Come Along Journey: #2 Western Turkey (continued)
- craintravel
- Apr 3, 2020
- 5 min read
In the second of our Come Along Journeys, we will continue traveling in western Turkey, we will continue to try to evoke at least some of the feelings of traveling to a new place! I will be writing in the second person to hopefully help you envision yourself actually there. I have based the narrative on my experiences, but for the sake of flow some events may be combined or altered slightly.
You are eating your lunch of freshly picked oranges, a sandwich and a protein bar in Ephesus near Selcuk, Turkey. The oranges are not quite as sweet as those that you may buy at a grocery and they had thicker skins, but you cannot complain since you picked these oranges off a tree yourself earlier in the day.
After lunch, you continue to explore the site and climb all over the ruins. After a couple more hours exploring, you head back to your car. Although, the weather is pretty perfect, not too warm, but not too cool, you are glad that you parked in the shade as the car would probably have been really hot, if you had not. You want to head to ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, the Temple of Artemis (or more precisely the ruins thereof), which is located a couple kilometers back towards town. As you drive, you are not sure whether it is possible to park near the site of the Temple of Artemis, so you drive back to near the Ephesus Museum in town. You park and notice some chickens clucking around in the yard of a restaurant in town, which is entertaining to watch, but you also wonder whether these chickens will be dinner at the restaurant in the days to come.
As you walk from your car to the site of the Temple of Artemis, you walk along a path with a few other people, mostly locals walking and biking. You pass a foreboding police station and come to a narrow road, which you had missed previously, that leads to the site. The road is not well kept, and as you approach the site, you pass a man trying to sell postcards. He just keeps saying the word "postcards" over and over again. Clearly, this is one of only a few words that he knows in English. There are only a couple of other people at the site, so you feel bad for the postcard man, because clearly his business isn't going well today.
The site itself is somewhat interesting to see, but pretty underwhelming overall. There are some columns still somewhat standing and some other ruins, but there is not much to speak of in terms of infrastructure or explanation about the site. There is one sign that explains the significance and one sign that explains the rules, but that's about it. Seeing how this is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you thought that there would be more to the site.
You wander around the site for a while and then listen to the Call to Prayer as it plays from a nearby mosque. You can also see Basilica of Saint John up on a hill above the site. Although the site itself is somewhat underwhelming, with the view and the Call to Prayer, it is still pretty an unique and interesting experience. You also notice a flock of white geese hanging around the site, which adds some interesting factor.
You walk back to your car and then drive back to Izmir, most of the way is along a nice highway.
You arrive at the hotel in the early evening, and look for another place to eat. You choose a place a little further down the road from the hotel but still walkable. Some of your group is feeling very tired, so you opt for takeout. As you wait for your food, the waiter brings over complimentary traditional Turkish tea as you listen to live music being played in the restaurant. You are not a big tea drinker, but for the cultural experience, you drink it. It isn't too special, but the whole atmosphere makes it feel authentically Turkish.
You return to the hotel with the food, eat quickly and head to bed. After a good night's sleep, you decide to take the hotel s
huttle into central Izmir to see the city, especially the market. The shuttle driver is pleasant and helpful and ensures that you know that you know where to make the return shuttle, since on the return the stop is a little further down the road from where you were dropped off. You walk down a large pedestrian area towards a nice square with a ton of pigeons hanging around, because someone is feeding them. You take in the square for a few minutes before pushing on into the market.
It is raining lightly as you enter the market area, so it is not very crowded, but the streets and alleys are still somewhat chaotic with just the merchants and all of the various stores. One of the first things to catch your eye is a stand that is selling ice cream as well as pomegranate juice for fairly cheap. You decide to try both and don't regret it at all. The pomegranate juice is squeezed right in front of you and it is delicious. The ice cream may be typical soft serve ice cream but today it seems extra good.
After the juice and ice cream, you wander deeper into the labyrinth of the market. There are all kinds of shops. Shops that sell candy, shops that sell spices, some that sell toys, others electronic, wedding apparel, souvenirs and on and on. The vendors are generally not just pushy, but occasionally someone will approach with "an offer just for you". You pleasantly decline most of the requests and continue on your journey. You are slightly disappointed that you don't see any "Genuine Fake Watches" signs as you had seen at Ephesus the previous day. ;)
There are a number of minarets sticking up from various areas of the market, but at least in some cases, they don't seem to be attached to a functioning mosque.
After a few hours of enveloping yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of the market, you decide to find your way out, in order to not miss the shuttle back to the hotel. It takes a while to find your way out and back to the shuttle stop, but you are successful. The ride back involves slightly more traffic than on the way there, but you still make it back to the hotel pretty quickly.
You decide to relax near the hotel the rest of the day.
You will be ready for your next adventure. You have to decide whether to drive to Cesme the next day and take a ferry over to the Greek Island of Chios or to end your journey.
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