Escape to Izmir

Last week was a holiday in Turkey, so I took the opportunity to explore a bit more of the country. One of my fellow ELFs suggested that we meet in Izmir for a few days, and I was able to get a direct flight there from Malatya (which is not always an option), so we found a hotel & the adventure began.

I arrived late on Saturday night, so we headed out on Sunday to explore the city a bit. It was the first day of the holiday, so most shops & museums were closed, but we discovered that the city bus tour was running. It was a nice chance to have a look around & decide what we wanted to go back to in the coming days. Oddly, the bus driver was hesitant to let us pay in Turkish lira - I guess most of his customers come from cruise ships & only have Euros. We did finally convince him that we didn't have any Euros but would be happy to pay him in the local currency. The drive around the city was relaxing & we saw a few spots we wanted to take a closer look at, namely a couple of museums & some ruins.

The next day we wanted to go to Ephesus, which is (according to Lonely Planet) "the best-preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean." We asked at the front desk of our hotel & were told we could take a bus, or they could arrange a private tour for us. Being somewhat frugal, we decided a bus was fine, and headed off to the closest office for a bus company. The hotel clerk had told us to go to Selcuk & get a local bus from there, but when we told the guy at the bus office that we wanted to go there, he said, "No. You want Ephesus." OK, fine, if you say so.

After an hour on the bus, the driver pulled over to the side of the road & told us we were at Ephesus. We got off, with another couple, and discovered that we were about 3 kilometers from the ruins. A taxi driver at the side of the road offered to take us there for 40 lira. Considering we had paid only 12 lira for the bus ride, that seemed a little steep. We discussed it with the other couple, who spoke some English, and decided we didn't mind walking. I'm actually glad we did, because I probably wouldn't have noticed this sign otherwise.

It seems slightly ominous, unless you know that it's on a very narrow road & there's no way anyone could even turn around. It might have been nice if there had been a small shoulder for us to walk on, but we made it to the parking lot safely. And were greeted there by more

taxi drivers who wanted to take us to the other end of the ruins - for 40 lira. Again, we declined. After all, I had just bought new hiking boots & was very anxious to break them in by walking among ancient ruins.

At the ticket window, we discovered there was a discount for students & teachers. Rachael (my traveling companion) had just received her ID from her Turkish university, so she was able to get the discount. My university doesn't seem to have ID cards. I tried using my UO ID, but the woman just glanced at it before telling me, "No discount. Same price." Oh well.

As we walked into the ruins, we chatted a bit with the couple from the bus & found out that they're from a town in the south east - even farther south east than my town - and that they're Kurdish. They had traveled 20 hours by bus to come to Izmir for the holiday, and were staying at the same hotel we were - the woman recognized us from breakfast that morning.

We wandered though the ruins for a few hours, oohing and aahing over really old buildings. Some of the highlights were the library facade, the remnants of some mosaics, and a backgammon board carved into the seats of the theater.

I was also really struck by this small piece of lettering left behind. It's hard to tell if the rest had worn away or been covered up.

I was fairly impressed by Ephesus, but Rachael says Afrodisias is even better. I hope to see it sometime soon.

I still have two more days of the trip to write about, but it'll have to wait until I have more patience - the photos are taking WAY too long to upload tonight. Until then, I hope everyone is well. I wouldn't know, since none of you are bothering to comment on any of my posts.