Selcuk and Ephesus, Turkey

I arrived in Turkey at the break of dawn. My ferry landed in Kos, and then I took a smaller ferry to Bodrum. Bodrum was a lovely coastal town with a castle and lots of beautiful boats and markets. I walked to the bus station. I had planned on going to Izmir, but my couchsurfer had fallen through, and since I had no other reason to visit Izmir, I had decided against going there, and instead chose to go to the town of Selcuk – the gateway to Ephesus. I had read online that there were no direct buses to Selcuk, and so they advised taking a bus to Soke, and then a bus to Selcuk. So I found a bus going to Soke, bought a ticket and boarded. It was an amazing bus ride – we had WiFi, movies, TV shows, and there was a waiter bringing around free snacks and drinks.

When I got to Soke I discovered that the internet had misinformed me – and actually there were no buses running from Soke to Selcuk. Undeterred, I asked about alternate ways to get to Soke. They said that I could take a bus to a certain town and then take a connecting bus from there. The bus was a minibus and was not as fancy as the previous one I had taken – no drinks or snacks there! We headed off, after circulating the town for ten minutes while our driver shouted out the window to any passersby to attract more passengers to fill the remaining seats. After driving for about an hour, he stopped on the corner of an intersection and told me that this was my stop. I got out and took a look around. It was a strange small town, with no bus station. I asked a few locals where to go, but none understood English. So I followed the road signs until I was on the main road pointed in the direction of Selcuk. I figured that any bus going that way would pass me and I would be able to flag it down. I came across a man who looked like he was waiting for a bus – and he was, so I waited with him. After 40 minutes the man gave up and went away. I had nothing better to do, so I just stayed put and waited for this alleged bus. Soon some children and teenagers noticed me and were eager for me to talk to them. I talked to them briefly, wondering all the while about when this bus would ever roll around. Just then, a sleek black car pulled up and a man asked me if I wanted a ride to Selcuk. I am not normally one to hitchhike, but I had heard from some Turkish friends of mine that it is common to hitchhike in Turkey, and anything was better than sitting on the side of the road. So I accepted and climbed in the car. He was an interesting man – a professor in Veterinary sciences at the local university. He kindly dropped me off right in the heart of Selcuk and even gave me a bag of dried figs from his garden. I thanked him and waved goodbye. I had made it to Selcuk, in a strange, round-about way which set the tone for a lot of my Turkish experiences!

The people in Turkey are extremely outgoing and friendly. Even as I walked to my hostel in Selcuk people were asking me if I needed assistance with directions – which was great because little did I know but I had actually taken a wrong turn. I checked into the hostel, put down my bags and assessed my situation. It was 5pm. I was going to visit the ancient site of Ephesus the next day and would be leaving the following morning. If there was anything that I wanted to see in Selcuk, I had to do it right there and then.
I decided that I would quite like to visit the house of the Virgin Mary – a small dwelling on top of a mountain where the Virgin Mary had lived for the last 9 yeas of her life. The house was 10kms away from town. There were no buses that ran there, and a taxi would be too expensive. It would take a good 2 hours each way to walk there. I had been sitting down on a bus all day, so I just went for it. I began to walk. As I got further out of town, locals started approaching me and asking if I was lost! I assured them that I knew where I was going. I found the road that led to the house and began walking down it. I stopped briefly to buy an apple from a roadside stall. It was run by a man and his elderly mother. The mother took me in her arms and embraced me, and told me that the next time I came to Turkey I should stay with her and she would cook for me morning, noon and night. Thanking her, I tore myself away and continued up the road. I finally reached the house. It had taken me the full two hours to get there. I knew that the house was closed from visiting hours, but I figured I could still have a look around the outside. The security guards waved me through and told me to be quick. It was peaceful and quiet. I was the only one there. The house itself was beautifully designed and made of bricks. I peeked inside the windows. It was small inside. It would be a great place to live, I could see why Mary had loved it there.
I started to head back down the road. Along the way I met two nuns who lived there. They were lovely people, and, bless them, they were quite concerned about me walking all the way back to town – so much so that they flagged down their priest and asked him to give me a lift back to town. He gave me a ride and told me of his life and his work – he had been all over the world! He was listening to pop singer Adele's song on repeat. Literally. He apologised about it the fourth time it began, but he just loved it so much he listened to it continually. He also said that he had a set of keys to the Virgin Mary's house, and apologised profusely that he hadn't seen me earlier so that he could have unlocked the house for me to have a look inside.


