We took the train from Selcuk to Denizli at a cost of 14.50 Turkish Lira each. The ride was around 3 hours but the scenery from the train was very nice. Once we arrived at Denizli, we took a dolmus to Pamukkale.

The travertine terraces at Pamukkale were  “formed when water from the hot springs loses carbon dioxide as it flows down the slopes, leaving deposits of limestone. The layers of white calcium carbonate, built up in steps on the plateau, have earned the name of Pamukkale (cotton castle).” (DK Eyewitness Travel, Turkey).

Cost to enter the travertine pools was 20 T.L. each – same cost as Ephesus without the Terrace Houses. But this is a World Heritage site and I’m amazed people are still allowed on parts of it.

After entering, you must remove your shoes – even if they are soft-soled water shoes. I’m sure this is an attempt to hold down wear and tear on the travertine, but my gosh it is hard on the feet! Like walking on shells. We  quickly determined that the whitest color travertine is the smoother than the other colors.

We waded through pools up to knee deep on the very steep climb to the top. Pro tip – wear a bathing suit! Both of us slipped and fell numerous times.

We made it to the top!

Hierapolis

We made a strategic error here – we left the guidebook at the hotel and didn’t realize that the ruins of Hierapolis were at the top of the terraces. Serious mistake! I put my water shoes on, but soon had blisters and hot spots from walking in them. Very much regretted not having good shoes with me.

Sadly, we didn’t know that the pool associated with the Temple of Apollo was over the hill until after we were back at the hotel.

We didn’t spend a lot of time here since we weren’t prepared for a lot of walking. I would advise taking a taxi to the ruins, wander around, then change into a bathing suit and walk down the terraces back to town.

We initially planned to spend 2 nights here but we saw everything we wanted to see in one afternoon and only stayed the one night.

 

During our drive to Priene, Miletus and Didyma we passed a number of cotton farms. Since my Dad is a retired cotton farmer, I was fascinated to see the farming methods. Tiny little fields, and small tractors and trailers to haul cotton to the gin. We didn’t see a gin.

We never saw a pickup, just trailers ranging in size from little bitty to the size in the photo above, pulling trailers with whatever they were hauling.

The day after this trip, we took a train from Selcuk to Denizli – this was a fascinating glimpse at farming practices. We saw cotton strippers as well as hand harvesting. Ancient and modern practices side-by-side.

 

 

After Miletus, we moved on to Didyma and the Temple of Apollo. Our driver dropped us off and we walk through a residential area to get to the site.

The temple was built in 7th century BC, later destroyed by the Persians, then rebuilt by Alexander the Great in 350 BC. Only 3 of the 108 original columns are still standing.

This was a pleasant daytrip from Selcuk. I think we were gone 6-7 hours, including a stop for lunch. Although we liked Priene the best, I don’t think any of them are worth a visit unless you have plenty of time built into your trip. Luckily for us, we had time to spare which gave us the ability to make spur of the moment decisions to stop and poke around.

After Priene, we moved on to Miletus. Although not as impressive as Priene, there are still interesting things to see here.

The theatre dates to 100 AD and could seat 15,000 people.

The mosque seen in the distance of the photo below has an interesting history. It was built by Ilyas Bey in 1403 to celebrate his return from exile at the court of Tamerlane.

We asked our hotel owner to arrange a car and driver so we could visit Priene, Miletus and Didyma. Our driver, Kerzan,  speaks little English and Richard wears out his phrasebook trying to communicate – very entertaining!

The sites are split into 3 posts to avoid one photo heavy post.

First stop is Priene. According to my DK Eyewitness Travel guidebook, Priene had strong Greek ties and was not viewed favorably by the Romans. Consequently, it is “one of the most intact hellenistic settlements to be seen”.

According to the guidebook, the Temple of Athena was built in the 4th century AD by Alexander the Great.

The theatre was built in the 3rd century BC and could accommodate 5000 people.

We purchased add-on tickets at the Ephesus entrance to include the Terrace Houses, a  worthwhile purchase. The houses are undergoing restoration and funds were raised to place a roof over them. The roof provided a welcome relief from the sun and heat! These homes belonged to wealthy inhabitants.

