Last Day in Selçuk

Today was our last day in Selçuk and Kim’s last in Turkey. We started off the morning getting everything packed up, dropping our bags and checking out. Our first stop was to the Selçuk Efes Museum. It was only 5TL and was perfectly priced for what was there. There were confusing signs at the entrance which I took to be no cameras, but afterwards realized were no flashes or tripods, so I only got a few shots. The main pieces were relics from Ephesus and the statue of Artemis from the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the World).

Next we grabbed breakfast then went through a market on the way to the train station to send off Kim. He grabbed his train and we headed off to the Temple of Artemis. There isn’t actually anything left of it, but they’ve reconstructed one of the 127 columns. Nathan and I walked there and just beat a tour group, so got some good pictures and then wandered around the site. There was a pond left by the ruins and we saw turtles, frogs, a snake, and a bunch of dragon flies, some of which were fire red.

 

For the reconstruction this is what it would have looked like, from a model in the Selçuk museum. Knowing that the pillars are 4m taller than the one reconstruction.

After the temple we walked back into town and it was HOT. So we stopped at a little cafe that was shaded by grape vines, and had a bottle of wine. By this time we were fully into the swing of a new game, Find the Attaturk. In every shop, restaurant, etc. there is a portrait of Mustafa Ataturk (the first President of Turkey, and credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey).

We decided to go back to the market we were in with Kim and do some shopping. This was the Saturday market that is mostly for the locals, there was everything and anything that you could imagine to buy. We found a butcher and the fish market and were picking up steam. We got into the hardware area where we looked at camel bells. They are like cow bells, but different. These two cost $100CDN each so Nathan got a smaller one.

We got into the fruit and vegetable area and found some strawberries. They were small and ripe (like when you grow them in a garden, or for Nathan, on the farm) and tasted amazing; not the giant ones from Safeway that taste almost bland. We found spices and clothes and a whole bunch of stuff and had a grand old time.

After a donair for lunch, we headed back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit. We went for another Turkish pizza, not as good as previous, but still delicious. We grabbed a bottle of wine and went back to the hostel where we enjoyed it on the roof before getting to the bus station at 11:30. We hopped on the overnight bus to Çanakkale and that was it.