SELCUK/EPHESUS

The drive from the Datca Peninsula to Selcuk (Seljuk), along the south Aegean,  took us through diverse landscapes from plains with a patchwork of fields, to olive groves, to very rugged goat and sheep country with little villages tucked up in the hills.  


Selcuk, the successor to ancient Efes (Ephesus),  home to the ruins of a major ancient city, basilica, mosque, citadel, Byzantine aqueduct and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is a rather understated town, more suited to the independent traveler.  Most of the traffic through the area is from organized bus and cruise tours and because of the area's religious associations, it is highly popular with Christian tourists and groups.

Part of the Byzantine Aqueduct; view to outer ruins of Ephesus; a very small, very old Mosque and Minaret, topped with a stork's nest.

The Temple of Artemis (7th Century BC) was once on a par with the Parthenon at Athens, which got it included in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only 1 column of the 127 remain, usually topped by a stork's nest.  It is not possible to get to the site since it is in a swamp and is more often than not waterlogged.  In the mid 1800's a British train engineer began a search for the temple and it was not until  9 years later that the recovery of an inscription led him to the site.  The Emperor Justinian had quarried most of the marble for the building of the Basilica of St. John and the remainder of the temple had been buried under mud.

Hotel Kalehan ("castle inn"), with a charming, quaint atmosphere, is situated at the base of the Citadel.  It is family owned and operated, built and decorated in the style of an Ottoman inn, using traditional materials and antique furnishings.  It has beautiful gardens and courtyards, as well as a wonderful restaurant that caters to multiple bus tours.  The staff are extremely helpful and accommodating.  We ran into a couple from Sydney, Australia on a world tour and a couple from Georgetown, TX, he being the head of the American School in Damascus, Syria.  Small World!

Entry to the hotel; reception area and tea area; key collection; one of numerous old wood heaters; dough bowl/board

Courtyard and rooms

Welcome to the courtyard; we found the homemade broom interesting

3 interesting window styles used in the building

Ayasoluk Hill is topped with the 6th century BC Byzantine Citadel (or Castle or Fortress).  It is currently closed to the public as part of the wall collapsed, but is undergoing restoration.

Somehow the white horse looks right at home

Of course, you always see camels in the middle of the main thoroughfare; apparently camel wrestling is common in the area