Selçuk, İzmir, Turkey
An early start to visit one of the finest ancient sites in Turkey,Ephesus. We were the first in so avoided the crowds who followed us around later. For an extra cost we visited the “terraces”, a covered excavated hillside with more mosaics than Pompei. The only visitors were our tour members.Nearby were the remains of Mary’s church as she and st. john came here after Jesus’s death.
Afterwards we visited the city museum to see a few of the items recovered but most are scattered across Europe’s museums. Then we took a local bus to Şirince,a former greek village until the mass exchange of populations after the independence wars in the 1920s.The new Moslem inhabitants continued the local practice of making fruit wines.Free wine tasting in every other shop but far too sweet for us!
Back in Celcuk we visited St. john’s grave in the remains of his Basilica,nestled underneath an Ottoman castle.
2025-05-22