not too much to offer other than relaxation, and it is a very short walk to the amazing Roman city ruins of Ephesus.
I spent my first day in Selcuk wandering around the town, visiting the ruins of a very nice church, as well as meeting and chatting with several locals. The people here were very friendly and inviting, so much so that I was buzzing from all of the caffeine from the many teas I drank.
The real draw to this area is the Roman ruins of Ephesus (aka: Efes). At this point I thought I was ruined for ruins after seeing so many over the course of the past 2 months, but Ephesus was well worth it! It was ridiculously packed full of people from nearly 100 tourbuses, but if you closed your eyes on the side of the columnade (main street), it was very easy to imagine what this city was like 2000 years ago! The preservation here is what is most impressive though, as some of the porticoes in the massive library gate still had some very nice statues remaining (a rarity in the ruins I've seen thus far.
From Selcuk/Ephesus, I took a bus ride inland for 4 hours to the small village of Pamukkale. The village here basically exists to supply the necessary infrastructure for individual travellers to visit the amazing white travertine (calcium carbonate) pools here. Once I had relaxed sufficiently in the town (I find I've been doing that a lot lately), I made my way up to these geological wonders. The travertine pools were formed (Geologeek Warning!) by natural spring water that is enriched with calcium carbonate which precipitates upon it's release to the atmosphere as it flows down the cliffs. There are many pools down the slope which appear to me to be artificially built (by the Romans) but are coated in white calcium due to thousands of years of water flow.
The really fun part of the Pamukkale travertine pools though lies in watching the many Europeans in their speedos and bikinis striking ridiculous poses everywhere they went. It was like a "Europe's Next Top Model" shoot for the slightly overweight and made me giggle endlessly. There are also the ruins of an ancient Roman spa (Hieriapolis), but I decided that I'm ruined for ruins at this point and just lazed in the sun for the photoshoot for awhile longer.
My next stop is a bus ride to the south eastern coast of Turkey and the small harbour city of Fethiye. From here (after a few days of added relaxation), I will embark on a 4 day / 3 night boat trip along the coast on a gulet (Turkish sailboat)!
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Barb Howard
non-member comment
night buses
Hey Mark, I took quite a few night buses myself in Australia years ago to save money on a night's stay somewhere. However, the buses in Australia 31 years ago just may have been more comfortable than Turkey's buses today. : ) I also remember reaching the point of having seen enough castles in Europe, even longer ago. So if you don't catch all of the ruins, I understand. I'm glad to hear you're still having a great trip. Always glad to get your updates. Barb