The morning boat from Chios to Cesme in Turkey pulled out just as another bought of extreme rain began to pour ( this had been happening in the mornings for the last 2 days).
As we moved across the straight and Turkey grew nearer I felt a bit apprehensive. Don the Ex pat Kiwi/ Greek hotel owner had been telling me what he saw as some home truths about the Turks. Once I had arrived in Cesme though, it became clear that 30 years in Greece had clouded his judgment a bit. For starters it was much nicer than anywhere I had been in Greece and also the people were super friendly. In fact I couldn’t believe how developed it was, having spent some time in Morocco I was expecting to be inundated by tourist touts offering me hotels and transport as soon as I stepped of the boat. It became obvious that Turkey is nothing like Morocco within a matter of minutes and I was amazed that I had to initiate all the conversations with the locals and nobody had tried to sell me anything afterwards.
After walking round town for some time looking for a bank, and cursing myself for bringing such a heavy pack, got on a bus to a city called Izmir where I could connect to a train to Selcuk. Selcuk was the closest town to the Roman city ruins of Ephesus. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke everyone was being forced off on the edge of some housing area somewhere. It took me about 5 mins of dazed wandering before I realized I was in fact in Izmir rather than some random town along the way. I stopped for lunch and had the best baked potatoes I had ever had. Seriously I couldn’t imagine a baked potato being this good, basically the inside had been scooped out mixed with cheese and re inserted into the skin . It was then topped with meat, olives, cheese and salad. I think this experience must be akin to Dan’s discovery of pie minister at Glastonbury some years ago.
The staff at the potato place told me I was in fact on the edge of Izmir rather than the centre and pointed me in the direction of the bus stop to the train station . The bus was more crowded than the 86 used to be in Liverpool at 9am. After another bought of extreme rain , made it to the train station and caught the train to Selcuk without incident.
I stayed at a place on the edge of Selcuk called Attila’s getaway. Attila was a Turkish Australian who had set up a resort style hostel on his parents property. If anyone has ever seen the movie” Sexy Beast “Attila looked exactly like Ben Kinsley’s Character ( Don I think) it really was an uncanny resemblance. The place was pretty sweet half Australians and half Canadians from Alberta staying there . (Also met a cool guy from the Philippines who was living in Norway and offered to arrange some accommodation for me at the end of the trip …awesome!) Got very drunk that night and then got up early to check out the ruins at Ephesus with a stinking hang over.
Luckily I managed to arrange a lift with a couple from Calgary who had rented a car, thus avoiding the hostel shuttle bus and inevitable “ traditional carpet display and tea “after. The ruins were pretty good but I think after Rome anything I see will now be an anticlimax…this part of the world is covered in ruins and I must admit that morning I also felt ruined by the previous nights drinking. The highlight of the site for me was actually the shop outside the gates selling “ Genuine Fake Watches “ ( see photo ) hilarious!! ah well you have to respect the honesty….Spent the rest of the day recovering by the pool and then had an early night, was the only one in the dorm that evening so slept soundly.
The next day I got the bus to Pamakkule, another Roman site that was built next to a natural phenomenon . Hot springs had deposited Calcium Bicarbonate down the side of a mountain, forming natural rock pools that now surrounded the original city. I had arranged the bus there through the hostel.(something I usually wouldn’t do… but was feeling lazy and fancied being picked up direct from Attila’s rather than transferring in town ) When the bus arrived there were no seats left and the conductor passed me a sheet of news paper and motioned to the alleyway near the driver. “are you serious ?“…“yes is problem “ no shit it was a problem….3 painful hours later I finally got a seat when some other passengers got off. Upon asking for a refund I was told I could get one at the office which of course was back in Selcuk….oh well that’s what you get for booking transport through a hotel.!!
Pamakkule itself was very small but filled with hotels, I decided to stay 2 nights and negotiated a good price for a private ensuite room near the pool in a local hotel/ resort.
The room seemed fine until I got back from watching the USA v Ghana game and noticed a fair amount of Mosquitoes in the room. I did my best to swat them before going to sleep. However when I turned the lights off the low fly bys close to my ears became unbearable… after another couple of swatting session (and the hospital-green walls of my room starting to be covered with red blotches of dead bug and Scruton blood) I gave up and put my earplugs in to allow some sleep fully aware that I would take a few more bites in the night….
A few more bites ???!!! ………the next morning I counted 30 bites on my left knee and elbow alone…… let aside the rest on my legs and arms….the discovery of an inch gap between the top of the balcony door and the frame explained much ….ouch !! I remember now how annoying Canadian summers could be on account of these most loathsome of insects…(right now giving Seagulls a run to top my list of most annoying of all Gods creatures……this doesn’t include Phillips of course…he was born of hell!! )
Met a really nice Indian girl from Mumbai at breakfast the next morning ( all you can eat Turkish hotel breakfasts are awesome btw) and we went up to the terraces and ruins together…..Pamukkale is one of the coolest places I’ve been on the trip…you basically walk barefoot up a series of white rock terraces and water pools to the top of the hill overlooking town and then explore a large complex of Roman ruins at the top….after a few hours getting sunburnt had a dip in the pools on the way down and then a swim at the hotel pool before watching the farce called England FC lose against a superior German team…gutted…..headed back to the hotel too depressed to watch the second game and had an early night after a good blues session on the guitar.
Woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed and got the next bus on to Fethiye, a resort town on the Mediterranean south coast of the country, time to set up the next adventure….
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