I am off to Turkey!

 

Turkey here I come!

So this month I had to go to Turkey to attend a workshop on Leadership. I was pretty excited about going to an exotic nation like Turkey. I haven’t been to Turkey. I heard a lot about her but never crossed my mind to visit Turkey. So I got my flight from New Delhi to Istanbul, than I found another domestic flight from Istanbul to Izmir. I booked with Turkish Airline. Flight to Turkey wasn’t that bad expect that it was delayed by 2 hours so I missed my domestic flight to Izmir. I learnt something from this experience. Always book your domestic flight in one single booking. I made two separate booking with two different airline. If I had booked with a single booking with one airline, they would have put me in the next connecting flight. I had to rebook another seat and thankfully I found a seat within an hour of my arrival. So I landed in Izmir.

Since my workshop was for only 7 days, I thought I took a week holiday in Turkey since I am paying a lot on travels. I found some affordable accommodation In Izmir. It was very near to Basmane Railway Station. I was only 200 meters. There is a train from Izmir Airport to Basmane Railway station and it cost like 4.50T. I was really surprised that there was hardly any signs or directions in English. I heard Izmir is quite a touristic place. So finally I made my way to my hotel. Thanks to google map, the hotel was exactly where it was pinned on google map. Rooms was quite small, but who cares. It was affordable, within my budget, quite close to railway station and in the city.

Avoid Private Tours

There are many historical sites in turkey. Izmir is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia. it is one of the most westernised cities in turkey. The ancient city Smyrna was is the old name for Izmir. There are many private tours available. Your hotel can arrange one for you. However, getting around turkey or Izmir is quite easy. I found it is more economical to travel on your own and see these sites. All you need to do is do your research.

Some places I went to see

o   Ancient Theatre of Smyrna

o   Residence of St Polycarp

o   The Agora of Smyrna

o   Clock Tower [Konak District]

o   The Kemeralti Bazaar [Kadifekale]

o   St John’s Church

o   Bergama [Aegean]

o   Ephesus [Selcuk]

o   St John Church [Selcuk]

o   Church of Mother Mary [Selcuk]

o   Gulf of Izmir

o   Saat Kulesi

o   Luna Park

o   etc

In general, travel costs in Turkey are highest in Istanbul in April-May and September-October; and at Turkish beach resorts in July and August; lowest in the small towns of eastern Turkey, and off-season

Ephesus [Efes]

Take the train from Basmane Octogar to Selcuk 4.50T. From Selcuk walk to the city center and you will find Dolmus [Mini Vans]. You can ask anyone which Domus goes to Ephesus or Efes as the locals call it. It will cost 2 TL. Entrance fee is 35 TL which includes entry to the Efes Museum in Selcuk City too. You can spend a good 3 hours in Ephesus ruins. My total cost was 50 TL [$20 US]. Private Tours could have cost me more than $125 US. Selcuk also has a market every Saturday. Nothing much to see at the market but if you have nothing to do, I guess it will be fine.

While visiting Ephesus, make your way to the Efes Museum in Selcuk. The museum is about 100 meters where you board the Dolmus to go to Ephesus. Since if you have paid 35 T your entry fee is included for both Ephesus and the Efes Museum

Efe Ruins - slideshow

Some unique attractions at Ephesus

·       Temple of Artemis.

·       Great Theater

·       Harbor Street (Arcadian Way)

·       Marble Way

·       Brothel

·       Library of Celsus

·       Curetes Way

·       Hillside Houses (Yamaç Evleri)

·       Temple of Hadrian

·       Gate of Hercules

·       Odeon

 Signage at Ephesus is simply terrible (compare the far better signage at Aphrodisias), which no doubt promotes the sale of guidebooks, audio tours and the services of human guides, all of which are available at both entrances. Quality of human guides varies from guide to guide, but most are entertaining and informative. The books are mostly pretty expensive for what you get. Some are not very informative.

Selcuk – Efes Museum

The Ephesus Museum (Efes Müzesi) in the town of Selçuk holds the best of the archaeological objects excavated at Ephesus, a few artefacts from Ephesus's great Temple of Artemis, and finds from some of the many other significant ancient Hellenic, Hellenistic and Roman cities in the region.

The Ephesus Museum (Efes Müzesi) is open every day from 08:30 am to 17:30 (5:30 pm), but ticket sales stop at 17:00 (5:00 pm). Admission costs 10 TL but if you buy ticket for both the Ephesus Ruins and Efes Museum – total cost is 35 TL. You save 5 TL for coffee later on.

