Day 38: Ephesus

After and absolutely brilliant nights sleep, we surface around 8am and headed out into the beautiful farmland area of Selcuk for a 6km run. Farms air does a person wonders and sure helped us get rid of any skanky Istanbul air. It was magic to stretch the legs on a long open stretch of land instead of taking many turns and running down small alley ways to make up the distance. The further we ran the longer we wanted to keep going – and it was so nice to hear birds again. Selcuk has an amazing village feel to it.  You feel that you could easily be in Sicily or a small town in Cyprus. Everything moves extra slowly here. There was one old man that we saw walk to a bench on the side of one of the tiny roads at about 11:30am. When we got back from Ephesus around 3:30pm – he was still there. I wasn’t sure if he couldn’t move or maybe he just woke up.

After our run we had some breakfast. And did we have some breakfast!! Yoghurt, in which we mixed cherry jam, honey and fresh straw berrys. Our bodies lapped up the goodness – I could actually feel my insides celebrating and beginning to operate like a well nourished machine. I drilled an omelet – it didn’t feel a thing. I then moved onto some homemade bread with cheese, tomatoes and cucumber.

Our hotel: Amazon Antique - a restored farmhouse.

Well fed we then had about 8 hours to kill before supper time. So we walked around the tiny town of  Selcuk. We got back to the hotel and then had 7hrs and 55mins left to kill. We asked our hotel owner, and Istanbul escapee ex accountant who moved to Selcuk to rebuild a farmhouse and start a business, to drop us off at the top gate of Ephesus – one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.

This was, next to Petra, one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Sure there are a lot of ruins and pieces of buildings lying everywhere, but this city dates back 2500 years and has been under so many rulers from completely different regions. From Roman to Turk to Byzantine rule – and all have left their mark. It really is a worthwhile see if you are in the area. It is so hard to take in so much of this amazing city. We often stopped to imagine the vibe in the streets and atmosphere as this city buzzed in all its splendor. As a once thriving harbor town, Ephesus, in modern day terms, used to pump! And we would have loved to be here in its heyday. The detail of the sculptures and entrances to Roman baths and Palaces are incredible and absolute works of art. These guys certainly did not hold back when it came to creating a place to live and relax. The 25000 person theatre that was built is quite a sight and just an example of how seriously they took recreation. Along with stadiums and gymnasiums…

It took us 3 hours to amble through the ruins, bewildered and encapsulated by the sheer history of Ephesus. A 4km nice stroll home finished us off and ended up in an afternoon nap during which a fierce hunger reared its beautiful head.

Into town we went and hit the back streets of Selcuk in the new area. Taught a chicken sandwich a lesson and headed back to our village for a couple of beers with my lovely lady as we watched the sun go down over an olive tree plantation – felt like we were in Tuscany but the barmen spoke Turkish. Halfway through my second beer, a large group of tourists arrived and the owner asked if he could use my table -  to which I gladly obliged and used a chair on which to rest my ice cold Efes Pilsner – an extraordinarily good tasting beer. Never would have thought the Turks could rustle up such a great brew!

With two beers to my name, and the sun slowly sinking, I held on tightly to Donna as she lead me homeward, as Selcuk began to move in doors and close its eyes.