Journeying North, en route to Istanbul

Hey folks!  It is January 4th, we arrived back in Istanbul yesterday evening and are staying at the warm and dry Second Home hostel.  We have a few days left to relax and take in the city before shipping back to Sweden.  First, however, I have some updating to do.

We left Pamukkale at around 1130 on the morning of December 31st, putting us into Celcuk by midafternoon.  We found a lovely guesthouse, recommended by someone who owned a different guesthouse but was, as it turned out, the brother of the owners of Homeros.  Celcuk is a relatively small town, lovely, if smack on the tourist trail for the Ephesian ruins.  We enjoyed the hospitality of our hosts and the folks in the city, some of whom made an unsuccessful effort to entice us to a discotheque on New Year's eve - we were searching for baklava (successfully).  Perhaps it was the wine or our relaxing stay in Antalya, but we felt more comfortable in Selcuk than Goreme by a sight and enjoyed our stay.  The ruins were impressive (if starting to blend together), and it was cool to learn about the history of Ephesus (which is worth a read - it was the second largest city in the world in its time! - 250,000 people!).  But for now, as always, some photos!

The view from the roof of Homeros - every roof has a solar water heater!  Everywhere in Turkey!  

Sunset from our hostel terrace

Turkish truth in advertising

Ephesus was apparently an extremely impressive city - and while seeing the place, traveling towards and away from it helped cement it's position in my memory, I hope some of these anecdotes and photos might bring it to your mind, just for a second.  Corinne and I marveled, and not for the first time, at the grace and majesty the ancient world must have held.  These were not happenstance cities, or lucky architectural creations - but carefully planned and masterfully articulated wonders.  What's left after 2500 years isn't always much to look at - but imagine our civilization in 2500 years, what would be standing?  I did my best to capture some of the neat things I saw, but mostly it was picturesque ruin - like the other sites.  Use your imagination, or take a trip over here to really get a flavor for it.  I mean - Ephesus had a harbor - it was almost 2km from the sea and they dredged for a harbor.  Anyway - with some regret that I can't do the city more justice - here are some photos.

Pipes!  And stone laid out behind them

Lots of the site looked like this - a mish-mash of shapes forms and colors, hard to know whats what

lots with ceramic piping lying around

The road to the Library - note how level and even the stones are after 2000 years!

Mosaic streets!  In front of fancy residential areas

Cool arches with carved keystones

This was the crowd pleaser - Library of Celsus, facing east for the sun

A statue at the re-built Library - it says Sophia - Greek for 'wisdom'

Again - look at the condition of this street!  Complete with sewage lines!

Many of the lots had rows and rows of stones and column pieces

From the 25,000 seat theatre

Ephesus was famous for its sarcophagi production

The collapsed part of this street is the sewer line - the rest of it was pretty level

Some ruins - only 15% has been excavated, and NO ONE was around out here - very neat to walk around

An immersion baptismal font at the St John's Basilica

A tunnel under St John's

A portion of the church

As I mentioned, about 15% of the site has been excavated, which means that here and there are little discoveries - the tunnel was basically a hole I climbed down into and to snap some photos.  Much of the site didn't look like much more than rocks on other rocks, but much of it (in the back where the tours didn't go) had a Lord of the Rings hidden away from time feel.  

After Celcuk and Ephesus, we spent a day in Ayvalik, a minor port town with some Greek influence.  The Greeks control most of the islands off the coast of Turkey (for whatever reason) and while Greece and Turkey share many cultural elements, there is also some tension between them - the town had an interesting history - worth reading up on, but for us it was a stopover on our tour north.  

We're back in Istanbul, taking it easy.  I've been a bit sick for a day or two and am laying low while Corinne is doing more tourist things and buying me crackers and juice.  The end of this leg of our journey is in sight, and while I am excited to see Stockholm again, I will miss this part of the world and hope to be back someday.  Thanks for reading!