What a disappointing day.
First off we had to leave the little paradise we found in Dalyan. But we want to go see what should be a couple really neat places, up the coast near our final stop, Kuşadasi.
Ephesus
We made great time on the drive and after three and a half hours we were Efes, which is also called Ephesus. I like the Turkish name Efes better, it reminds me of the beer.
Well, Efes is famous for the library ruin, and is supposed to be a great archeological sight.
Disappointment #1: it is just a fair site, more like a pile of rubble compared to some of the great sights we have seen this trip (and in the past). I can’t believe we are now getting picky about piles of rocks and columns.
It was close to 100° and humid when we arrived, so we paid the entrance fee and walked in. We did find an interesting “So Called House Of Pleasure” but I guess there really was no pleasure there (see photos).
That is really the name of it.
The So Called House Of Pleasure (house #2).
The church was a shambles, lots of things are just jumbled up, the Roman Theater is big, but at this point it is not the best we have seen.
The library was fairly impressive in its own right. There are still some columns, a couple statues and a nice assortment of Latin and Greek carving. Underneath the arches some of the stone work is still in good shape.
The best part for me was seeing Caesar Augustus’ name carved into the beam.
It was really crowded, the parking lots were jammed and we missed the quiet, solitary wandering around and thinking at the other sites.
We left and drove around Selçuck, the main town, parking and wandering a little. But this was even more crowded than Efes.
So we headed on a long winding road up into the mountains to a little village named Şirince. I read about this place somewhere, and it said that it was a quiet village, a good alternative place to stay if you are going to be in Efes.
Well, thank god we didn’t stay here.
It is an over-done three streets of tourist crap, all store fronts and stands, with some restaurants and cafés tucked in, all serving basically the same thing.
And again, it was crowded, and the two-way driving on a steep, one way street is not for the faint-hearted.
Well, this was disappointment #2.
But we were here, so we parked and eventually settled on the shadiest place to eat lunch. I had pretty good Kofta (Turkish meatballs) in yogurt and pepper sauce, and Gail had a surprisingly good Gozleme (a “pancake” or crepe but not sweet) filled with cheese and spinach.
It was pretty interesting to watch the way the lady made the Gozleme over an open fire.
Here is the thing that could be of charm in Şirince. The houses up on the hill.
The windows, the flat shape, it reminds me of a smaller version of Berat, Albania, the "City of a Thousand Windows" that is a UNESCO world site.
But you have to look up.
What I am saying is, you have to actually overlook the tourist area.
Well, we decided to just head to Kuşadasi, the port city of the coast and our final stop in Turkey.
Disappointment #3: trying to find the stinking hotel in the middle of the old town.
I literally drove into a maze of old, narrow, sharp-cornered streets that dead-ended randomly.
I mean, there was the red pin on Google Maps. And Siri’s soothing voice soon became an annoying whine as she tried to have me turn right into a stone wall, go straight through a dead end filled with rubble, or go left into a backwards slanting turn to an alley that narrowed to half the width of the car.
I got halfway up streets and had to back out when a taxi came the other way, and twice little mopeds had to walk by, an inch between us.
I did five point turns around corners, and backed out of tight tight lanes, squeezed between abandoned cars, and all the while we were within 300 meters or less of the hostel.
This was a little harder than it sounds. Good thing I liked to do mazes (paper and pencil) as a kid.
Finally I got out onto a “main street” that was 1.5 cars wide and pulled over to breath and try to re-map the route as cars barely squeezed by me.
Down a steep hill, sharp curve left, up another steep hill back the same direction, and suddenly, as if a miracle, there was the guesthouse.
Big Huge Disappointment #4: Sometime during the day, while we were parked, someone hit the back of our rental car. Gail noticed it when we went to get our luggage out of the back.
I mean, this morning the car was fine, now we suddenly have a dented rear bumper and broken taillight.
The hostel owner shrugged. “It is typical here,” he said. Looking at it he said, “It was probably a motorcycle.”
So now is the headache of contacting VISA for the insurance (paperwork to fill out) and contacting Budget about the car (more paperwork).
And I just love doing paperwork.
We looked at each other, and though we had plans to drive out and visit a “little village” tomorrow, we decided that we had enough of “the little village” today, enough of driving the maze, and so let’s just return the car this evening.
Of course Google maps showed the rental place was a 2 minute drive “just over there” which took us almost a half an hour to actually figure out and do. (It is, however, a seven minute walk back just through the pedestrian only zone.)
We dropped the car, writing out an incident report, gathering paperwork, and walked back to our hostel.
Ugh.
We should have stayed on the river.