spain: tarragona

tarragona is a UNESCO listed heritage city, about an hour from barcelona, south along the coast...a perfect day trip, since i was using barcelona as my base...my original plan was to see tarragona and a town called sitges in one day, but i ended up spending more time in tarragona than planned, and the public transport options between the two weren't very amenable to my plan...oh well...
the train dropped me off in tarragona, and i made my way up a hill and found the information office...they gave me a city map, an information brochure about the city, and ticket prices for the sights that make up the UNESCO listing...

to keep statistics, the info people asked me where i'm from...i told them i didn't know how to answer the question, as my citizenship is american, but i now live in ukraine...i dont know which box they checked for me...
i used the map to make my way to the closest sight, and bought an entrance ticket that allowed me access to all the sights in town for a simple 11 euro...awesome price, and it made everything convenient, especially since the ticket was good for two days...

my first sight was the former roman forum...there wasn't much left of this one, it was a bit hard to imagine how it used to be...it was during this stop that i started to realize it was going to be a hot day filled with sun sun sun...
along the streets to my next walk, i found a market building, the outside of which was covered with graffiti/paintings of the vendors inside...very cool looking...
i walked to the former city walls, when the city was roman...with my ticket i was able to walk nearly all the way around...some of the walls have been rebuilt, but not everything...it's a peaceful walk, or at least it is when there aren't too many other people around...

as i got to the end of the wall section i explored, i found a gate giving me entrance to the old city...i followed a few signs and eventually found the cathedral...there is only a small platz in front of the cathedral, no good way for me to get a photo of the whole front...the main entrance has statues of saints (i think) above it...very impressive...
the inside of the church is pretty big, with a main worship area in the middle...as i walked in, i realized mass was happening, but the church wasn't at all closed off...thankfully, all the visitors i could see were being respectful, and not walking down the middle aisle...

the sides of the church were all made into smaller chapels...some of the chapels had gates in front, some weren't blocked off at all...i don't know what the reasons were...
postcards in tarragona were expensive, i was excited when i found some for 'only' 40cents euro...i had to buy more drinking water, as i'd already drunk the 1.5L contained i'd brought with me...
my next sight was the old circ, which was also a history museum...i found it rather confusing to figure out where to go to see everything...there was an area that allowed me to look out over the whole city, both the beach/water side, and the old city side...very nice...

i ended up exiting and walking around to another entrance to see another area, which had underground tunnels...
my last sight was the roman amphitheatre...by this point i was really feeling the heat/sun, despite drinking a lot of water and eating a few snacks...since the amphitheatre is made of stone, it soaked up the heat then reflected it back at visitors...i loved walking around, though i was feeling rather faint...visitors can walk around the rows of seats, part of the ground in the middle, and look out over the outer walls to the beach!

after the amphitheatre, i found a cafe with a daily menu option for cheap...only 10 euro, and i got to have pasta, grilled chicken and veggies, a roll, a dessert, and water...good food :)
while i was eating i realized i had heat rash all over my legs...not fun...even after eating, i was still feeling faint, ugh...the feeling didn't go away until i woke up the next morning...
the train back to barcelona was easy:)

italy: pozzuoli and vesuvio

My first train from rimini took me to bologne, where i almost ran through the train station to get my second train...the bologne train station is undergoing some renovation, and the tracks are on three levels...when i had to transfer there on my way to rimini i figured some of it out, but i still found it confusing, and not very efficient when you have to book it from one level to another...my second train went from bologne to napoli, where my friend ken picked me up at the station...yay for door to door service...

on the way home we picked up food for dinner and our excursion the next day...dinner that night was steak on the grill, YUM...a simple, but great meal, looking out over a beautiful bay, during sunset...i don't think it gets any better :)

the next morning we had to get up early to get ready for the day...ken's friend came over to drop off food for the bbq later that evening...the three of us drove to a meeting spot to get everyone corralled, then the convoy drove to sorrento, through the town to the port...

