Back to Greece again... this time arriving through Turkey.

2nd May 2015

Whoo hoo business class at last! After a quite pleasant if unexciting trip (economy) Brisbane to Istanbul with a four hour stop in Singapore we look like having five hours wait in Istanbul domestic airport but are lucky enough to make it in time for the earlier flight and, although we are waitlisted and behind other people, we get on! Except that I have to go business class on my own... a bit of a pity to have business class on a flight that is less than one hour but I guess anything is better than nothing. I did enjoy the service and the lovely little meal. Atlasglobal were kind enough to upgrade me without any extra charge. It’s a good, no frills airline (well in economy anyway) with great prices and free shuttles to many places – as far as Denizli from Izmir. We take their comfy shuttle down to Selcuk.

Singapore Airlines was a wee disappointment after all the praise and expectations. The first leg (Brisbane to Singapore) was lovely, but the long haul from Singapore to Istanbul was an older plane and quite lacklustre service – definitely not their usual standard.

But now we are back in lovely laid back Selcuk and it feels great. Tom is walking around with a silly grin – he loves it here. We settle in to the Urkmez Hotel, friendly and comfy and right in the centre of town looking out over the castle and the ancient aqueducts where the storks nest, meet up with Mitch (with whom we have travelled a little before) and it feels great. Soon we are happily tucking into the liver specialty at our favourite restaurant when a scooter stops right next to us and it is Robert, an Englishman Tom met through Tripadvisor… pretty amazing that he drove through the mall and just knew the three tourists sitting there must be us.

After our delicious meal (followed by the very best local fresh Ayran I have ever tasted) we meet up with Robert at his favourite bar (Smyrna’s – right under our hotel) for drinks and a good chat. He is quite the local expert and so kind giving his time to a group of pretty well unknown tourists.

3rd May 2015
Next morning (after nearly 10 hours of deep sleep) we meet on the rooftop for the fabulous Urkmez breakfast – definitely above and beyond… it’s lucky we are not staying too long, I’d have to start working out. Then it’s off to the beautifully restored site of St John’s Basilica, reputedly where he wrote his bible and where he was buried, where we love the ambience and the roses and other beautiful scents. It’s great being here in the spring!! And the castle is now open to the public so trudge on up and enjoy a bit of an explore (although just a wee bit frustrated by how much we are not allowed to walk on, especially the steep stairs up to the ramparts).

Then we do a quick once through the newly renovated museum – yes it deserves more, it is really quite an astounding museum and beautifully laid out - but we’ve all been there before and more delights await elsewhere.

Across the road we meet up with friend Robert again, this time with an old friend who is a professor in Istanbul – and terribly terribly knowledgeable. It’s great to hear all about the progress on sites in the area – and about their take on current Turkish politics – but soon Robert whisks us away to a little known, very exciting site called Magnesia. There are a few bits and pieces of old buildings as we enter but the big attraction is the stadium. We wander in from the bottom, and then stand in awe when it appears. It is absolutely huge! It is only recently being excavated and restored and it is believed it held up to 45,000 people. It was covered by the hillside in an ancient earthquake and even now tends to silt up again in the heavy winter rains. With Robert as our guide we scramble over the partly exposed stadium, being shown inscriptions which tell us where the guilds sat together, carvings showing the different sports engaged in here and the prizes given out so long ago. It’s so good to have such a guide… it brings it all alive.

Next morning, after a chaotic start with ATMs and the car hire people, we are eventually on the road again… off north in our little Fiat Alba towards the very Turkish coastal village of Sigacik (pronounced see-hah-chik as we eventually discover) with a stop at Claros site along the way. Claros was the site of an important temple of Apollo where there was a very respected oracle. Everyone asked her advice about all manner of things, even the barbarians were able to use her (I assume for a good price). Most of the site is submerged at this time of the year and it’s lovely to see the temple outlines under the green water.

4th May

Sigacik turns out to be delightful once we find our way past the rather brash new town and find the little old town behind crumbling walls - white washed (recently renovated) little houses, narrow cobbled streets and a very authentic square under spreading trees. We settle in to the Teos Pansiyon on the waterfront with a view of the fishing boats and the little harbour fort – life’s good!

5th May 

We don’t expect a great deal of the ancient site of Teos next morning – people had said there was little there but it was a nice wander in the fields anyway… well there must have been a lot of work done recently, because it’s great. We visit the acropolis, a great amphitheatre, the bouliterion (like a smaller theatre where the citizens would meet to discuss and vote) and the immense temple of Dionysus – all very impressive amidst fields of wild flowers and almost deserted. The land is so rich the clover is about 2 feet high and we share the fields with fat goats and countless bees. We wander for hours and finally go on to the little nearby beach for a good seafood lunch. A highly recommended outing at the moment and it will only get better as more and more work is done.

Back to Selcuk and on to Kusadasi tomorrow – Sigacik and Teos have been a lovely excursion!