DAYS 8 & 9 – Ruins, Ruins, and More Ruins

March 27 – Excursion to Assos

Have you heard of Assos? We hadn't, but our Couch Surfer host, Ozgur, said it was not to be missed. To him it was 100 times better than Troy, so off we went....and were we glad. I get excited over a 100 year old Pioneer House and in Turkey, every where we go here, 3,000 years of history is underneath our feet. We began by finding our way (without speaking Turkish) to the correct bus leading us to the small village of Assos. (That was an experience).

 It's a gorgeous drive on a bus full of cute older men in derby-type caps making their way up the mountain to be with fellow Turkish men for a day of socializing and game-playing. We were dropped off in the seaside town of Assos next to a statue of Aristotle.

He is an important figure for the village of Assos.

 We were carrying our backpacks as we were making our way to our next destination after this excursion.

No one is here but us, so can't I please stash my backpack somewhere?

Aristotle studied with Plato in Athens and after Plato had died, Aristotle settled in Assos.  He was welcomed by King Hermias, and opened an Academy in this city.
Aristotle also married Pythias, the adopted daughter of Hermias. In the Academy of Assos, Aristotle became a chief to a group of philosophers.  When the Persians attacked Assos, King Hermias was tortured and put to death.      
   Aristotle fled to Macedonia, where he later tutored Alexander the Great.

Ancient Road to Assos and to the ruins

The Aegean Sea below

Ahead of us was the beautiful Aegean Sea.  Below us were fields of tilled land used by the farmers there with ancient rocks still piled up from 3,000 years ago.

 Beyond the sea were beautiful mountains and behind us was a hillside of the ancient ruins of Assos. There seemed to be a tall barbed-wire fence all the way around it. We came to a gate with a wide paved rock street from long ago, but it was locked as we are still in the winter season for tourists. Being adventurous, we proceeded to find a place in the fence that 

We climbed over the fence and weren't shot!

was not as high as the rest, so we climbed over it (very tricky!) Luckily, we weren't shot, so we trekked up the hill with our backpacks like a couple of mountain climbers.

 All along the way we stepped over and around ancient ruins.  You can't imagine how excited we were to be seeing our first ancient ruins in Turkey and to do it with NO ONE there with us.  It was thrilling!

The "Agora" or gathering place

 We were all alone on the mountainside and it was the most amazing feeling to be walking with Caesar and Aristotle and other Roman townspeople of long ago. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the wildflowers were beautiful. The sea was calm and glistening. 

 We ate our picnic lunch, discovered a turtle hiding by a rock, and found what used to be the market place, the theater, the well, and other interesting places.

 

The mini bus was to return at 2:00, so we had to hurry. We hiked to the top of the mountain and disovered the Temple of Athena, a other large buildings, and a few tourists who had come in the correct gate and paid an entrance fee. Whoops! This side was not steep and was easily accessible.

Temple of Athena

Cute little lady selling her wares

Several shops on the way back to town

 We took our photographs and walked out the exit gate. We did get some eyes from the locals wondering why they hadn't seen us before. On the way down the path to the bus, we saw some interesting market shops and Turkish people selling their wares. This man was pulling a large bush with the help of his donkey.

We arrived in Izmir around 8:00 to our next couch surfing host - Ercan and to a lovely dinner that he had prepared himself. They live on the air base. Nursel, his wife, works as a surgical nurse and they have two beautiful children - Buket, age 12 and Mehmet, age 5.  Unfortunately, Mehmet had fallen asleep waiting for us to come.

Poor Mehmet falls asleep before we get there and he was so excited to meet us!

The BEST soup!  Yayla Gorbash with a type of bulgar and  red peppers, rice, mint, and thyme. AND Cacik (yogurt) was delicious with mint and garlic.

Musakka (eggplant dish) with rice - very good!

 We had the most wonderful Baklava for dessert!  This is a common Turkish pastry that we'll never forget!

Nursel spoke little English, but we were instant friends!

She gave me two special gifts which I shall treasure forever.  Thank-you Nursel!

March 28 – Ephesus – a most wonderful Easter weekend

One cannot go to this area without taking a trip to the ancient site of Ephesus. Efes was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city.  In the Roman period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world.  The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis(completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven wonders of the Ancient World. Emperor Constantine rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John is thought to have been written here.

Latrines used by both women and men

Can you tell what this is ? That's right! Men and women would go in the latrine together and since they wore long robes, it didn't matter that they would sit next to each other.

My favorite building

I love the acoustics that these old amphitheaters had.  So, I went down to the bottom and sang some arpeggios and an excerpt from a Puccini Opera.  A Japanese tour group clapped and clapped.  How fun was that!

 This is one of the most visited sites for tourists in Turkey.  There were lots of tour groups and it was very interesting watching all the cultures, the way they dressed, the way they acted, and listening to all of the languages.  I think the Japanese women were my favorite.  There was a large Nigerian group, too, but I didn't get their picture.

German Group - very stoic and dressed in mostly black

A beautiful lady from India - of course I had to ask for her picture.

Italian Group

The Japanese ladies were just darling, dressing up in bright colors and trendy clothes and packs.

Moslem Women

When we got back to Izmir, we again had dinner waiting from the wonderful Ercan and Nursel.  They served Patlican Solata (eggplant, red pepper, onions, yogurt) - simply AMAZING!  Cupasale - a bean dish was also on the menu. Potatoes and a type of meat ball was the main dish.   ** I hope I got all this right!  :)  Poor Mehmet fell asleep again before he got to eat, but at least I played airplanes with him first.

Patlican Solata - We'll ALWAYS remember this amazing dish!

Ercan explained that it's tradition for everyone just to eat out of the salad bowl with their fork.

 Nursel wanted me to help her make their favorite cake:  A Fig Cake!  She said it was so special that I would want to come back again to visit them just for the cake.
BOIL the following:                                    
6 big figs, cut into pieces                                      
1 cup water
1 heaping Tbs. butter

MIX:  2 eggs, 1 large cup sugar, 1 1/3 cups flour, vanilla,  2 tsp. baking powder

Mix all together and add 1/2 tbs. cinammon.  Oil a bundt pan, add mixture and bake 350 til done.
NOTE:  The measurements are in the metric system, so I hope I adapted them properly.

Isn't she so cute as she cooks?  :)

The cake was great and so was the company!

Oi- lah!  Perfection!

Buket stayed up with us all for quite awhile as we discussed religion and politics.  We had a memorable evening with them.  Nursel also pulled out some pictures of their wedding, honeymoon, and special pictures of the children growing up.  It was so fun as she shared with us!

Our Wonderful Hosts from Izmir

Our time with them will forever be memorable!