Ephesus and around

Our first hour in Selcuk was not great as the hotel we decided to stay at was a dissapointment and we decided to walk out. We agreed to pay a lttle more as it looked really nice on the website but when we saw the room it was clearly overpriced so we told the owner (well Tracey did) and we picked up our bags and walked out.

This led us to one of the most interesting places we have stayed at so far...Jimmy's Place. It is owned, unsurprisingly, by a guy called Jimmy who seems to be a bit of a big name in Selcuk and from the minute we arrived to the time we left JImmy and his various family and friends dominated our time. Upon arrival it was apparent that the hotel was undergoing major refurbishment work (actually they were raising the entire floor in reception by about three feet) but Jimmy insisted that this would not impair our stay. Within an hour or so we were both sitting in an empty reception with all Jimmy's mates and workmen watching the Fenerbache v Galatasary game. We had beer and a superb stew that is a local delicacy and made on the open fire that we were all huddling around and Jimmy would not take any money from us. Certainly a first for us and it warmed us to Jimmy and his mad hotel.

However all other aspects of the hotel were a little less "reliable" and it became obvious that Jimmy and his hotel rely very heavily on his larger than life personality to get you through the catalogue of problems that we had to face...a  small selction of these would be when the heating didn't work  (it was freezing) the hot water was tempermental (the record was having to run the water for  full twenty minutes before any hot water appeared.."it will come..it will come"), then we had to move rooms when the bath started leaking over the floor, then after being offered a lovely local dish for dinner that night JImmy and his mates went to Izmir for the day and didn't come back so after walking into the worryingly empty looking dinner area we were forced to go out and find somewhere else to eat.

The good thing about our stay at Jimmy's place was his wonderful brother, Adem, who was the hotel's travel agent. He was very very kind and helpful and helped us with heaps of information and bookings. In fact on the first morning when they had no breakfast to offer us Adem, took us to his home to meet his wife who was a Kiwi and their baby. They cooked us a really good breakfast and gave us fresh coffee and toast, which felt like a huge treat. Time and again the friendliness and generosity of people we met in Turkey was really impressive.

Anyway, onto the travelling bit! So the main reason (and everyone else) goes to Selcuk was it's closeness to Ephesus which we went to on our second day there. Again, Adem was lovely and drove us to the main gate and offered to pick us up when we were finished. The site itself is hugely impressive and we spent a long time wandering through the ruins and roads of the ancient town. Apparently, Ephesus is the second most complete Roman town (losing out to Pompeii) and as a result it it amazing to walk around and still see so much detail on the architecture and statues. The Turks have done a superb job preserving the site but I guess it wouldn't be Turkey without a few amusing "Turkish Foibles (TF's)".

TF no 1 ; About half way down the the hill in Ephesus are the "terracced houses" which are easily the most impressive part of the whole site. As a result you have to pay an extra 10 lira to see them. But..and this is the wonderfully Turkish bit...you cannot pay when you discover this fact at the houses themselves. You "should have" paid  when you originally bought your ticket at the main entrance (of course there was no sign telling you this) and which is of course way back at the top of the hill you spent that last 45 minutes walking down. So back you have to go...

TF no 2 ; Once we were inside the terraced houses there were very clear walkways that had to be followed as the renovations were extremely delicate. By the time we reached the top of the terraces and about to leave the guard who seemed to take a shine to us then took us on an "unofficial" tour of the site that involved us all climbing over walls, going round the back of the site via No Go areas and accessing rooms and houses that were out of bounds to the public so we could take photo's of Roman frescoes that visitors don't normally get to see. Two classic Turkey moments..

After leaving Ephesus Adem and his partner took us for some local pancakes that were freshly made over  real fire fire and served in a beautiful carpeted tent.

As well as Ephesus we saw the very impressive St John Basilica that sits on the hill overlooking the town. This is allegedly where St John is buried.

Finally, we decided to go crazy for a day and went to Kusadasi (much to Jimmy and Adem's horror). Kusadasi is the classic Brits Abroad and Irish pub resort. A complete lack of planning control has turned the town into a poor man's Ibiza (and that saying something..) but we wanted to see it. Funnily enough it wasn't as bad as we thought although it was way out of season. While we were there we made the cardinal sin of travelling and indulged in not one but TWO guilty pleasures. We found a Starbucks and had a lovely Hazlenut Latte (Yum YUM) and then walked across the road straight into a Burger King (oh yes!). What a treat :)

Anyway, after four days in Selcuk it was time to move on. It was time to head to the highlight of our time in Turkey, Cappadoccia which was a good thirteen hours by local bus inland. However we decided to break up the journey and go to  Pamukkale which was just a couple of hours..