I went to stop by the Selcuk Tourist Information office this morning on the way into the museum...but learned that it is closed on weekends. Nice. We toured the Efes Museum and saw the best of the artifacts from Efes brought indoors to the museum to protect them better (those that haven't been shipped off, legally or illegally, to other countries' museums over the years, that is).
Then we were off to the Virgin Mary's House. Pretty spotty information about how this was supposedly where Mary lived and died, but the Pope says it is so, and so it shall be. No pictures allowed inside, but we purchased some postcard photos we'll scan shortly...
There's a spring also, and a prayer wall with little bits of tissue and fabric tied on, some with prayers written on them. I was overwhelmed by it, realizing just how much hope and desire had gone into each piece of material.
On the way down the winding mountain road, there was a dirt and rock road that Brian decided to investigate. We came up on a little pasture of green among the trees and got out for a walk. We ended up hiking up to the ridgeline where the outer Efes wall had been built centuries ago for a terrific view of the entire valley on both sides, and postcard perfect peeks over Efes, where we had just toured the day before. Scrambling up the rocks was interesting toting a 20 month old, but it was a great little hike and Brian and the girls had a ball exploring and climbing about while Aeden and I stayed put on the ridgetop, happy to take in the views and throw pebbles down the side. Aeden likes to do his part to contribute to erosion whenever he gets the chance.
The road:
The pasture:
The ridgeline (from the road below after the climb):
The reward:
We came down from our hike and headed to the train museum just outside of Selcuk. It was wonderful! It had a huge collection of real trains and engines and included Ataturk's special car with his sleeper cabin, bathroom (with marble bathtub!), full kitchen, planning room, etc.
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We had a late lunch at Le Wagon restaurant next door to the museum, where the food was great but the service was terrible. It started out great, the owner suggesting a family plate of mixed grill (chicken, steak, and meatballs/kofte) and salads all around--sounded perfect and like he would take care of us. But then other parties were being served second rounds of beer and they had not brought even any water for us, so I asked the owner if we should go somewhere else, were they too busy? Oh, no, of course not. And what showed up at our table but water, Coke, bread, dolmas, etc. Finally. And the bill...well, we were out in tourist land and it was quite a bit more than we'd had at any other Turkish restaurant. Hmm. It was tasty at least.
We fueled up the car for the drive back to Ankara tomorrow, and reviewed the poor dusty ancient collection of CDs and cassette tapes in the convenience store, hoping for something to help pass the time between radio station reception. And what did we find? Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Greatest Hits, Everything But The Girl Greatest Hits, and a Massive Attack album. Better than if we had been in the states! We'll just ignore the layers of dust and broken jewel cases, that part is not important. What is important is that we'll be jamming to Parents Just Don't Understand, circa 1990, tomorrow on our drive!
I took a walk with Aeden along the marina to get a better look and breathe in some more salty marine air before leaving. And to stock up our car snacks at Migros for the drive home tomorrow. Dinner, packing, reading, sleeping. The routine at night here has turned into Aeden lying down on his mattress on the floor and looking at a book or playing with his cars, Lacey and Maren both reading books in their hide-a-bed horrible bed, Brian sitting out in the hallway with a chair and table so he can connect to the wireless network that doesn't work in either of our rooms, and me in an armchair reading a book. At some point over the next hour each of the kids dozes off, I get sleepy not long after and go to bed, and Brian sits out in the hall for some period playing World of Warcraft online. Not bad for a vacation evening :-)
More photos from today are in the album:
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| Efes Muzesi, Meryemana (Virgin Mary's House), Ridgeline Hike, Camlik Train Museum |
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