Day 6
We woke up early to a wonderful view from the hotel balcony. Breakfast was standard. We checked out on time but the pickup was about 20 minutes late.
In the beginning, we were the only ones in the van. But we then drove to Selçuk and were joined by a couple of Korean girls, a Korean lady and her son, and four Chilean ladies. One of the guides had to speak both in Spanish and English for the benefit of the Chileans, and us and the Korean girls respectively. Another guide spoke in Korean for the lady and her kid. The Korean girls weren’t too happy with the bilingual commentary and when I asked them why they didn’t just listen to the other guide who was speaking Korean, they said they preferred English. The guide himself said that he wasn’t too happy either, but this was what the agency had asked of him.
The first visit was to Virgin Mary’s house, located on a hilltop. She had come to Ephesus after the crucifixion of Jesus, and then escaped from the Romans in the city, to the hills. The place also has a functioning chapel.
Ephesus – ruins from Greek times until it was abandoned by Turks in the 15th century – is quite a site! There was an amphitheatre right near the entrance, a relatively small one, and we wondered if this was the much famed one, and if so, we should have seen the Hierepolis version! Thankfully, it wasn’t. The city had a population of 2.5 lakhs, and quite a few rich folks, judging from the roads of marble. The main road was apparently a Fifth Avenue of its time. It also had a library with about 30000 books. After the largest (Alexandria) was burnt and Mark Antony raided Pergamum to refill Cleopatra’s shelves, Ephesus became the de facto largest library of the era.
The agora near it (still) strangely smelt of vegetables! I wasn’t sure whether the heat was making me imagine things! The biggest attraction in the place is the fantastic amphitheatre, which finds a few mentions in the Bible. Everything from gladiator fights to plays have happened there. With a capacity of 30000, it still hosts concerts and greats such as the Philharmonic Orchestra, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong have performed here. A Japanese gentleman did an impromptu performance while we were inside, superb it was.
After some trinket shopping, when D displayed her haggling skills, we proceeded to lunch at a restaurant named Sultan. The first destination after lunch was a mosque in Selçuk that was from the Seljuk era, and looked more like a church. A wedding couple shoot was in progress when we visited. A carpet factory was next and I snoozed as D learned how Turkish carpets were made. The last place on the agenda was the Temple of Artemis, an original member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There is exactly one pillar left, the rest have been taken to Istanbul for Hagia Sophia, and to the nearby museum and St.John’s Basilica. An old man sold books there, and the guide used one of them to explain the original structure. I wondered if he sold any books. Sad.
D, meanwhile, was convincing the Korean girls that a Pamukkale trip was warranted. We dropped them and set off for the airport at Izmir, an hour away. We had my now favourite drink, tea, at the airport. Then began our adventure with Pegasus Airways. The first flight, to Istanbul, was delayed by 30 mins. Note that our scheduled waiting time for the connecting flight to Cappadocia was all of 50 minutes. The flight staff were quite unresponsive, and I prepared myself for our first missed flight. But seemingly, this was common with Pegasus and they held the flight for us! Made sense, half that flight was made of people who were delayed by varying degrees. Running through the airport was a little fun, and after we reached the bus, we waited a few more minutes because other flights were even more late! We landed at Kayseri, Cappadocia’s airport town, and were fed water and cake by a considerate driver. Urgup was an hour away through dark highways, though closer to the place, the lit up towns were quite spectacular.
The Dedeli Konak Cave Hotel ‘welcomed’ us at midnight, though it seemed as though we had gotten in through the back door. Spooky streets! The old manager Faruk was woken up and he helped me carry the baggage up two flights of stairs! We were told that the most hyped event of the tour – the balloon ride would happen the next day since the weather on the day after was uncertain. Yes, dinner was that cake and water, and we slept in a ‘cave’!