i don't know who had arranged everything, but someone had rented three boats for the whole group to take out for the day...the plan was to spend the day going around the island of capri, celebrating the birthday of the US...

it was a fabulous day...beautiful weather, beautiful people, lots of patriotic clothing...

at one point we saw a superyacht with the stars and stripes, so someone looked up the boat...the limitless is owned by the guy who owns victoria's secret (among others)...it was a BIG BOAT...i'm sure the limitless was greeted by every american in the area who saw the flag :)

during the day the boats stopped a few times to play in the water, jump off rocks, etc...so much fun...id forgotten how much fun it is to play in water, i haven't done it in ages...i put suncream on a couple times, so my sunburn wasn't nearly as bad as i expected...yay :)

after returning home ken started prepping everything for a 4^th of july bbq he was hosting...the first guest to arrive was a french chick, carrying a french flag...i yelled 'allez les bleus' which surprised her, as most of her friends in the area do not speak french or know much about the country...she had the flag because france and germany were playing in another round of the world cup...(a few minutes after she arrived and we put up the flag, a house across the way put up the german flag...i loved the trash talk)

over the rest of the evening people arrived, ate food, talked with each other, took photos, etc...a great time was had by all...i ended up crashing before everyone left, i was so tired...

the next day we took it easy...waking up late, breakfast, watching tv, generally relaxing...i laid out on the balcony, forgetting that my back had already had enough sun...ooops...

the next morning was sunday, and i was wide awake at 0614...we had breakfast, and eventually got on the road...i sortof played tour guide, the guidebook gave vague directions as to how to get to vesuvius...remember when mom and i visited naples in december and i said that during my next visit i wanted to hike vesuvius? That's what we did...

we took an accidental detour, since the highway signs were not terribly clear as to where to exit...after the whole thing was over, we came to the conclusion we'd come up the opposite side of the mountain from what we intended to do...anywho, after driving through a few neighborhoods, we found the mountain, or more specifically, a parkplatz...

from there our options were limited to one: take a 'bus' a good portion of the way up, then walk from there...the path for walking was really loose, i'm glad i was wearing closed toe shoes...it was an easy walk, taking about 15 minutes i think? The views over the side were awesome...

when we got to the top we heard a brief by one of the park rangers...she told us about a few of the worst eruptions of vesuvius, as well as how it is expected to behave in the future...because of the most recent eruption it is no longer possible to walk all the way around the rim, but you can get pretty close...looking down into the middle, you don't see anything liquid...it's hard to imagine how this volcano has caused so much destruction over history...

on the way back, we missed the bus going down, so after hanging out for a while, we started walking...the weather was awesome, why not?

Maybe halfway down another bus came along and made us climb aboard...argh...we'd enjoyed as much walking as we'd been able to do...

back in pozzuoli we found a small hole in the wall cafe for lunch...YUM...it seemed to be family owned, and ken was convinced it had mafia connections...i don't know about that, but the food was fantastic...seafood pasta, YUM...this is the kind of place i want to make 'mine'...i want to come back regularly, so the owners get to know me well, and i never have to worry about ordering a specific meal :)

our late afternoon activity was going to the sulfatora...it's a wide area with natural steam vents...you can wander just about anywhere you want to go, there is almost nothing blocked off...(i kept thinking that in the states everything would be blocked off, you wouldn't be able to get anywhere close)...some of the vents had a very strong sulfur smell, others were just plain hot...i loved the colours of the minerals...

after we got home a couple friends came over for dinner, then we watched a movie called lawless...i love long holiday weekends with good people :)

the next morning we were up to go on another boat...the renting had been done from another port, so we didn't have to drive so far, or go so early...the boating crew this day was smaller, only 6 of us total, on one boat...

this time the boat was driven around the island of ischia...another beautiful island...there are hot springs in a few places around the island, we stopped a few times...one spot was small, and located near a former brothel...(from waaaaaaaaaay back when)...the other springs area was a lot bigger, and filled with people...i soaked up more sun than i needed, but it was worth it...another day when i looked around and knew i get to have an amazing life...

we loved the seafood pasta restaurant so much we wanted to go back...unfortunately it was closed on mondays...argh...

the next day my host went back to work, i enjoyed relaxing around the house for a while before walking into pozzuoli...i like this town, a lot!

