Ephesus, just outside of Selcuk, is an ancient Greek-come-Roman city near the west coast of Turkey. For a long time, it was the second largest Roman City (behind Rome), and a lot of it still remains in tact. Of course, there’s a lot of rubble too!
There’s some audio guides which make things a bit more interesting. Not that I can remember any of that information now though! It wasn’t just cold while we were walking around, it was freezing!! It was actually snowing by the time we left.
I then headed to Izmir, hoping the airport wasn’t shut, and it was snowing sideways for a lot of the drive! The van then stopped on the highway and the driver points to the airport! Ahhh thanks mate, ill just walk the last 15min then shall I? Luckily it wasn’t snowing then and there was a path to safely walk on!
London, Early 2011 »« Pamukkale
Another night bus heading west to Pamukkale, and a bit of bad luck along the way. I went with Anne who I met in Cappadocia, and the main bus dropped us at out of town by the time we worked out what was going on, we missed the transfer shuttle into Pamukkale town itself. It was 4am. And the next bus was apparently at 7am. Did I mention its frigging freezing? Continue Reading…
Ancient Ephesus »« Cappadocia, Turkey
Cappadocia is smack bang in the middle of Turkey, and what is now pretty much a desert. Wind, water and volcanic activity over many years created unusual rock formations throughout the area. It has been occupied by the Persians, Romans, Greeks and Turks, and they have made use of the formations for housing, storage, temples etc.
As well as the normal tours, you can go by QUAD BIKE! The area is like an ATV playground. They have even built extra bumps, hills, gravel pits etc just for fun. We really got to see what these bikes could do and I almost pulled a Rob and flipped it by driving up a steep incline but it was all good. 
Pamukkale »« Istanbul!
I had a bit of time off, so why not go to Turkey!? With just a week, it was a bit of a run around, but I saw the main things I wanted to, starting with a day in Istanbul. Turkey, physically, visually and culturally, is smack between Europe and the Middle East.
There are huge mosques everywhere. The most popular and famous being the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia (now a museum). You can see the tops of their minarets all over the city. It also means you will be woken at dawn by the singing of the first of five daily prayers.
For all its hype, Everyone told me the bazaar is simply another huge market selling the same copy/bootleg/replica crap. I can buy that shit in London.
Instead, I joined 2 Aussie guys from the hostel to the Egyptian Spice market, full of tasty vegan Turkish Delight! and nuts, dried fruit, spices, tea etc. They also have “Turkish Viagra” (actually figs, walnuts and honey) and a shop apparently backed by Barack Obama!
We took a random ferry ride as one of them gives quite a good harbour tour apparently..We got the other one which while nice didn’t really show us much.
Across the bridge we spotted some military training, and later a group of them piling out of the back of a truck carrying machine guns. I was tempted to take a photo but didn’t, & one of the Aussie guys informed me its illegal! So good choice.
Cappadocia, Turkey »« A Penrith Walk