He dropped me in the center of town, I thanked him and set off in search of dinner. I ended up meeting a man selling carpets. Now, this is something about Turkish people – well, maybe not a general sweeping statement, but from what I have heard, and from my experience – Turkish people are extremely friendly and chatty. And as much as they would like to make a sale, whether or not you buy from them is irrelevant to their interest in you (and it is not just because I am female – males attest to this as well!). So I met this carpet man, standing outside of his carpet shop. He asked me a few questions about where I was from and where I had been. I answered him, and then let him know that I had no interest in buying a carpet. He invited me to play backgammon. I agreed, we sat down at a table outside the shop and he taught me how to play backgammon. While we played, we chatted a bit. He was lamenting that he likes to be friendly and practice his English but most travellers ignore him. He couldn't understand why. I chuckled to myself, because if I didn't know better about Turkish people then I would have probably reacted to him the same way. We tend to be too weary of being set up for a sale.
After the game (which he won) I asked him if he could tell me a good place to buy baklava. He left his shop in the hands of his assistant and walked me to the local baklava shop himself! I bought a baklava piece, and I have to admit, it was one of the best baklavas I have ever had. I said goodnight to the carpet man and I headed back to the hostel. What a crazy first day in Turkey.


The next morning I had planned to go to Ancient Ephesus – the huge, influential city from 2000 years ago that apostle Paul, John and the Virgin Mary had visited. Apostle John had lived there too, and his tomb lies in St John's Basilica in Selcuk. Ancient Ephesus is about 3km out of Selcuk town. Easy walkable distance!

I had heard that crowds could get busy in Ephesus, so I planned to go early, but in the morning I decided to catch up on making my next travel plans and head to Ephesus a little later in the day. Crowd or no crowd, I would take it as I found it. As it happened, it suddenly started to rain in a torrential downpour! There was thunder and lightening, and water flooded the ground everywhere. I decided to just relax and wait the storm out. At around 2pm the storm cleared and the rain stopped. I headed out and began walking to Ephesus. On the way I met a Turkish man who was also walking to Ephesus. He ended up paying my ticket to get in, and we spent the afternoon walking around the site together. He had been there before so he was able to show me things I otherwise would have missed.


Ephesus was incredible. It was such a large area of ruins – a big town center! There were wide streets paved in marble, theatres, a library, houses, temples, churches, baths, squares – even a public toilet! There was a lot to see, and what I found the most amazing was that in most places you were free to walk and touch whatever you wanted! Things were not shrouded away behind fences or roped off – you could freely walk around and explore. We walked through many different buildings. I am sure that we also went through places we were not really meant to go through, but it made it all the more interesting.


My Turkish friend bought me a drink and we chatted for a bit before heading back to town. As we were walking out of Ephesus he turned to me and said “Gina..... I love you”. I thought 'Oh noo!!!' and I shrugged it off and sternly replied “No, you don't”. He said it a couple more times, and even suggested that I take him back to New Zealand with me. It was all light-hearted, but it was rather annoying, so at the first intersection I told him that I was going the other way, I thanked him and said goodbye. Luckily, he was a good guy and didn't try to follow me or anything.

I headed to the Temple of Artemis. This temple is listed as one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world. It doesn't look so wonderful now, it has mostly been overtaken by swamp land. It was actually a very beautiful spot, very peaceful, with lots of birdlife. The temple consisted of a few pieces of column, but one column remained fairly intact. At the top of the column was a large birdsnest, and birds were constantly flying in and out of it like an airport. I sat there for a while and drew a picture in my sketchbook. I trucked back into town and went to St John's Basilica, where apostle John had been buried. The church was mostly just a ruin now, but the decorated marble floors remained, and they still had a gleaming polished look about them.
It had been a big day of sightseeing and I had worked up an appetite. I found a kebab restaurant to stop at for dinner. I had beef and eggplant kebabs – they were delicious. Eggplant is one of my absolute favourites, I can't seem to go past it if it is mentioned on a menu. While eating, I met a middle aged NZ couple on the table next to me. They were really interesting and we had a great conversation. I haven't had much contact with New Zealanders in a long time, but in Turkey I met a tonne! Many New Zealanders make a pilgrimage to Turkey to the battlefields of Gallipoli. There were so many New Zealanders and Australians on the west coast of Turkey that I didn't even bother to ask where they were from – I already knew.
As I walked back to the hostel that night, I had to really watch my step – there were frogs and snails everywhere! The frogs would be constantly hopping on the footpath in front of me. They were well camouflaged – they looked like leaves in the breeze! There were also cats and kittens everywhere. I couldn't bring myself to pet them since I am sure they were filthy and riddled with parasites, but it did add a cute factor to each location.
It was only when I reached Turkey that I really felt the effects of the massive Ottoman Empire on Europe. Coming to Turkey didn't feel any different at all from other places in Europe. I found it to be very user friendly , spacious, and familiar. I realised that the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled over most of Europe for 400 years had certainly left its mark on the architecture and design of each city that it controlled – it was all the same! It was like a reverse culture shock - I found that I was actively seeking some sort of differences!