Pozzuoli is where you can find the 3^rd largest roman arena in italy...there are also ruins of a temple in another area of town...plus the little port is beautiful, and still used by locals...i saw fisherman fixing their nets, sitting under umbrellas...

i saw several beautiful churches, none of them big...one of the churches i saw entirely by accident, as there was a tour group inside when i walked by, otherwise it would've been closed and locked...

i didn't get to see the cathedral in town, the guys in the information office told me it was closed except on weekends...

it was hot while i was wandering around, but the heat didn't really hit me until i was climbing up the hill to go home...at that point i just wanted to sit down and wait a few hours until my host drove by me on the way home so i could hop in the car...hot hot hot!

When he did get home we wanted to go to a chicken place for dinner, but it was closed for random cleaning...so we went back to the seafood pasta place...yahoooo!

We had a few others with us, and the family remembered us...(more likely, they remembered my friend, cause he is a big guy)...another fantastic meal, this one served family style...seafood pasta, spaghetti bolognese, wine, meat, etc...i felt pregnant when we left, hee hee...

germany kicked brazil's ass that night in football...

the next morning i woke up with an awful headache, and went back to sleep as soon as my host left for work...a few hours later i felt better, got dressed and headed out to see the arena...(it was closed the day before)...it was fun to wander around, there weren't too many other visitors...i wish it was possible to wander around the upper layers as much as the underground areas...

i laid out again that afternoon...since the house is on a hill, there was an awesome breeze, so i never felt hot even though the sun was strong...

i was sad to leave pozzuoli the next day :(

italy: rimini

Upon arriving back in rimini, i dropped my bags at the information office, just outside the train station...the lady told me the next bus to san marino wasn't for another hour or so, so i walked a bit into the city centre just to kill time...i learned a lot of people rent bikes to get around the city, i suppose i could've done the same, but walking always feels good to me:)...

rimini is now mostly known as a beach/resort town, but it used to have some importance in roman times...there are still a couple roman ruins to be seen...

there are families who come for a week or more and do nothing more than walk from their hotels to the beach, and back...i didn't spend enough time in rimini for this to happen, oh well...from the photos i saw, the beach here isn't anything special, but the economy of the town definitely depends on beach tourism...

i walked into an old cathedral, i think it was called a temple...it wasn't fancy inside, and felt pretty calm, and real...(if that makes sense)...i liked the feeling of quiet, even though there were a few other people wandering around inside...

after arriving back in rimini, the lady at the information office gave me back my bags, then told me which local bus i needed to get to my hotel...the hotel i'd booked was a street back from the beach, i think the entire street is dedicated to hotels and restaurants...i used the map function of my iphone to keep track of how far down that street i needed to get to find my hotel...

i checked in, then relaxed for a while...(and tried to get rid of the motion sickness feeling that wasn't leaving me as quickly as i would've liked)...eventually i went out walking down the street...

i was looking to see how far i could walk, and find a place to eat dinner...i figured out the answer to both questions :)

the next morning i was up early so i could take advantage of the breakfast included in my hotel price before walking around more of the old city centre...the breakfast was mostly carbs, argh...a croissant, various breads, etc...(this is italy, that's how they do breakfast)

i left my bags at information again, and continued walking...i passed the cathedral/temple from the day before, and made a left at a bigger intersection...

a few blocks down from there i came to one of the old roman sights in the city...an arch...it was pretty, but not hugely impressive...there was a small platz on one side of the arch, but it was early enough in the morning that there werent many people hanging out in the area...i wondered if it ever gets crowded...

i walked through this platz and a couple others on my way to the other roman sight in town...a bridge...still in good shape, cars drive over it all day long...it isn't huge, but i liked it...all the postcards with pictures of the bridge show it at night, when it's lit up...i should've stayed out late the night before!

