Moving on in Turkey

Ephesus Theatre

The now familiar feeling we both have just before moving from one Helpx host to another, was felt again a few days ago, just as we realised the end was close.  It is that heavy heart, of leaving behind new friends and now familiar places, which not long before were both the subject of  previous apprehension.

Kirazli is a small to medium sized village near the Agean coast of Turkey, about 2,000 inhabitants, a thriving community; as the Turkish government has adopted a ‘hands on’ approach to development of the country. Foreigners are only allowed to buy property in designated areas, leaving most of the country free of the property inflation influence, that ex-pat ownership brings.  So unlike parts of France, Italy and Greece, the village was full of families, with schools, shops, cafes and all the rest of the paraphernalia that communities need.  Children can be heard playing in the streets as the temperature falls in the evening, all the games we know so well ourselves.  Knock a door run being the most popular!

Ephesus Photo Shoot

Road to the Port Ephesus

The children are not the only thing to be heard – the call to prayer five times a day, plus extras as it is Ramadan.  The call is either a very bad recording or as some people think, a ‘down the line’ call from the Iman in Izmir – a call from afar you could say or long distance calling.  On our arrival in Muğla (ğ is silent, so pronounced moo-lah) we discovered a very melodic call from the mosque, however, the wake up at 5am plus the signal to break fast at 8pm is a cannon shot!  More of Muğla later.

We visited Ephesus and I am almost speechless, it was truly wonderful, the scale of the city and we only see the ‘posh’ parts, all the rest where the lower classes lived just rots away, like the people I guess.  Marble roads, the library, terraced houses, fountains, theatres, council chambers, and lots of columns and pedestals where statues stood. 

The Library

Listening to the description

 

All the finds are in the local museum again good to visit.  As a comparison we visited an ancient site called Priene, a much smaller settlement a bit like Halifax to Manchester, anyway Meg and I said we would prefer to live there, higher up, pine trees and a cooling breeze and not so many people, both then and now.  The crowds at Ephesus were huge when we left near midday about 3 - 5,000 we estimated and the crowded streets must have resembled it in its heyday when it had a population of 250,000.

Feeling the Stones at Priene

So we have moved and are halfway to our next host where we arrive tomorrow, Tuesday 23^rd August.

Priene