Kirazli

Istanbul to Izmir Birthday Cruise

Now where were we………oh yes, we didn’t believe it, well we didn’t!  Spent 22 hrs travelling, 7.15pm Popovo to Istanbul, arrive 5.50am, find another bus to Izmir and set off again 6.05am, we get to Izmir and find a small minibus within 20 minutes and set off again to Selçuk (Sellchuk) at 4.40pm and arrive to be picked up straight off the bus by Nick, our new Helpx host, and then onto the Muses House Boutique Hotel,  www.museshouse.com , where we arrive at 5.15 pm – 22hrs with hardly a stop.

The hotel is great, we have been staying in one of the 5 guest rooms – four poster bed and a bathroom big enough for a beach volleyball match (got to stay topical to convince you guys we are still part of the real world…WE ARE) swimming pool outside the door, Meg out of bed in the morning straight into the pool. 

Hotel Courtyard

 

 

 

Fatih

The hotel was shut for 10 days to allow jobs to be done, I’ve been making Ikea wardrobes, and making doors for the end of covered walkways to make cupboards, for things that the guests don’t need to see.  I have also been gardening.  Megan has been sewing; again, we think her fame goes ahead of her.  This time she has spent a good while taking a patchwork quilt made by Maggie (also our host) and her mother and turning it into a bedspread, it looks fabulous.   So we have been working honest! Megan has also adopted another cat, Fatih (pron Farty) formerly Tom, not a good name for a Turkish cat, so along with the help of Maggie he received a new name.  Needed de-fleaing, worming and the usual two brick operation at the rear end – two done one to go, so long as I don’t get my thumbs between the bricks I should be OK (ear plugs in of course).

Maggie and Megan with the quilt

Selcuk Market Busker

Market Stall

 

Turkey is amazing, we are really feeling at home here, the people are friendly and the countryside is beautiful.

We have also started to see some of the sights, Ephesus is just down the road and we hope to go next week, hope is the wrong word, we will be going, if you look it up you will see why it is a must, the best preserved Roman ruins in the world!  We have been to see The Basilica of St John which has the grave or tomb of St John the Evangelist inside the walls.  The church there was built by Emperor Justinian in the 6^thC when the original structure protecting the tomb started to fall down.   

Chris in the Basilica

Megan in the Basilica

The stones for this were robed out from the older site of Ephesus a couple of kilometres away and from the Temple of Artemis just down the hill.  Later with the rise of Islam the stones from the Basilica were robed out to build the mosque, isa Bey Camil, all three can be seen next to each other; all three using the same stones, for three different religions. 

The Tomb in the Church