Tuesday, May 10
Today we were up at 5 to leave our hotel at 5:30 for a 7 AM Turkish Airlines flight to Izmir. We primarily wanted to see Ephesus, but have some fun things planned, including staying in a small hotel in the village of Siring and will be doing a cooking lesson. (https://nisanyan.com)
Our driver was later than we expected, and poor Mummer received a call from Michael at about 5:45 asking about our driver -- woke him up, of course -- just as our driver was arriving. Fortunately, at that time in the morning it was a quick drive to Istanbul Ataturk Havalimani and we were there by 6:10, checked in and on the plane by 6:30. The Ataturk Airport is huge--and there are almost hourly flight leaving for Ismir. Mummer tells us Turkey is in the process of building a new Istanbul airport that will be the largest in Europe when completed. We were sitting in Row 48 - and still not at the very back of the plane; 9 seats per row, flights every hour -- that a lot of people moving back and forth each day!
We arrived around 8:30 - I want to remember to mention that the Izmir Airport is really beautiful - modern, pleasing architecture with lots of sculptural elements. We were met at the airport by our guide, Yavuz Morgul and a driver from Crossroads Travel, Mr. Nahit with a really comfortable van which had 4 seats behind the driver that face each other, so that we could talk comfortably during the touring. The thoughtfulness was evident with extra bottled water, and books and maps from the area.
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| Izmir Airport - interesting structural architecture |
Because our drive to Selcuk and Ephesus would take about an hour, Yavuz provided a good deal of information about the region. For example, he said Izmir is known best for 2 things: beautiful women and leather products.
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| Agriculture and hills in the Izmir region |
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| Tractors abound - makes me nostalgic for my farm days |
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| Our outstanding guide for 2 days, Yavuz Morgul |
The drive was very relaxing after spending 5 days in the traffic filled big city. The area is very pastoral, and while there are around 4 million people in the province, it seems almost rural compared to Istanbul. Surrounded by green hills covered with olive and pine trees, the valleys are very fertile from the silt deposited by the regions rivers and crops clearly thrive here. We saw fields of strawberries, corn, squash, melon, and orchards for peaches, apples, and other fruit.
Many tractors were cultivating, or driving through town and there were groups of (mostly) women working in the fields, hoeing and harvesting, dressed with scarves and long sleeves with either skirts or work pajamas. It reminded me of when I worked on the DeVulder's farm when I was in middle and high school.
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| Following the tractor heading to the fields |
We drove to Selcuk, which is described as one of the most visited tourist towns in Turkey because of its proximity to Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary. Yakuza explained that its name comes from the Selcuk Turks, which settled in the area in the 12th century or so. This area has strong associations with St. John the Evangelist. Some say he wrote Acts and Revelation here. There is a large Basilica of St. John the Apostle which was built during the 6th Century by Emperor Justinian over the believed burial location of John. At the time it was the largest church in Byzantium, second only to Hagia Sophia. It is built on the slope of Ayasoluk Hill, which is topped by a fortress built by the Turks. It was destroyed by earthquakes and has been only partly restored.
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| Basilica of St. John in Selcuk |
We stopped to visit the Isa Bey Mosque, which was built by the Selcuk Turks in 1375, but destroyed by earthquakes and in ruins by the 1800's. It is being restored currently and is again an active mosque. Yazuv spent some time telling us about the tenets of Islam, helping us to understand the similarities and distinctions with Christian beliefs.
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| Isa Bey Mosque, Selcuk |
The mosque has a beautiful courtyard and 1 minaret (one was destroyed by the earthquake). The courtyard is filled with tombstone markers and Yavuz explained that those topped with turbans are from men and those with flowers or other natural elements are from women.
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| Isa Bey Mosque courtyard |
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| Only one of two minarets are still standing, the other was lost in an earthquake |
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| Tombstones in courtyard |
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| A hat or turban indicates the deceased is a man; probably the one in the middle is a woman |
We met the retired imam, Mustafa Hodja, who runs a small gift shop outside of the entrance to the mosque. He is gregarious and extremely pleasant; greeting everyone that passes by with a smile. He wrote our names in Arabic calligraphy on the back of a post card of the mosque and, in turn, we bought 2 tiles for 20 euro to provide some support for rebuilding the mosque.
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| Retired imam Mustafa Hodja and his photo from when he served as the imam for the mosque |
We proceeded to travel to visit Ephesus, which I will write about in my next post. We're in a location that doesn't load photos via internet very well, if at all, so it's been difficult to post for the last few days.
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| It's a dilemma - do we want Selcluk and Izmir, or Selcuk and Izmir? |
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