For our first long weekend / time off in Turkey Stacy and I traveled with our friend Amy to the eastern coast. We began our journey by taking what was supposed to be a 12 hour train ride, that turned into 15 hours of us moving at the pace of a snail. We finally arrived in Izmir and hopped right onto a bus that would take us the rest of the way to Selcuk. Upon arrival we dumped our stuff in our room, at a quaint cozy guesthouse, and set off to explore. Our first stop was the Basilica of St John. Located on the top of a hill that gave a great view of the city; we explored the numerous ruins. It is said the Basilica was built on top of the apostle’s tomb, we documented with many photos. We then made our way to the city center were the local Saturday market was in full swing. We meandered around until 7pm and then headed back to our guesthouse for the complementary evening glass of wine on the roof. We enjoyed our free drink while watching a spectacular sunset and listening to the call to prayer.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our tour to Pamukkale. It's about a three hour drive from the city of Selcuk so we had plenty of time to catch up on our sleep. Upon arrival we learned that most of the town was visiting Pamukkale because the government had granted free admission to all residents on behalf of Children’s Day. Though this was a lovely gesture it did make our visit a little less enjoyable. We had all brought our swim suits in hopes of relaxing in the mud baths, but did not feel comfortable shedding our clothes when surrounded by so many Muslims. There were a few foreigners who braved this, but the looks they received were enough for us to not want to participate. It was still really awesome to walk around on the giant calcified rock. Apparently it is one of two, the other is located in China, but this is the only one visitors are allowed to touch. Though the crowds did not diminish much we were able to catch the air show put on by the Turkish Air Force, which was pretty cool.
On our last full day we headed to Ephesus. An amazing depiction of the Roman era,
Ephesus was one of our must sees while living here in Turkey. All the ruins were beautiful, but our favorite
by far was the Library of Celsus. It was
the most well restored structure and was once one of the largest libraries in
the world. Therefore, we made numerous
return trips to make sure we got photos at every angle. From Ephesus we made our way to Mary’s
House. It is said that this is where The
Virgin Mary came after the Crucifixion of Christ. Though it cannot be fully proven, there were
many testimonies leading to the fact. 
As we had to travel back to Izmir before catching our night
train we had a little time to explore the city of Izmir.
Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey and according to some the most
progressive. It lies on the eastern
coast and is the hub for many ferries that travel to Greece, as well as, a port
for cruise ships. Though we only got to
spend a short time here it was a beautiful city and a nice break from Ankara.
~ Randi
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