After the bridge i stepped into a big church...big and airy, a bit darker than i usually like, and quiet...i love the feeling of comfort i get wheneva i step into any religious building, whether it's a synagogue, temple, mosque, church, etc...

from there i went back to the train station and caught my next train :)

italy:verona

the next morning, i took a train from milano to verona...it was a single train ride, and only supposed to be 90 minutes...somehow it was 30 minutes late, argh...bo met me at the train station in verona, he'd driven down from his home up north...

we dropped my bags in his car, since it was still too early to check into our guesthouse...we turned around and started walking...both of us had been to verona before, we used it mostly as a convenient place to meet up...

we started with a morning snack: italians would call it breakfast, but both of us had already eaten breakfast...croissants and a drink...there are little cafes all over every italian city so everyone gets an easy breakfast...

we walked along the river, then across one of the many bridges...soooo many tourists, eeek...even though i'd seen them all in milan the day before, i was still overwhelmed...since i live in ukraine and travel to small towns most of the time, i'm really not used to crowds...i'd totally forgotten how popular italy is as a travel destination, and verona is full of sights...we wandered a bit, figuring out where we might go later in the day, if we felt like paying entry fees...

around 1300 we walked back to the guesthouse and checked in, then had lunch at another nearby cafe...pasta, of course...mine was supposed to be spicy, but wasn't...at all...

walking back into the city centre, we found the roman arena...every summer this arena hosts the 2 month long verona opera festival...it's a fantastic venue, and nothing matches watching an opera under the stars with 30,000 of your best friends...we took a look at the schedule and saw that aida was scheduled for that night, so we bought the cheap tickets...there are super cheap tickets, then they get really expensive really fast...some people pay more than 200 euro for a single ticket! those expensive tickets don't get you anything super special, just a better viewpoint from the folding chair!

Our next stop was a coffee machine, which had a darn good hot chocolate for .50 euro...yay...

from there we walked further down a street, and into the castle...we opted not to buy tickets for any of the museums, we didn't care enough to learn anything...hee hee...

since we had tickets for the opera which started at 2100, we headed back to the guesthouse to rest and clean up...(verona was a lot hotter than kyiv, i wasn't dealing very well with the heat)...we had dinner at a random cafe, which allowed us to arrive at the arena at 1945...

when we bought our tickets we were told that the arena opened at 1930 for people like us who had unreserved seating, we knew we needed to arrive early...we arrived just 15 minutes after the doors opened, but already many of our possible seats were taken...great fun to watch people as they arrived; fun to see what people were wearing, and how they behaved...we chatted with our neighbors, as you tend to do in these situations...mostly, or probably all, tourists (at our level anywho, probably a few locals in more expensive seats)...

the rain started at 2045...ugh...i had an umbrella, we tried to avoid getting too wet...(it didn't work, as water collected on the rows and soaked into our clothes...some people took cover in hallways, some people pulled out ponchos or umbrellas...nearly everyone who had one of the expensive seats went to the hallways, those of us in the nosebleed seats stayed out in the rain...there was one row of people in the expensive seats who didn't move...they all had blue ponchos, bo and i referred to them as the smurfs :)...

the announcement came over the loudspeakers almost immediately, that the performance would be delayed as the rain would injure the instruments...it stopped raining after 30 minutes or so, everyone cheered and the people with squeejies came out to clean off the stage...just as they finished, the rain started again...everyone started cheering again, we joined in, laughing...

the rain finally stopped for good, more cheering of course...the performance ended up starting about 45 minutes late but time moved slowly, so it didn't feel that late...

