Turkey - Part 3 - Big Turkish Delights

We are continuing our trend of trying to visit an Iveco garage in as many countries as possible, so before we left Izmir we fought our way in the pouring rain into the vehicle repair estate on the edge of the city. We'd been unable to close a storage cupboard in our cab after the tracking unit fell down the back of it and Colin couldn't work out how to release it without damaging the unit. Thankfully the guys at the garage knew exactly how to do it and it was sorted in 5 minutes.

The weather was horrible - definitely not what we wanted when visiting one of the top tourist sites in Turkey. We arrived in Selcuk, the town which is the gateway to visit Ephesus - one of the largest and most intact of the ancient classical cities. It was still very dark and overcast, but the forecast said showers rather than heavy rain in the afternoon so we decided to go for it. After paying the eye watering €54 entry fee each, we were greeted with the most amazing sight. We thought the other archaeological sites were amazing, but the condition and scale of the site was breathtaking.

The first area we came to was the Great Theatre which would have held 25,000 people in its day. Unfortunately renovation work was going on (luckily Colin loves a tower crane) so we had to admire it from a distance.

Next was the Library of Celcus - an ornately carved facade that had once been the 3rd largest library in the world.

We then walked up the main street past the Temple of Hadrian. The street would once have been buzzing with people visiting the shops, baths and latrines of the city. This took us up to the Upper Agora (Market place) where there was an Odeon, a more modest theatre for 1,400 people which had great acoustics. While we were there a Chinese tourist was testing the acoustics out. While I was sat enjoying his performance, a Chinese lady came up to me and said she wanted her picture taken. I assumed she wanted me to take her photo, so was a bit bemused when she didn't offer me her phone. Then she pointed to her friend over the other side of the theatre with a huge camera - now I got it - she wanted her photo in the exact spot I had been sitting in! Colin thought it was hilarious that I'd been kicked out of my seat by a Chinese Instagramer.

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We'd paid extra for our tickets to get entry to the terraced houses of the city which were the homes of the most wealthy. They still had remnants of the marble adorned with frescoes and mosaics and they would have had central heating systems with hot and cold running water. This section was undercover, so how lucky were we that this was the only time it rained during our visit?

We finished our visit at the Ephesus Experience museum, which was included in our ticket price, but was a bit of a naff audiovisual show which we felt could have been so much better to make visitors feel immersed in what life was like when the city was at it's peak.

On our drive back into town we debated calling in the see the Temple of Artemis, considered one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World, but it read that there was very little remaining of it now so we gave it a miss. We parked up in a wet gravel parking area in the centre of town for the night, and had a walk through the local area which was full of boutique hotels and restaurants to serve the tourist trade. It actually had a nice feel to it.

We woke to yet more heavy rain the following morning. We were heading to the next big tourist site of Pamakkale, but decided to call in at another ancient city site, Afrodisias. It said the museum there was one of the best in the country so we thought at least we'd have some shelter from the rain, so we were a bit peeved that the guy on the ticket office failed to mention that the museum was closed. Even the coffee shop only had outdoor seating, so we stood sheltering from the rain shivering with the on site cats and dogs.

The site was thankfully still very worthwhile visiting, with a some well preserved structures, and the most incredible sports stadium - one of the largest and best preserved in the world.

It was about another 100km to reach Pamukkale. The light was nice in the late afternoon with beautiful views of snow capped mountains. We parked in a gravel parking area that looked up to the white travertines (terraced basins) on the hillside. Two men appeared on motorbikes who we assumed were going to ask us for money to park for the night, but they turned out to be trying to sell us a balloon flight in the morning which often go up from this car park. We're saving this experience until we visit Cappadocia, and with the forecast looking wet for the morning we assumed the chances of it happening were low.

There was no sign of balloons in the morning, but just as we were packing up our breakfast dishes, four balloons popped up from behind the hill, followed by many more - what a great sight to start the day.

We drove up to the main entrance to the site, which as well as the travertines, is the World Heritage Ancient Spa city of Hierapolis. We have to admit to having a touch of Ancient City fatigue by now (which I'm sure you have too), so whilst it was nice to walk around we didn't linger too long. The thing we would most like to have done there was to take a dip in the 36 degree thermal waters called Cleopatra's pool which has ancient marble columns submerged in it - sadly it is closed for restoration until the summer season.

The travertines are a stunning site with their bright whiteness contrasting with the blue sky and greenery. The structures are formed by mineral rich thermal waters, but the water filled basins are now much less than you see in photos taken many years ago, as the waters are being diverted to thermal spa hotels. To protect whats left, visitors can only walk on them bare foot which is quite a slippery and rough underfoot experience. It wasn't quite warm enough to get our bathers on for a dip, but we did have a quick paddle. Colin had been here many years ago in the summer (sorry I'm not allowed to mention how many), and remembers sitting in a pool and enjoying the views.

With the promise of a couple of warm sunny days coming up, when we'd finished our exploration here, we headed straight to the south coast to the harbour town of Fethiye to make the most of it.