Beach bumming, wonders of the world and drinks!

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Geo: 37.9538, 27.3714

Selcuk is a little touristy town that has built up due to its proximity to Ephesus, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The coach park was packed, but as we pulled up to buy some lunch and food for a BBQ that night on the beach, we subtly parked the truck in a side road and abandoned her! The fruit from the 'green grocer' market was beautiful, the strawberries… dare I say it….. were possibly nicer than the English ones. The smell of them in the bag was mouth-watering alone. So juicy! Anyway… focus… we had a kebab (surprise surprise) for lunch again and then headed to the campsite on the beach, that we had heard so much about.

It really was on the beach. I could have thrown a stone and hit the sand from my tent, from some you could have thrown it into the sea from their tents, but not knowing how big the tides would become, the girls decided backed off a little. The next 5 hours were spent being children again on the sands. I was first there, towel out, bikini on and book (well kindle) in hand! It was beach bum heaven! We braved a swim in the sea, it was not too rough or too deep but what can only be described as welsh in temperature when you first got in! It took minutes to dry in the sun once we had had enough and then the fun began. Becca, Steph and Libby 'shotgunned' beers and didn't spew, Chris, Dan and Jay were buried in the sand, up to their necks and people definitely became redder than they had planned. My good old skin and good old, amazing smelling Malibu sun cream made be brown instead!!!!

The BBQ that night was amazing, with us all throwing in a little extra money to the budget, we had quite a feast, including watermelon for pudding! Amazingness! It was so nice to have some proper food in my life, rather than kebab and bread, and with jacket spuds too, I was a happy girl. That night, we chatted around the picnic tables, until we realised that we were being eaten alive and then retired to the tents. This was the first night that I was not zipped up to the neck in my sleeping bag, and I loved it, slept like a log, although the morning brought with it a trip to Ephesus, so we left early doors in order to get there for opening and take some photos without 10 million people in the way.
On arrival, it was already pretty warm, but it was only to get worse. Some people bought hats.... I was so tempted to acquire a huge brimmed, floppy straw hat... but let's be honest, that is never going to survive this trip! We were at the ticket office as it opened, and myself and Emily decided to have an audio guide between us so that the ruins actually meant something. We started at the back end (top) of the site so to speak, which meant we worked our way to the large amphitheatre at the far end. There were ruins of everything you would expect to see in an ancient town, gymnasiums, houses, temples, walkways and even a library. I would say the library was my favourite building of all, it was beautifully proportioned and stunningly designed, especially with the crystal blue sky behind it, In fact, I possibly preferred it to the amphitheatre as it was so unusual. The theatre was huge and pretty much in perfect condition, however, the scholar in me was always drawn back to the library.

To be honest, the rest of our time here was pretty much spent beach bumming! A day and a half of sitting in the sun, chilling, writing blogs and diaries, reading books and swimming in the sea (which became surprisingly choppy) The evening was spent playing 100 shots in 100 minutes with pear cider. It was a messy affair, with people ending up on the floor before an hour was up, esp Chris, who blamed the gas rather than the quantity of alcohol consumed. It was hilarious and after post game drinks, everyone that was still up ended up on the beach, as it seemed apt to turn it into a beach party! Even David (the 70yr old) partied for a while too, with his red wine in hand! It was a grand night, but I was most grateful to see my sleeping back once it had hit 3am!

Roll on the next blue waters of Turkey if they are as wicked as here!!

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