16 October ’04, Saturday. First let me tell you about yesterday….No plans, no schedule, and we filled the day. Doug wanted another “Turkish Shave”, which he got, and while he was doing that I went over to the internet café to try up-loading pictures. Doug got his shave, and I went bust…not one up-load…the system was just too slow. Lunch was next and then we went to look at a “rental”. We thought that the Bodrum area might workout for our “winter quarters”, so what is available, we’ll soon see. We saw a nice little one bedroom unit right across from the beach. We both thought it would work fine if, this is the place we decide on…but we still have more thinking to do. Now, today... We checked out about 9:30am and headed off to see Ephesus (Efes). Colonists from Greece arrived around 1000BC, fleeing an invasion by the Dorians…the attraction…Ephesus. What we saw, is the best preserved classical city in the Mediterranean. St John is said to have come to Ephesus at the end of his life and to have written his Gospel on Ayasuluh Hill. Along with that, Ephesus made large sums of money from the pilgrims paying homage to the ancient Anatolian fertility goddess Cybele / Artemis The Fabulous (come to find out, he had a disease of some type to have such a large appendage). As we were driving to the Ephesus site, we came across at least 2 other sites of pre-Roman to Roman ruins. The whole countryside around here is scattered with them. Some are quite small, and others are so large that it takes at least 2 hours, with a guide, to see it all. We walked into the “Great Theatre” of Ephesus and could hardly believe the size. It would hold easily 25,000 people and entertainers. It is over 2000 years old and is still used for performances today. One of the performers recently, was “Sting”. It is said that during his concert, his music damaged the original stonework. This created a big controversy. On our tour, we walked the Sacred Way. We saw the Library of Celsus, Curetes Way, the Brothal, the terraced houses, the Gates of Hercules, and on and on… it was a wonderful afternoon, and the ruins, magnificent…Ephesus. Time was getting out of hand, so we bid farewell to Ephesus and continued our trip up the coast. We didn’t have any place in mind, but knew that evening was still going to come and we would have to find a place to bed down. Just outside of Bergama, Doug came up with our next “pension” for the night…I can’t remember what the name of the town or the pension was, but we didn’t find it. As it was, we did find a hotel across from the beach in a neighboring village for $20 each room. What a bargain…the only glitch, it was on the top floor (5th), and we were the only one’s staying there out of approx. 70 villas…why the “top” floor???? Oh well, a little more exercise just wont kill us (or will it???).
Tomorrow…Canakkale for the ferry, and then on to The Gallipoli National Historic Park.
Tomorrow…Canakkale for the ferry, and then on to The Gallipoli National Historic Park.