Super early rise, more like middle of the night, to get our bus to Selcuk in time for our day tour, arrived 2 hours early!
First stop the Isa Bay mosque, did not spend much time there as we were the last to arrive there , I think they forgot that we were waiting at the bus station.
Next the Ephesus ruins, it was quite an impressive town. Two Agoras, largest theatre in Turkey those days, capacity of 24 thousand, impressive library ( the most intact of the structures), a few temples ( one of which was a brothel as well ) , two gymnasiums and baths and a large communal toilet ( there are long rows of seats with holes at quite narrow intervals, obviously no privacy). Learnt a lot of history from the guide.
Buffet lunch, ate too much, really wanted a post prandial nap. Then the house of Virgin Mary, it is believed she died here ( the other theory is she died in Jerusalem). Drank some water from the holy fountain for happiness, health and love.
Then two commercial aspects of the tour, a carpet factory visit and a leather shop. At the carpet factory learnt about the varieties of carpets,the way they are made, saw silk being obtained from the cocoons, were given a well practiced display of carpets, rolled out and flown about. All this while we sipped on raki and apple tea. At the leather shop, some more apple tea and a fashion show, quite professional models and lovely leather jackets. Sadly neither the carpets or the jackets are part of our budget trip.
Last stop the temple of Artemis, one of the seven ancient wonders. Presently there is only a large column and a few ruins remaining .
This is such a small world, met an Indian origin British girl on the tour, her parents went to Darbhanga Medical college. It is in my hometown ( quite a small place ) my parents finished their training there and my grandmother taught there.
Rushed back to the bus station for our overnight bus to Cappadocia.
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