Aug. 22- Arrived in Istanbul to find that we need a visa, and they only take cash (according to the man at the visa desk). Keep in mind it is 4am and he's the only airport person around. We tried to get cash out of the one ATM we can find, and come up only with something like, "your transaction ain't happening". We then tell our new friend (sarcasm) that the machine won't work. We ask where is another ATM. He ponders his options, and finally...no, miraculously, finds a credit card machine 5 feet away on the desk. We pay w/credit and move on.
Got to the bus station (via tram)- the largest we have ever seen. It is a huge oval with hundreds of company offices, hundreds of buses coming & going, and thousands of touts trying to get us into THEIR office. We chose one of the recommended companies and booked our tix to Selcuk. <<Note to reader- We had planned to leave Istanbul immediately and take the proper 3-4 days exploring it at the end of our time in Turkey.>> Our 12 hr bus ride was not too shabby. We had many pit stops, as well as a nice little attendant serving water, sodas, and cookies. Aside from the bus driver's cigarettes (as in Greece, they must REALLY believe all the smoke goes straight out of their little side window!) the trip was quality.
We arrived in Selcuk at around 7pm and quickly found a place to stay...with A/C of course! Met Shawnie, a nice British lady, who gave us the scoop on the area over dinner and Efes (the beer, not the ruins). After some rummy and hookah (nargileh in Turkish) with Efruz (another hotel employee), we hit the hay.
Aug. 23- A good brekky- cheese & pepper omelette and muesli/yogurt/fruit. We hit the town of Selcuk and ended up stopping in a carpet shop owned by Ludwina from Belgium. Due to the fact that she does not need to sell carpets (her husband makes enough Turkish lira), she simply gave us a carpet lesson with no sales pressure. We learned about designs and where they come from, and how to check quality. Ate lunch at the one cafe/restaurant that didn't have a tout in front pushing the place. Had our first adana kebap (spicy meatballs) and some tacic (Turkish for the Greek tatziki). We rested back at the hotel until Lilly picked us up for the ride to Efes.
We stayed in Selcuk simply because it's the closest modern city to Ephesus (Efes), our true destination. Efes, built by one of Alexander the Great's Commanders, is known to be the most well preserved ancient city in the Mediterranean region, supposedly much more impressive than Troy, it's more popular sister city up north. It, like most of Turkey's structures and culture itself, has been a part of many empires over the years. Ruling empires like to use pre-existing things rather than rebuild or mine for marble, etc all over again. So, let's just say lots of things are either missing from what you're looking at, or were borrowed from something else. Efes has been robbed or defaced less than most ruins we have ever seen.
Lilly's partner picked us up from Efes and took us to "the gozleme (pancake) place", next to the "Seven Sleepers", another ancient site we didn't go to. The pancake place is a large area of cushions, carpets, and low tables where we had nargileh and chocolate gozleme (similar to a crepe). Lilly met us during "dinner" and we had some of her spicy lamb gozleme and immediately became jealous.
We had been told by Shawnie in the morning that Lilly sells carpets. During the ride to Efes, Lilly said the same thing- that at the end of the day, she would like to teach us a little about carpets, and show us her collection to see if we were interested. In other words, she gives tourists free rides to Efes in order to get them into her shop and put on the carpet purchase pressure. So we went to Lilly's shop, heard about all her American friends she has visited (we bet only ones who have bought a carpet), had some tea/coffee, and got down to the business of politely not buying any of her carpets.
Little did Lilly know that we had become good at this in Morocco! <<Note to reader- when it comes to tourist items like carpets, no matter what someone in these countries tells you, no matter how stern they sound, EVERYONE will bargain on price. We had a long conversation with Lilly at the pancake place about this, telling her how we felt we can't trust the prices since it is understood that they are ALL negotiable. She confidently told us that she sells her carpets for what they are worth, and does not bargain. That way, the customer knows what to expect up front. However, when we told her we couldn't afford her carpets, she somehow forgot "the pancake pow-wow" we had had just hours earlier.>> To be honest, there was one we would have bought if the price was right, but it most definitely was NOT. Guess J3 just have good taste because we always seem to pick the pricey ones! We did end up buying a few small items from Lilly, to add to the Xmas gift collection.
<<Rummy Update- If you're wondering about the ongoing gin rummy game & why no mention for a while, it's because Jason hasn't been doing so well...not well at all. Jason has been doing most of the actual blog entry lately, so this subject has been not-so-accidentally left out. Suffice it to say that JJ's lead has almost as many zeros at the end as the Turkish lira had only a few months ago!>>
Off to bed for tomorrow's bus to Dalyan.
ı love the thınks you guys do ıts so wonderfull..
ı love both of you
Posted by: sezai yanc | October 07, 2005 at 01:41 AM