Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Rock tombes

Calcium Terraces

Temple of Artimus
Effisus

Troy

I am continuing my tour of Turkey, continuing on from ANZAC cove, and heading southish to Selcuk, then east to Pamukkale, and south again to Fethiye. After experiencing the "quick" travel on trains and buses in Europe, I am now experiencing the joys of travel in Turkey. While the buses are fairly regular, are very clean and safe, they are not the quickest of transport (however trains dont really exist so they are the only option).

My first trip was of about 400km, so expected it to take about 4-5 hours, 8 hours later I arrived. Two days later it was anoteher 8 hour trip, however I did have a stopover on the way to look at some fabulous calcium terraces.

Before leaving Eceabat (Anzac cove), I went on a tour to Troy which was fantastic. Not much left, just ruins and a reconstructed horse, but you can see the remains from the 8 different cities which were built on top of each other.

I then headed down to Selcuk, where I spent the day exploring Ephisus, a ruined roman city which was absolutely faciniating. Just down the road is the Temple of Artemis, one of two remaining wonders of the ancient world. Well there is one pillar of the temple left at least!!!! Very spectacular, sitting in the middle of a swamp. (not sure if I or the English couple I was visiting with was insulted here, they were in their late 30's, and were asked ifI was their child!!! However, considering I have been asked for ID twice while out with friends, could be me!!!! Didnt think I looked that young anymore)

I then caught a bus out to Pamukkale, where I had 3 hours to wander around the calcuim terraces and ruins at the top of the hill before I had to catch a bus to Fethiye. The terraces were beautiful, although not quite what I was expecting. A lot of the water has dried up, so not a lot of them are filled anymore, but are just sitting there empty, I can imagine in several years they will start to disappear. The ruins at the top were nice, however, after being spoilt at Ephisus the day before, I did find them a bit of a disappointment, there wasnt a lot left, and very little explination on them.

I left just in time, as just after getting on my bus, a massive thunderstorm which had been looming for the last few hours broke and we had a massive downpour. After a very packed bus trip (I am not designed for such cramped conditions, the legs are too long), I arrived at Fethiye at 10pm, where I went in search of some accomodation. Managed to find a lovely hostel just out of town, and crashed for the night.

Today was spent exploring the town, with supposidly a fantastic beach (still stones, bring on Aussie beaches!) and some fantastic tombes carved into the cliff faces. It then started to rain again in the late afternoon, so I had a look around the shops, and headed back to the hostel.