Selcuk – Church of St John

The impressive ruins of the Byzantine Church of St John mark the spot where St John the Evangelist was buried. The church is on the slopes of Ayasoluk Hill near the center of Selcuk (the town next to Ephesus), just below the fortress.

St John is believed to have spent the last years of his life in Ephesus writing his version of the Gospel. Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD) believed that a tomb dating from the 300s was John's, so he built a great church above it in the 500s.

In later centuries the ruined church was pillaged for building materials, but restoration allows you to see its extent and to imagine its beauties.



St John Church - Slide Show



 Selcuk – Home of Mother Mary

Legend has it that the Virgin Mary lived her last days on earth in a small stone cottage on Mount

Koressos (Bülbüldağı, "Nightingale Mountain" in Turkish) to the south of Ephesus.

This would be appropriate, as Ephesus was the ancient world's center of worship for the Anatolian Mother Goddess for millennia, since Hittite times. Mary followed in the footsteps of Cybele and her forebears.

Meryemana ("Mother Mary"), as the place is called, is located in a municipal park on the mountaintop 9 km (5.6 miles) from Selcuk, 5.5 km from the Upper Gate entrance to the Ephesus archaeological site

 

House of Mother Mary

Bergema (ancient Pergamum)

Pergamum (or Pergamon) was an important kingdom during the second century BC, having grown from a city-state captured by Alexander the Great.

Upon Alexander's death in 323 BC, his generals fought for control of the parts of his empire. Lysimachus took command of the Aegean coast, but was killed in 281 BC, leaving Pergamum in the control of Philetarus the Eunuch, who used Lysimachus's treasure to increase his power.

Take the train from Basmane towards Aliaga [Cost 4.50T]. Aliaga is the last stop. At the Aliaga Railway station purchase a bus ticket to Bergema [Cost 4.50T]. It is wise to buy a return tickets for this journey. The bus will take you to Bergema and back. There is also a National Museum in Bergema. It is also worth visiting. There are buses going up to the Old Bergema city [Cost 2T]. Bergema like Ephesus is ancient ruins as recorded in the New Testament Bible. You can also look around Bergema city. Make sure you ask the driver where to catch the bus to Aliaga Railway Station. There are many bus going to Aliaga Railway station. If you are not careful, you might end up paying double fare.

Ten first impressions on Turkey

1.      Turkish people enjoy olives for breakfast

2.      Many Turkish meals comes with bread

3.      Many Turkish people smoke cigarettes

4.      Many restaurant and fast food outlet provides free internet

5.      Turkish people are good sales person [Nearly everyone has the same sale dialogue, lol]

6.      Turkish loves football [Soccer]

7.      Turkish are hospitable people

8.      There are cheaper ways to visit historical sites [avoid private tours]

9.      Turkish people find it difficult to read maps

10.  Turkish coffee is the most expensive coffee I ever drank [20ml costing 6T].

 Ten highlights of my visit to Turkey

1.      Visiting New Testament city Ephesus

2.      Visiting New Testament city Bergema

3.      Visiting New Testament city Symrna

4.      Visiting St John’s Basilica in Selcuk

5.      Visiting the House of Polycarp

6.      Visiting the house of Mother Mary

7.      Visiting the coast and Gulf of Izmir

8.      Visiting the Kemeralti Bazaar [Izmir]

9.      Visiting John’s Coffee in Selcuk. They make good coffee

10.  Visiting Saat Kulesi

Smyrna

Smyrna was the second city to receive a letter from the apostle John in the book of Revelation. Acts 19:10 suggests that the church there was founded during Paul's journey. Due to the fact that the port city of Izmir houses the second largest population in Turkey today, the site of ancient Smyrna has been little excavated. Excepting the agora, theatre, and sections of the Roman aqueduct, little remains of the ancient city.

 

Smyrna sat 35 miles north of Ephesus, built near the ruins of an ancient Greek colony destroyed in the 7th century BC. Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, rebuilt Smyrna as a new Hellenistic city in the 3rd century BC. The city was later established as a Roman commercial center with a port on the Aegean Sea. Scholars believe the city grew to about 100,000 by the time of the apostles Paul and John

 

 

 Now these were some highlights of my visit to Turkey. Now I am off to Kusadasi …