Breakfast today was in the outdoor courtyard and may have been one of the best for quality so far - best was a fig spread for our simits...delicious.
Shortly after breakfast we set out to see the origins of the city of Selçuk, which was formerly known as Ephesus. On our drive there we passed the site of the Temple of Artemis, another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (didn‘t go in though as most of the ruins are gone now).
At Ephesus, one of the main highlights in the ancient city’s ruins are the remains of the Library of Celsus - which is the namesake of our hotel.
When we parked at the entry to Ephesus we were immediately greeted by a local who assured us “I’m not a tour guide - they are too expensive”. After some story, he proceeded to sell us a guide book for Ephesus, then gave us apple tea so we’d be his friends for 40 years.😐 The book is actually quite nice as it shows several of the ruins with a before/after overlay.
Some other highlight pics of Ephesus:
Temple of Hadrian
Some of the visiting royalty...
It was really hot and sunny, so we toured the site from shadow to shadow. There were so many relics to take in, realizing that this place is over 3,000 years old.
Then there was this clown...
The Thinker
The Goddess
The Olympian
At Hercules’ Gate (who sees the resemblance?)
After sweating off a couple quarts, we made our way back to the main highway and up into the hillside (read “crazy, windy roads”) to see the town is of Şirince. This was billed as “a quaint little village” which may have been true, that is until it turned into a trinket-hocking, wine-selling, tourist trap - maybe we were just hot and tired from earlier, but it didn’t have the appeal we’d hoped.
The village does not allow cars and the streets are barely wagon width, so it was easy to walk around (except it’s all on a hill).
We stopped in one of the many restaurants for lunch, which used a stone oven for cooking many of the bread items. This tree was in the middle of the dining area, and we think it was so decorated to prevent people from hitting their heads.
Nothing specifically noteworthy on the menu, in Tammy’s words: “I ordered peas and got these...”
We wound our way back out of the hills and to our hotel for a break and more trip planning. Tammy found a route that worked for our return flight from Croatia for only $310 per person! We felt better to know that we at least have a way back home now :-).
For dinner we backtracked on the coast for 30 minutes to the town of Kuşadası, which we’d heard about from a few people/videos.
There were a couple beaches there and a vibrant town center shopping area. We walked for a while then picked this place (Dedem K. Corner Turkish Restaurant) to eat. The food was great and since they also served European cuisine, suited our need for a steak. The service was so good, with the four brothers and their father clearly doing their best to run a first class business. As you can see from the pic, they have plenty of charming character!
Of course they finished the meal with complimentary Turkish coffee and tasty Turkish delight - cute and yummy!
After dinner we walked along the waterfront at the perfect time to catch some sunset pics.
Then back up the coast to finish the day and get ready to travel again tomorrow.
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