 

 

On the advice of our hotel owner, we waited to depart for Ephesus until 3pm. He said that the site is very crowded earlier in the day with cruise ship excursions – good tip since there were still lots of people around when we visited. We had the taxi drop us at the upper gate so we had a downhill walk through the site. We did not purchase the audio tour since I had a guidebook, but it would have been worthwhile.

Per DK Eyewitness Travel Guidebook: originally a Greek city founded in 1000 BC, the city ruins standing on the site was founded by Alexander the Great in 4 BC and most surviving structures date from this Roman period.

Picture-heavy post ahead!

After we exited site, we caught a dolmus back to Selcuk. I’ll probably write more about dolmus’ in a future post, but these were everywhere and cheap transportation.

We had two big items on our must see list for this trip – Aya Sofia and Ephesus. Both were well worth the time, expense and effort. Astounding to imagine we walked the same places as Paul the Apostle. Very much a dream come true.

 

I haven’t mentioned that one of the best museums in all of Turkey, the Ephesus Museum, was closed for renovation when we visited. So disappointing! Not once in all the research we did leading up to this trip did we see anything about the museum closure.

After breakfast at the hotel we walk to the ruins of Basilica of St. John. The citadel above the ruins is closed, which is strange since hotel owner mentioned it had been recently renovated.

Basilica of St. John was built by Justinian in the 6th century over an existing shrine purportedly containing the tomb of John the Disciple. The site was leveled by an earthquake in the 1300’s, and restoration was begun in 1960 and continues today.

Afterwards, visit Artemis Temple

Little to see at Artemis Temple that can’t be seen from the Basilica.

Final thoughts – Basilica of St. John worth a quick visit but no need to see Artemis Temple if short on time.

 

 

As you can tell, we so very much enjoyed our travels in Turkey. The sights were awe inspiring, but what has stayed with us after all this time is the people. The vast majority of those we spoke to were interesting, kind and helpful. We still talk about it, and talk about when we will go back.

The terror bombings have understandably scared off many travelers, and it is disconcerting to know that bombings have occurred in areas we visited.

Will we return? Yes, but probably not to Istanbul. But not because of the bombings but because we saw everything we wanted to see and there is much remaining to visit.

 

 

We decided against paying for a ride to the airport and instead opt for public transportation. Taking the tram from Sultanahmet, we transferred and arrived at the airport stop. It was a long, long walk with two security checks. Total time from leaving hotel to arriving at gate was 1.5 hours.

We flew from Istanbul to Izmir, an easy one hour flight via Turkish Airlines. We were served a “picnic” on the plane, consisting of a little cheese sandwich, cucumbers, olives and yogurt. I asked for water and was given a crazy little plastic cup with a foil lid —

What can I say? I’ve never seen anything like it.

Arrive at the Izmir airport and the airport itself seemed weirdly empty but I don’t know if that was just because of where our arrival gate was located since it appeared that a large expansion was under construction. Another long walk to the train, but it always seems long when wearing a heavy backpack. Had a little trouble figuring out how to buy the train tickets to Selcuk, but finally accomplished at a cost of 9 T.L. (appx. $4.50) for both of us. Way better than the 45 Euros our Selcuk hotel was charging for airport pick up. Although I did learn later that Atlas Airlines has a shuttle from Izmir to Selcuk, only available to passengers of their airline but I don’t know if there is a cost associated with it.

The train was crowded and we had to stand for the entire 1+ hour journey to Selcuk. Arrive in Selcuk and immediately find a place to eat before heading for hotel.

After settling in and taking a nap (we are on vacation after all!), we head out and walk around a bit before eating supper.

The restaurant we stopped at had outdoor seating in a large area surrounded by small businesses.

I was highly entertained watching the three tiny alteration shops, next door to each other. All three seemed to have a lot of business. A customer would arrive and the owner would lower the shades and shut the door while the customer changed into the clothing to be altered. Presumably the clothing was pinned, the customer changed back to the clothes he arrived in, the blinds and door would be reopened and the customer would leave. If the customer was female, the owner stepped outside while the customer changed, and left the door open while pinning the clothing, then stepped back outside until the customer had changed back into her original clothes. I never saw a lone female enter one of these businesses, all female customers were always accompanied by another female. Some of the customers presumably wanted their alterations done immediately as we saw at least two drop items off and come back and get them while we were at the restaurant.

All things considered, it was a pleasant, beautiful evening to have a relaxing meal and people watch.