Ephesus

on day four of our Turkish adventure Jen and I forked over 60 euros to head into the heart of western turkey on an airconditioned coach with forty other european/american/iranian travellers and one lovely, if not sarcastically dry, tour guide, ahmed.

we were thrilled. leave the tack of bodrum? check. explore life in the real Turkey? check. have a proper night's sleep away from 5am pool antics? triple check!

Day One: Ephesus--ancient ruins and one of the seven wonders of the world
Day Two: Pammukale--calcium deposits, ruins and a carpet factory

you've gotta love cheap tours if only for the many stops at leather factories, jewelry factories, carpet factories that must subsidise the costs along the way. that and bad highway-side restaurants that serve dodgy buffets en masse.



Stop 1: a lovely inland lake (Turgutul?) with blowy, blustery wind (much appreciated after scorching hot days)


welcome to one of the world's ancient wonders!


and now i must admit another one of my ridiculously philistinish travelling moments...i enjoyed ephesus only because i forced myself to. most of the time i was thinking, it's hot, i'm in the closest thing to a desert i've seen in a while and really this is a big pile of glorified rocks uncovered and moved around to show us the semblance of ancient civilisation. i'm a bad person, i know.




then again, i blame this passionate disinterest on my father's passionate interest for spending hours in front of the mummies and archaeological sites at various museums across america...


a fine example of greco-roman architechture


staring down a privy built for sixty


i LOVE headless statues. and this statue had practicality written all over it. instead of comandeering a new statue every time a new emperor came into power, the Turks got smart and opted to replace the head only. earliest signs of economic frugality?


Nike, the goddess of victory. men would touch the statue's left breast before battle or a long journey for good luck. hence, its worn down nature. bastards.


the library, located eerily close to the ancient brothel.


jen, me and our tans. many times on the trip, turkish men would learn our names and then sandwich themselves between both of us, squeeze our shoulders, close their eyes and make a wish. apparently it's cultural good luck to meet two people with the same name at the same time. who knew?


the view from our peaceful balcony. two minarets!


after a wander in the local village

late now! more later!