it was a modern interpretation of aida, with great costumes and scenery...the voices were strong, choreography smooth, etc...neither bo nor i could remember the synopsis, so we were a bit lost...since the interpretation was modern, we kept thinking aliens had come from another planet and decided to sing a few songs...we got home quite late...

the chocolate croissant i had the next morning had waaay too much chocolate inside...(not something i ever thought i would say)...maybe i felt that way because of the giant slice of nutella covered pizza dough i'd had on the way home from the opera the night before...

our first sight of the day was 'juliette's house'...juliette of romeo and juliette...even though the story was made up, this house has been decided to be juliette's house...there is a small courtyard inside, with a small balcony where people come out to have their photo taken...there are a lot of people, it's difficult to get a decent photo...

i decided to go up the tower, bo decided to wait...the entry fee was 8euro!!! crazy...the view over the city was nifty though, i was glad to do it once...in an effort to burn a few calories i took the stairs going up and down, my legs were burning...

we opted not to pay to go in the duomo, we could see most of the ceiling from the door and that was supposed to be the greatest part of it...i was already getting really tired of the idea of having to pay to go in every church we walked past...argh...

we had lunch at yet another random cafe, nearby which was a shop where i bought postcards...before heading back to the guesthouse we stopped by the drink machine again, i wanted more hot chocolate :)...from there we collected bo's car, then made our way out of the city...

padova

We went to padova my last day in italy...again, boyd and mandy each took a day off work, and it was awesome...

before heading to padova, we spent some time in sportler...it's an italian sporting goods store, very similar to an american REI, or australian/new zealand kathmandu...in other words, one of my ideas of heaven...all sorts of sports clothes and equipment...it would've been very very easy to spend a lot of money...as it was, i restricted myself to a rain jacket and a pair of sunnies...i remember having some sort of water resistant jacket when i was a kid, but this was my first real rain jacket...i know it's silly, but i was/am excited...

after sportler, we drove to padova...it was a roman town, and you can still see the outer walls in a few places...one of the highways along the way has been rebuilt, and the GPS doesn't know it yet, so for a while it appeared as though we were driving in the unknown...fortunately, we joined back up with the 'old' road, and everything was fine...it's funny how doing that drops an hour off the expected arrival time...phew!

The fun part was in figuring out where to go in padova, and then finding parking once we arrived...in the middle of an old italian city, with one way streets, it isn't always easy to find what you are looking for...especially because other people have already taken all the parking places you see...every now and again we thought we could see a place, but just as we got closer, we figured out it wasn't a place at all...actually, all of that was boyd and mandy...i sat quietly in the back seat, since i had no idea where we were going, and i'm somewhat lost without a map...

after finally finding parking, our first order of business was lunch...somehow, it took us yonks to find a place to eat...i'm not sure how that happened...we did stop for gelatto along the way, though that should only have taken 5-10 minutes...

we saw the university of padova, which was pretty neat...one stairwell was painted with frescoes, and there was a statue in there...other hallways had crests painted on the ceilings...i'm assuming they were the crests of the families of students who attended the school? We saw a couple other statues, we saw a giant market area...we saw a couple piazzas in the middle of town...it was quite the nice town for wandering...we saw a giant clock tower...

once we finally did find lunch, it was at the very end of lunch time...VERY END...in italy, many restaurants have lunch service, after which they take a break before dinner service...

showing up at the end of the time for lunch service means you don't get served...which is not good if you're really hungry...the idea of doing anything for the customer isn't the same as it is in the states...they simply say no, and you move on...the restaurant that finally seated us only had two iteams of food left...steak, and some sort of lasagna...i hadn't had steak yet, and it's what boyd eats every time he and mandy go out to eat...(he's not a foodie, she is)...the steak was tasty, mandy was okay with her lasagna...

