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Days 344-348: Aegean Coast

Bergama, Selçuk, Ephesus

We hit a few ancient sights on our way south along the Aegean coast.

Our hotel in Bergama had a TV and we tried to catch some news. The broadcast channels morning news doesn’t have reporters on the scene, but instead consists of an anchorperson reading and showing the cover of a bunch of print newspapers from around the country. Of course they’re all in Turkish so we just look at the pictures. They also show the A-team in Turkish every night. Weird to hear Mr. T without a burly voice and we didn’t catch what “I pity the fool!” is in Turkish.

We visited the Asclepion in Bergama and now we know why there are snakes on the medical seal. People came to this ancient healing center to “shed” their illness like a snake sheds its old skin.
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Even if the weather isn’t great, a good thing about travelling in the low season is that we sometimes had sights all to ourselves. An easy crowd to please at the empty theater in Bergama.
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On our way to the Acropolis in Bergama, we passed the Red Basilica. The building is one of the seven churches referred to in Revelations (Pergamum) as “The Throne of Satan”. It was a big pile of red brick, but must have been pretty intimidating in its day to shake up St. John.

Finally some good sky to go with these killer temple ruins. This is the partially reconstructed Temple to Trajan at Bergama’s acropolis.
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On our way out of Bergama we experienced a good example of the legendary Turkish hospitality. While waiting for a bus and snacking of bread and olives, we were presented with two teas by a shopowner, who indicated that a nearby fellow had bought them for us. It was a shockingly nice gesture by a total stranger, and not the kind of thing you would experience in the States. While we waited for our bus and Mustafa waited for his wife to arrive, we made pleasant conversation over tea and baklava with the help of the language section in our guidebook. The Turkish people constantly surprise us with their friendliness.

The town of Selçuk is home to one of the must-see sights in Turkey: the ancient city of Ephesus (aka Efes). It’s quite a large sight and we never felt crowded even with hordes of packaged tours sweeping through.

Kelly labors like Hercules to keep his namesake gate from falling.
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What we thought was the coolest sight at Ephesus was the Library of Celcius with its incredible multi-story façade.
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The Roman latrine spacing was a bit cozy (and communal!) for our liking. At least it had a nice columned pool to gaze at.
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Speaking of latrines, Marc has been enamored by the ubiquitous terra cotta plumbing in all the old Roman sights.

The huge theater at Ephesus could seat 25,000. It’s so big that the many tour groups didn’t even fill one section.
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There were ornately carved cow heads all over these parts. They even carved buldging veins on this guy’s snout.
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Marcus posing with his namesake (or at least that’s what his mom says) at the Selcuk museum. We even kind of look like each other with that scruffy beard.
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One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Temple of Artemis in Selcuk. Unfortunately, all that remains is a small pile of rubble and a single column. The nearby Selcuk museum had a lot of statues of Artemis, including this one. Marcus thought it was cool until he read that may be a robe of scrotums. Yikes!
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Now THIS is the scale of a temple that should have been a wonder of the ancient world. The enormous oracular temple to Apollo at Didyma (supposedly as important as the oracle at Delphi).
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A cool iridescent bee near Efes performing his pollinating duties.
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2 Responses to “Days 344-348: Aegean Coast”

  1. Mom Says:

    Yep, Marcus Aureolas (sp?) and Hans Christian Anderson = Marcus Christian Runyan.

    Great pics – the SS classes have just started Greece, they’ll love ’em!

    We’re on baby watch here….

    Hugs xoxox

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  3. Kel's Bro- Michael Says:

    I’m just glad you spared us the scene of Marcus actually using the latrine, unlike a previous post when he was in the shower.

    Now, is he reading the Sunday Turkish Times, cause the grimmice on his face could mean he is plotting the next tourist destination, or that those pants don’t just unzip at the knee, but have a ‘special’ feature like the kids from China (see China positings).

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