Travelganza - Part VII

31st January: Bodrum – Kuşadası - Izmir Visit Didyma and then continue to Ephesus Tour visiting the ruins of Ephesus, and The Museum, Virgin Mary. Afternoon drive to Izmir.

Mmm...Bodrum in the pre-dawn hours before Maeghan and I hauled everyone out of their beds kicking and screaming - the calm before the storm, so to speak.


After breakfast - which featured the stalest Froot Loops I've ever seen in my life - they were not actually chewable - we piled onto the bus and departed to Didyma and the temple of Apollo. The temple was a very important site for me. It was where I discovered that my beloved camera could survive bouncing down a flight of marble stairs without only minimal damage sustained to the lens cover (which...no longer closes. I keep the camera in a sock now).

But anyway, the temple was cool. Also: marshy. There'd been a lot of rain, and apparently the site didn't drain all that well. We spent a lot of time leaping puddles, causing the long-suffering guide to look more long-suffering that usual.



Apollo. Wasn't he supposed to be...I dunno, hot? He looks more like Yoda here ("When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not, hmm...?"):



Garet, mid-air:


The aforementioned Stairs of Doom. I'm pretty sure the goofball at the top is Blase:


The temple's cat:


And from there - the Church of St. John. The long-suffering guide seemed to be waffling about weather it was John the Baptist or some other saint of the same name. General consensus among the exchange students is that it was John the Baptist.




Julianna in the doorway:


Lunch! We had peynirli pide, which is kind of like a cheese pizza, except that it's a million times better. It came in a box with salad and what turned out to be very, very hot, pickled, peppers. We tried to pawn them off on the South-of-Americans, but they didn't want them...so I ate them. And couldn't feel my lips for a few hours. Anyway, this was the eatery:


And from there, to the house of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus. Or rather, the church that they built over the remains of the house of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus.



It's a Turkish custom to tie rags onto things - usually trees - to make wishes. Often to trees on cliffs or bluffs, but here, on a framework provided for the purpose. It's a combination of religion and superstition, and still widely practiced. It reminds me of the placing of notes at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.


And from there, to the city of Ephesus, ruins thereof:




John: "Man, I wish I'd had Latin so I could read these."
Me: "Actually, Latin wouldn't help you out too much here."
John: "No? Why?"
Me: "This is Greek."




Apparently, the world's earliest confirmed backgammon board. I confess to being curious about the unconfirmed ones. Is there some suspicion that they might have been for Monopoly instead?


Maeghan, with the local stray:


Tired, chilly exchange students:

(Hannah (Maine), Amanda (California), Blase - cheer up, Blase! - (Michigan). It had been a long day with lots of ruins)

(Jessica (Brazil), Jimena (Mexico), Derick (Brazil), Julianna (Brazil), Maeghan (Canadia), and Can the Rotex Chaperone)

More hobbit holes!


A small theater:



Myself, cunningly disguised as a statue (of the disco era?):


It is a little-known fact that ancient Greece went through its own Cubist period:


The original Nike swoosh. Yes, Nike was a goddess of victory before she was an overpriced pair of shoes made by a child laborer in Malaysia.


A mosaiced floor that was highly exciting to me and absolutely no one else:


More ruins...




And now...the big enchilada:






And as we left...more anti-gravity ruins (not the ones in the foreground; the other ones). Seriously, how do they do that? They look like the Weasley family home.


After we arrived at the (super-expensive, as it turned out) hotel in Izmir, we met up with some Rotary exchange students there and hit a nargile cafe, further confirming my suspicions that nargile is really only worth it when someone else is paying. Kinda underwhelming. But it was really good to meet the other students, play backgammon (or, as in my case, fail miserably at backgammon), and generally 'hang out,' as I believe kids today call it.