after lunch we wandered a bit more...i found a gelatto place that had (among other flavours) pink grapefruit gelatto...a flavour i'd never had before...as far as i know, it isn't a common flavour...it tasted exactly like pink grapefruit...yum...

during the entire day, i found only one place that sold postcards...i'm usually able to spot places by the dozen, but this town didn't seem to have them...padova is known as a university town, but not so much as a tourist town...the postcards i ended up with weren't the greatest, they left a lot to be desired...

the last place we saw was a park...we didn't end up there on purpose, it was just what seemed to be the specific location of a tree giving off cotton...i have no idea what kind of tree it is, but when it blooms, it floats through the air, and covers everything...crazy...as much as anything, it was fun taking photos...on the way back from the park (and i'm not even sure it was a park, it might have just been an enclosed yard next to something or other) we crossed the "river"...

i put 'river" in quotes because it wasn't big...more like a moat, or canal...back in roman days, this was just outside the city walls, and served as one of the city defenses...

from there, mandy and boyd took me back to the airport...sad...i had a great week with friends, i was sad to leave...great weather nearly the entire trip, gelatto every day, native english speakers, relaxing, new sights, etc...what more could a girl want during holidays?

bergama

my bus from selcuk to bergama was actually two buses...one to izmir, and the second to selcuk...the transfer was easy...the driver from the first bus even walked me to the second bus at the izmir bus station...how's that for customer service?
bergama is the host town to two sets of ruins...one known as the acropolis, the other as the asklepion ...
i'd read the guidebook, and it said that there were two bus stations in bergama, an old and a new...the book said the new one was way out on the highway, the old was in the middle of town...i was able to figure out where we were as the bus was coming into town, after passing the new bus station...i got rather confused as we passed the old bus station as well...so apparently there are three bus stations in town...go figure...fortunately, the town isn't that big, and i was able to figure out where i was, and how to get to a hotel...the first place i looked for i missed completely (i found it later, and wondered how i'd missed something so obvious) but i saw another hotel in the same area, so i checked it out, and it seemed fine...checkin was quick and easy, woo hoo...
i walked toward the information office, only to find that the lady was at lunch...she came back from lunch 15 minutes late, which annoyed me, but she more than made up for it with the information she gave me...a couple maps, directions to a couple places, and a book about the area...yay...

the red basilica

my first stop was a place called the red basilica...as you can guess from the name, it's a red church...well, it was...it was originally a huge temple to several egyptian gods, built in the 2nd century...now, it isn't a large area to explore...you get to go in one of the rotundas, and the main cathedral area...according to st john, (who must've lived in selcuk at the time) this one was of the seven churches of the apocalypse...pretty harsh i think?!?! when christians took over the church, they didn't do any renovation...they just created a basilica inside the giant building...
on the way from the red basilica to the acropolis, i  passed what looked like a donut stand...there was a large fryer set up, and a machine that dropped batter into the fryer in a donut shape...i queued up, and just watched for a minute or two...a bag of the donuts was handed to me, and i pulled out my wallet...i didn't really want the entire bag, but that was what was handed to me...as i tried to ask how much, they indicated i shouldn't pay...i tried even so, but i wasn't allowed...who doesn't like free donuts? bergama was definitely looking fantastic, and i hadn't even seen much yet!!

on the way up to the acropolis

one of the sights you can see from anywhere in the city is the acropolis...on top of the hill overlooking the city, it's obvious why it was built where it was...to get to the acropolis, you have two choices...there is a cable car going all the way up the hill, or you can walk on the road which goes all the way around the hill...according to the guidebook and the information lady, it was a 5 kilometer walk along the road...as i walked along the road, a couple came through a fence, and started walking back down the hill...it turned out they hadn't wanted to go back to the official entrance and walk all the way along the road...they pointed out that i could go through that same hole in the fence and thereby enter the sight for free...i've done such things before, but this time i opted not to...maybe i'm crazy, but i actually wanted to walk the whole way...i am always conscious of the need to burn calories, and i felt as though i hadn't moved enough during the day...anywho...i'm not sure that walk would've seemed so appetizing in the middle of high tourist season...my guess is that nowadays most people take the cable car up and down...it's certainly faster...
i got all the way up, and really appreciated the view over the city...bergama is far from a spectacular city, but it's nice to be that high, looking out over so much land...i wonder if the people who lived up on the hill appreciated how nice that is...

