Amazing Trip, Brendan's Pics For our one week vacation in April, Evie and I checked out the Southern Aegean Coast, centering on two towns, Bodrum and Selçuk. Bodrum is a beautiful summer holiday resort town, filled with Turkish and European sun-and-party-worshipers all summer. Selçuk is a friendly Turkish village located 3 kilometers from Ephesus, the "best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean." Our week was wonderful, with four relaxing days in each place. The only problem was the theft of our digital videocamera on the way home. Due to this loss, the pictures you see here are from the web (Bodrum) and from our friend Brendan, who was with us for the Selçuk portion of our trip.

Although not our picture, we took this exact picture from the theatre on the hillside above the breathtaking harbor. Notice the Crusader castle.

Bodrum harbor is pretty by day and by night. Bodrum has hundreds of wooden Gullets to take people on Blue Cruises for hours or weeks.

Bodrum was the ancient town of Halicarnassus, ruled by King Mausolus. His monumental tomb, "the Mausoleum", was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Not much is left now.

We also took a day-trip to the Greek Island of Kos, one hour by ferry. It was interesting to observe both the similarities and differences between Turkey and its Greek island neighbors right offshore. Their histories and cultures are so intertwined. Since Kos was part of the Ottoman empire, there are mosques and orthadox churches across the main square from each other. Kos has a long and interesting history, including being the home of Hippocrates, the father of medicine. It was a beautiful island, with palm trees, green hills and blue waters. It also has a large crusader castle in the harbor. We enjoyed pork souvlaki and a nice walk.

Selçuk

On Wednesday we took a bus from Bodrum to Kusadasi, another holiday resort port up the Aegean. We had lunch there and moved on to the smaller country village of Selçuk. Selçuk was a wonderful base for the second half of our vacation. We met our friends Brendan and Tracey and their friend Rod in Selçuk, and all stayed together in a wonderful wood-and carpet covered Ottoman house pension called Homeros. The pension was run by Dervis and his sister Oya, wonderful hosts that made us feel like we were long-acquainted guests in their home. Turkish hospitality is quite something.

Selçuk made the perfect base to see Efes (Ephesus), the best-preserved and greatest Roman city in the world. Efes was really stunning, with marble collonaded streets, baths, public toilets, the impressive Library of Celcius (see picture at top of page), two huge ampitheatres, and so much carved marble everywhere! Ephesus was a large Roman provincial capital of about 250,000 people.

Here we are at the Gate of Augustus in Ephesus. This gate stands right next to the Library of Celsius (see picture at top of page).

Efes is remarkable: long colonaded streets lined with marble, all carved and beautiful. The huge public theatre and the intact public toilets (see left) helped us picture what civic life was like for Romans like the one carved above.

The Ephesus area is important in early Christian history, because both Saint Paul and Saint John, and possibly even Mary, mother of Jesus, lived here. In Selçuk we saw the ruins of the large St. John Basilica, built by Justinian in the 6th century, around the same time as Ayasofya. Unlike Ayasofya, this basilica crumbled in a 13th century earthquake. It was clearly an impressive church, sitting on the hillside looking over the town.

In the center of the ruined 6th century St. John Basilica is the tomb of Saint John. Selcuk has a great mix of Ancient Greek, Roman, Christian and Ottoman history.
Near the basilica ruins is the Isa Bey (Jesus) Mosque, built in 1375, built in pre-Ottoman style. Muslims respect the sacred history of this area.
Also in Efesus is ancient history: the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The basilica ruins are on the hill behind. (right)

Dilek Milli Parki

Also from Selçuk we found some natural beauty, spending a whole day exploring the gorgeous Dilek National Park, which is a mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Aegean towards the Greek island of Samos. There was no one there, crystal clear beaches, yellow and purple blossoming trees, and a canyon to climb. Although a bit windy it was just warm enough to take a quick swim in the Aegean, a highlight of the trip.