Troy and Ephesus.

The next morning it was raining. Like always. We had packed up all our stuff, and I was trying to decide if I should leave my boots behind because they were falling apart, but I love them so much and they help keep me jeans dry(mostly) and I had remembered seeing a shoe repairer around the corner. So in the end I decided to get them fixed, and it only cost 5 lira and he did a great job of replacing the sole. I’m not sure if they’ll make it home to Australia, but hopefully they’ll last ‘til the end of my trip.

We ate a traditional turkish brekky at out hotel. Boiled egg, bread, cucumber, tomato, cheese etc. Then we headed for the mini bus that would take us to Troy. It took about 40 mins to get there, and cost 15 lira to get in. We met some Canadian folk on our way there. Steph and Josh. (At least I think that’s what there names are, I’m not entirely sure coz even though I have now travelled with them for the past few days, we never actually introduced ourselves, but she calls him Josh, and I’m pretty sure he called her Steph today! Haha. I was gonna get around it by asking what their full names were so I could add them on facebook.)

We took photos on the big replica of the horse from the legends...which to be honest, was the most exciting thing there. But we knew there wasn’t a lot to see there... Well nothing amazing. You kind of go to Troy just to say that you’ve been there. It was still worth doing. It was very pretty all around it. And green. I’m so used to seeing ruins in the desert.

After Troy, the Canadians and Jo and I all caught a bus to Izmir together, ‘coz we were all headed to Ephesus next. And it was an AWFUL bus ride. Ok it wasn’t that bad, but it was meant to be a 5 hour trip, and it became a 6.5 hour trip because they stuffed around and let people off at their houses and the driver was slow, and they didn’t give is the free cake until right at the end, and I sat next to the door so it was always cold, and always got the cigarette smoke from out bus steward who opened up the middle door every 5 minutes to have a fag, We were so mad by the end.

But we eventually got there, and then caught another mini bus to Selcuk, the town where Epehsus is and where we were staying that night. We parted ways with the Canadians, whose names we still didn’t know, and we headed to the ANZ Guest house. We were the only ones for our first night here, so we had the whole place to ourselves. The owners have been fantastic. So helpful and kind and friendly! They ordered us dinner ‘coz we arrived so late at night and then Mehmet gave us a full on orientation of Selcuk and Ephesus and all the thinngs to do around here. After a couple of cups of apple tea, we went to sleep.

Next morning was Ephesus. I was pretty excited ‘coz so much stuff in the Bible happens here, and it was really cool to be in such a historic place. I still think that Jerash was more spectacular, however I knew more about this place, so it was rather special going here. We bumped into the Canadians again, and grabbed some lunch with them after we left Ephesus.