the temple of athena

there is a giant temple up there, (the temple of athena) and several smaller temples, a giant theatre, (seating 10,000 people!) what little remains of a library, and more...there were information boards everywhere, and though there was always a portion written in english, it wasn't always easily understood to me...the information was mostly about the architectural details of the ruins, and those didn't mean much to me...i would rather know how a specific building is used, and who used it...oh well...it was still fun to wander around...i enjoyed meeting a german couple in the theatre, i took a photo for them...they told me they'd first seen this area in 1974...how cool is that? i wonder if i'll return to places 35 years from now? i wonder how different the area looks in general...there must be some changes, but in terms of the ruins, i wonder if the changes are as drastic as with the rest of the town (of bergama, that is - i'm assuming there must be quite a difference between bergama in 1974 and now)...

after exploring all over, i decided to take the road all the way back down to town...not surprisingly, it goes a lot faster on the way down, even though the angle isn't drastic at all...it was a beautiful day, the walk was lovely, and i arrived back in town right as the sun was going down...since i really try to avoid being out after dark by myself, this was perfect timing...as usual, when i have been moving around all day, i wasn't hungry when i stopped moving...so i didn't have much in the way of dinner...ice cream and water...i know i know, not healthy...ooops...i need to work on my eating habits...regular meals for one, and balanced food, for another...
the next morning i got up and walked to the asklepion...as with the acropolis, this walk was up a hill, and also as with the acropolis, i didn't see the entry gate until i was almost there...the walk was only 2 kilometers, not far at all...the asklepion is right next door to a turkish military base, and there are numberous signs reminding visitors not to take photos in the direction of the base...as i walked into the asklepion i could hear the soldiers yelling cadence...i'm so glad i'm not in the military:)...

the asklepion was a medical facility back in the day...apparently people came from all over to be treated...the doctors at the asklepion didn't accept people about to die, or pregnant women...what's wrong with pregnant women? given the length of the entry road, "sick" people couldn't have been that bad off, they still had to get to the place and be accepted...the doctors treated people with mud baths, hypnosis, enemas, sunbathing and dream interpretation...sounds kinda like a modern day spa to me:)
as with the ruins i saw in ephesus, the first part of these ruins i saw was a long entry road...the sun was such that the photo didn't turn out as well...there were guys trimming the trees, which meant it wasn't quiet...oh well...i'm pretty sure i was the first person to visit that morning, it was nice to traipse around all by myself...there was still frost on the ground...the signs in these ruins were a bit better, in that they were of more interest to me...describing what the buildings were, not just their dimensions and architectural specifics...

there was a theatre in these ruins as well, not nearly as big as the theatres i've seen already...much much much smaller...but the seats still climbed quite a bit vertically, it was nice to climb up to the top and look out over the area...the hill isn't as high as where the acropolis sits, but you can still see out a ways...with lovely weather, it's always nice to climb up high...
after exploring the asklepion i walked back to my hotel, checked out and hopped on a bus to my next destination...

ephesus (efes)

harbour road...from the harbour to the grand theatre

for the two people reading this, i hope you like history, because this is the first of several history lessons of turkey...as the crossroads of a number of civilizations, turkey has "been there, done that" when it comes to history...heaps of fighting, heaps of building...and a lot of it is still visible, right alongside modern turkey...
ephesus is only 3km down the road from selcuk...there is a walkway the entire way to ephesus, there is no danger of getting hit by traffic while walking...why would anyone take a taxi? i'm glad i was there during off season, i have a sneaking suspicion there would've been more pressure, and heaps more touts if i had visited during high season...i am also guessing i'd get really annoyed by all the people that must visit these ruins during high season...heat and bunches of people do not make me a happy camper...bring on off season traveling!

