After the urban sophistication of Istanbul Amy and I decided we needed to see some very old ruins and to maybe relax a bit. The town of Selçuk, which is near the ruins of Ephesus and other ancient cities did not disappoint with amazing ruins. The Mediterranean cruise we took with V-Go from Fethiye to Demre was indeed very relaxing.
After a very nice ride in business class on a ferry from Istanbul to Bandirma, then quite a comfortable bus from there to Izmir and a couple of hours in a small mini-bus, we finally arrived in Selçuk. The mini-bus was an interesting ride. While the bigger longer haul passenger buses in Turkey are comfortable, affordable and quick, the mini-buses that you take to smaller towns and for trips of shorter distances can be somewhat cramped, and the drivers seem to often stop to pickup passengers on the side of the road, including school kids in the afternoon, that are headed in the same general direction. The emphasis is on general, because after dropping someone off the bus would often u-turn to then head back 5 minutes in the direction we had just come from.
Once we arrived to Selçuk we checked into our hostel, Urkmez Hotel. The owner Juju is quite the affable host and we enjoyed our stay there. After quickly showering to refresh from a long travel day we headed up to the rooftop terrace for a very reasonably priced Efes beer where we meet a great couple from Seattle who clued us in that we should try and visit Ephesus either early or late in the day, as the cruise ships that dock in the nearby city of Kuşadası send thousands of tourists to Ephesus from 10:30am-4:00pm. So we hit up some of the other sites near Selçuk in the morning, including the 6th century basilica of St. John the Apostle, which, some claim, is built on the site of the Apostle’s tomb.
This picture is from a tunnel behind the alter, where an Orthodox Priest was performing a mass.
At 
about 3:30 we headed up the hill to the ruins of Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period. There are two main features: the 44,000 seating capacity theater and the Library of Celsus. Also, true to the advice from the previous day, while there were quite a few tourists at 3:30, by 4pm we practically had the place to ourselves, which was excellent as that was when the light was much better for photographs.
When we were not looking at ancient ruins there is a good chance you could find us at Ejder, an excellent and extremely affordable restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. In fact we were so impressed the first night with the quality of the food as well as the low prices we went back every night.
Leaving Selçuk we headed down the coast to Fethiye for our 4 day, 3 night cruise. We arrived in Fethiye the night before and met Eugene, a fellow traveler from the States. We decided that the three of us would walk down to the fish market near the harbor in Fethiye. The fish was exceedingly fresh and cheap. Amy and I bought a yellow fin tuna to share for 12TL ($8). The best part of the fish market are all of the restaurants that surround it. They all have the same deal, for 5TL ($3.40) they cook your fresh fish any way you like, as well as providing salad, potato and bread with your fish. It was a delicious meal shared with our new friend Eugene.
The next morning we boarded our boat, Summer Love, for 4 days of relaxation.
There is not a whole lot to say about the cruise. It consisted of lots of lounging on the deck reading and napping, taking a dip in the blue and crystal clear Mediterranean when you got too warm, and eating the amazing fresh and delicious food prepared by the crew three times a day. The one stop we had that was of interest was a castle in Kekova, near the Sunken City. We hiked up to see it and the view of the bay with Matt and Aisha, a couple from Perth, Australia that is also doing an extended trip around the world.
After disembarking the Summer Love in Demre we took a 2.5 hour minibus ride to Antalya where we were meeting Amy’s Aunt Patti and Uncle Gary for dinner, as they were also in Turkey on vacation. More about that another time.
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