29th March to 1st April
Selçuk
Selcuk is a lovely town, with a delightful blend of the modern, the medieval and the ancient.
We visited the remnants of St.John’s Basilica, which is said to house the tomb of St. John, writer of the Book of Revelation. The Basilica once constituted a prestigious Christian pilgrimage, standing high above the town.
Above it stood a medieval fortress, with brickwork reminiscent of Cordes, the medieval city near us in France. There was only one other visitor there when we climbed up into the great walled fort, which was great. It presented us views of the fertile plain and the peach trees just coming into blossom.
St.John’s tomb Stout walls
We had dinner in a trendy warehouse, close to our hotel. The log fire was particularly welcoming, as were the three house cats. It was warm during the day but the temperature dropped to 2 degrees overnight, so we were pleased not to have to walk far back to the hotel.
We set off to Ephesus on the 3km walk down a tree lined path, wearing our thermals, but at the archaeological site it was warm enough to remove them. We entered by the lower gate and it was pretty empty. Lynne got to recite a poem alone on the big stage at the famous amphitheatre, with only Peter and a black cat for an audience.
The library of Celsius was most impressive. The further we climbed into the upper town the busier it became as the day-tripping coaches arrived and deposited their groups at a different entrance. By this time we had already enjoyed a couple of hours of peaceful meandering around this magnificent site. It really gives you the feeling of what such a town would have been like and the splendour of some of the buildings.
Viens, sur tes cheveux noirs… Celsius’ Library
Back at our lovely hotel, we vacillated between the simplicity of taking a bus to Bandirma, our next port of call, or taking the more challenging route of negotiating the Izmir transportation system. When we found a transport app which explained all the timings and connections, that clinched it: lines 17 and 11 on the Izban, then a local bus from the Izban to the bus station, where we could catch another bus from the Intercity bus station to Bandirma!
We worked out that while we could plan our route in English using Google Chrome’s automatic translation facility, we still needed to translate it back to Turkish to follow the signs… No point in looking for directions to Crescent when the station is called Hilal!
Our hotel was a delight. We were the only guests but the Turkish breakfast was unparalleled.
Journey
We set off after breakfast, walking to the modern Izban station, past the remains of the Roman aqueduct. There we bought our integrated transportation pass and set off. We had to change at Tepekoy, but that just involved crossing the platform with everyone else. Then we had to find the bus taking us to the bus station. It was well signed, and we just caught the departing bus by tapping on the closing door; the driver let us board.
Aquaduct Selcuk station Izmir through train window
We alighted at the terminus to find that whilst we could see the Intercity bus station, it was less easy to reach, with criss-crossing roads and different levels. We certainly didn’t take the quickest route, but we did know from which bus company, of the array presented to us, to buy our tickets for the 12.30 bus to Bandirma.
Arriving at the bus station on the outskirts of Bandirma, we took a cab to our swanky hotel on the waterfront, close by our ferry early next morning. Bandirma doesn’t receive many foreign tourists and fortunately for us, we had learnt how to navigate dinner in Turkish.
We were most relieved the following morning when the ferry ticket office was able to print our electronic tickets as when we tried to download them, the tickets didn’t have any information in them!
We took a fast catamaran across the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul. The sea was really busy with huge cargo ships – some not inconceivably used for Ukrainian grain shipping. We mused that this was hopefully the nearest we would get to Ukraine.
On to Sea of Marmara Smooth ride Ukrainian grain ship?
Istanbul Transport
After navigating the public transportation system of Izmir, Istanbul was more of a challenge!
Our ferry arrived at the same time as another, larger ferry, both disgorging hordes of commuters. Exiting the harbour gate, were the predatory taxi drivers, darting around, spying for the weakest prey. With determination, we pressed on, following the mainstream of commuters to a metro station – but where were we?
Trying to make sense of the extensive transportation map, we figured out where we were and where we wanted to be. The problem now was how to get tickets…. especially as machines only took smaller notes, did not accept debit cards and (we later discovered) only offer tickets that happen to be available in the machine. Having read various ‘helpful’ web sites, we were just as confused and clueless as if we hadn’t.
The situation was not made better by this man offering ‘to help’ – by selling us pre-loaded ticket cards. Sensibly avoiding him, we were really helped by an unassuming chap who ultimately ushered us through the barriers using his own card, and then escaping before we could pay him!
We went on the super new Marmara Line – deep, long and hugely impressive, on a par with the new London Elizabeth Line, with carriages and stations just as long. Wow.
Marmara Line Tram T1
This good feeling collapsed on trying to transit to the T1 tram line, especially as we exited at the wrong end of the station. After having succeeded in buying the wrong ticket, under misguided instructions from a ticket collector, we bypassed a barrier and thronged with the crowds to the Sultanahmet, nearby our destination hotel. We had already visited two coffee shops to get change, and certainly had paid more than the tram fare. Boy, was it good to be welcomed by the smiling receptionist at the Ibrahim Pasha Hotel!
We had successfully negotiated our way by bus, train, ferry and metro from Fethiye through rural Turkey and had found the Istanbul public transportation system the most challenging and Istanbul is accustomed to welcoming foreign tourists.