if you haven't figured out this is the grand theatre, then we need to talk

i arrived at the entrance gate by walking down the road vehicles use as an exit...not surprisingly, there are a bunch of souvenir stalls set up just outside the entrance/exit...in a brief check of postcard prices i quickly realized they're a whole lot more expensive in ephesus than in goreme...4x!!...
 according to early legends, ephesus was built where it was because the oracle at delphi told androclus this was the right place to build a city to protect his people (he was from ionia - i don't know where that is/was) from the constantly attacking dorians...apparently when he got to this area, it was already settled, but his people peacefully integrated with the "locals"...
ephesus became a busy port town...really really busy, and pretty wealthy...with heaps of money coming in, a nearby king got jealous, and mad, and attacked...the city was destroyed, and the citizens relocated just a bit inland...they ended up paying tribute to several ruling groups, all the while growing in importance...eventually ephesus became the capital of asia minor, with a population of over 250,000...st john allegedly lived there...the virgin mary lived there...st paul is even supposed to have stayed for 3 years...

the library

then nature intervened...the harbour silted up, and even though engineers tried to clear it, it silted up again...so the money coming in from the port started to dry up...and the influx of christians meant that the cult of diana wasn't so powerful so the tribute money to that cult dried up...basically, the income of the city dried up, and it faded in importance...by the 6th century AD, when emperor justinian was looking for a place to build a basilica for st john, he chose the top of a hill in selcuk instead...and that was it for ephesus...it's amazing how fast a city can go downhill when revenues aren't coming in...i guess that hasn't really changed in modern times...when highways are built away from towns, they shrink and die...i wonder how long ephesus held on?

the public bath surrounded by the public restrooms...ewww!!!

the first area i saw was the road that led from what had been the harbour to the grand theatre...it must've been a pretty grand road, you can still see some of the columns that lined the way...and you can get good photos because it's blocked off so if you get right up to the rope no one is in your way...i am such the geek when i want good photos...
from there i walked into the grand theatre...it's still really grand...i wonder if they ever use it for performances, because it looks as if a lot of people could fit in there...everyone in the audience would have a great view, as the seats go up vertically quite a bit...some of the upper levels are blocked up, but quite a bit of it is open, and the accoustics are great...if you stand in the middle of the stage and speak normally, pretty much everyone can hear you really well...they really knew engineering back then...i sat and watched a couple tour groups come through, entertaining myself with their antics when the guides told them about the perfect accoustics...

hadrian's gate

from there it gets a bit hazy...really...it started raining...ugh...when it comes to weather, there is only one type of weather i do not like...rain...i hate rain...it's sooooo not fun...and i only have a little travel umbrella (i've never owned a proper raincoat, though i've always told myself - especially in recent years - that i NEED to get one...it's one more thing to add to my shopping list for when i go back to the states...anyone out there have suggestions on brand names, or specifics on a rain jacket?) so the wind meant i still got wet...as did my shoes, pants, etc...ugh...UGH...but i kept going...i passed the library, which is probably the most recognizable building in the entire set of ruins...what it must have been was amazing...
i passed a few gates, numerous temples, the public bath (which was surrounded by the public toilets...ewww) and heaps more...the last thing i visited was mary's church...i wish i could remember the details, but i don't...it was pretty big though, of that i'm sure...walking the length of the whole thing really brought home how important religion was back then...even more so because back then it was the actual faith that was important...not the money of the church (well, that too) or the political power of the church (and that)...but it was the faith in something that motivated people back then...whether it be faith in a cult, faith in christianity, whateva...

mary's church