The Last Few Shots

These are the last shots on the digital camera as we left Izmir to spend the night at the airport in Istanbul once we landed (ugh). The 1st one is off of the walkway to the water.

The 2nd one is from our little booth at the cafe where we had lunch. It was at the end of a pier out in the middle of the water. It was hot and wonderful, thanks to the wind. I had to hold on to my soda and Trevor had to hold on to his squid.

The last 3 were taken from the cab on the way to the airport. In the 4th one, the gentleman on the left is Ataturk himself, the man Turkey thanks for its independence. This fellow is all over the place, and his image is printed on most Turkish flags, kind of behind the official insignia.

Posting these is kind of sad - we had an awesome time.

Izmir

When we left Kusadasi we had to spend the day in Izmir before we got our flight back to Istanbul at 9:00. It was a perfect day and we spent most of it next to the water so there was a strong breeze. It was about 92 degrees and felt awesome.

1st shot: mini pomegranates! The best! There was a whole plant market at the core of the bazaar in Izmir, with little cafes in the very center. The 2nd and 3rd photos are of my favorite place to sit down for tea in all of the parts of Turkey I've been to.

The 4th shot is of the street next to the water in Izmir, as seen from the walkway that crosses over it.

And the last shot...we've had some confused looks from people as we've described the squatty toilets. This was in the public women's bathroom. It was really clean, cost about 40 cents to use, and in this particular one 2 beautiful and dignified Turkish girls had to show me (American oaf)how to get it to flush with buckets of water. Not dignified.

Izmir No. 2

The waterfront in Izmir. As the sun gets lower, they set up tables and chairs and people sit down for tea, beer, etc. We sat down too. We were gearing ourselves up to get a taxi to the airport and fly back to Istanbul.

The 4th shot is of the clock tower in Izmir, which is kind of the center of town.

And the last shot is of my favorite trees. I don't know if they prune them to look like fuzzy balls with skinny legs or what. If they do, that's a lot of pruning. I prefer to think they just grow like that because that's cool.

Smyrna!

The ruins of ancient Smyrna are in the middle of Izmir. Alexander founded Smyrna and there's quite a bit of it left. We were the only ones around that day and we padded all over the tunnels and up and down the stairs. They're still doing a lot of excavating, so the parts you can go into will just get more and more extensive.

Ephesus!

Ephesus was about 20 minutes away from the city we stayed in, Kusadasi. We tried to get there early, but we were both having stomach issues, so it took us a little while to get up, etc..

The first shot is of the baths that athletes used for therapy, and nearby were some ruins of what was the gymnasium. The shots of what looked like a street are of Curetes Way, which was indeed a street. It led from the library to the gymasium, the temple of Diana (3rd picture) and to homes. There were big statues of Hercules and some other gods and things named after Roman politicians.

The last shot is of Harbor Street. It led away from the theater and off to other things...it seems to just end. But I assume there were homes out that way.

Ephesus No. 2

The first shot is of what's left of the terraced houses the well-to-do Romans lived in. I guess sometimes you're allowed in them, but that day there didn't seem to be a way to get tickets. But apparently they're almost as good as the ruins at Pompeii to show how Romans lived. The next one is of a tired tourist.

The next few shots are of the Library of Celsus. All that's left is the facade, but the detail is remarkable. There were other statues in the front and inside that are in the Ephesus museum. The last shot of a street blocked off was all lined in columns and led to the giant and famous amphitheater.

Ephesus No. 3

The first shot is the area right around the theater.

These next 2 shots are good ones of the theater - it's really humongous and you feel small. Usually lots of other tourists are kind of a bummer, but standing around the theater I imagined we all lived in Ephesus and some event just finished and we were all going home. It was pretty cool.

And the last shot is as you leave Ephesus - the vendors suck you back in to reality real quick. But there was also this little man selling the biggest, most beautiful peaches you've ever seen. They tasted as good as they looked. It was literally the best piece of fruit I think I've ever eaten.

Pamukkale

Pamukkale is wierd. These white, solid calcium cliffs surround the town down below. They're created as the calcium-laden water flows downhill, and as the calcium settles out it solidifies and creates the travertines that people are swimming and walking in. Up above them are the ruins of Hieropolis, which is the spa-city the Romans built to avail themselves of the therapeutic properties of the water. They're exstensive and you can still swim in the pool they built. I took the shots of that with my film camera. The travertines are kind of dirty nowadays and the flow of water is down to a trickle even though they're trying to take care of it. From what I can gather the water used to rush over them rather than sit around.

Afrodisias No. 2

Afrodisias No. 3

Afrodisias

We left Cappadocia and flew to Izmir, which is ancient Smyrna. Today it's a big huge city. We rented a car and drove to Kusadasi, which is on the Aegean coast and near some of the best ruins in the world. Some of the most exstensive are found at Afrodisias, which was a city built by the Romans in honor of Aphrodite. In the pictures you can pick out a stadium, a theater, 2 agoras (marketplaces), the baths of Hadrian, and what's left of the temple of Aphrodite. In some spots we're standing on the original marble tile streets. The columns are the colonnades - they lined every major street in every Roman city.