May 07, 2007

Bodrum to Selcuk

The day started at a relaxed pace: up by 8:30am, breakfast by 9:00am, pack for an hour, take a shower, then head to the bus station at 11:30am. The bus ride to Selcuk left at 12:30pm and lasted about three hours. This was a much different experience than the “well attended” Pamukala bus trip a few nights before. The bus was still comfortable, but somehow the assistant driver thought it was perfectly all right to ignore the “No Smoking” signs and kept a chain of cigarettes fired up for the duration of the trip. Of course his open window, that was supposed to mask his habit, only blew the nuisance through the rest of the bus. Annoying for me, but this must have been three hours of torture for the rest of the “nicotine addicted” abstaining passengers.

As much as drinking tea is a constant Turkish habit, so is the smoking of tobacco. If not smoking cigarettes many people are seated street side at “water pipe smoking bars”. Some of the warnings on the cigarette packaging are humorous, “Smoking may cause wrinkles!” Whew… terrifying. I’m sure hundreds of people quit with that rebuke. The interesting trend is watching the “hand contents” of many men. They don’t carry a single pack but two and sometimes three packs at a time. During the course of a forty-five minute lunch I watched a group of men eat and each smoked an entire pack, starting the second pack with desert. Running low, they sent a local boy off to the store to buy several more packs for the group. Whew, it seems like breathing must occur through a filter.

Arriving in Selcuk, the bus company manager called for my hostel manager to come pick me up. Jimi and I walked the quarter mile to the hostel. He was so kind it was a little off putting. Was this for real? As it turns out, “yes” it was. This was the beginning of a near perfect stay in Selcuk.

After dropping off my things, I headed to the traditional burial site of St. John, located on the highest hill in Selcuk. As local lore maintains, the apostle John knew that he was about to die and climbed the hill. Upon arrival, he had his disciples dig a gravesite, then lay down and passed into eternity. This tomb has an entrance and vent hole, above which about a hundred years later a small sanctuary was constructed.

(Tomb located in the center of the pillars.)


Justinian then built a huge basilica in about 500AD. The combination of earthquakes, invaders and time has reduced the site to archeological remnants.







(Baptismal pool.)


There is an interesting story about St. John’s gravesite. Given that there is a door to the subterranean chamber and a vent or light shaft further inside, sometimes the wind will blow “just right” and push air and fine grey silt out of the shaft. The locals call this “Holy Smoke” and say that it is the breath of St. John. It was believed that this holy smoke had special healing powers, especially for skin conditions. Ironically, the only people who still visit the site, hoping to catch the healing smoke are local Muslims.

(If you look carefully, to the right of the pillars is the "holy smoke" passage.)


The nature bonus of the Paul the Apostle burial site was seeing the first turtle of my world travel adventure enjoying a snack of purple flowers.



The ancient town of Ephesus is a very short eight kilometers away from Selcuk. After many centuries of plundering, the ancient city of 250,000 people relocated to the more defensible Selcuk location. The Ephesus harbor, in use for over five thousand years, began to silt in. With this the usefulness of the location diminished and today the residency is about one tenth the ancient size supporting 25,500 locals.

(View towards to modern shore line, approximately 10km from the ancient port of Selcuk.)


The small but very interesting Ephesus Museum is a worthwhile forty-five minute visit. Original statuary, coins, sarcophagi, frescos, and mosaics from the archeological excavations can be found there. What I found most interesting was the link between the names of ancient gods and goddesses, or other common titles, to the current vernacular.

Did you know that Vesta was the goddess of the hearth? Wine and other offerings were made to her in the home entrance area, for the protection and good fortune of the inhabitants. From her name we derive the term for a homes ante room, entry way or vestibule.

The goddess of health, Higea, is the source for the descriptive process of maintaining health, hygiene.

In ancient Ephesus children were taught at home by their mothers, until they were ready for more advanced training. The name for this high school level schooling, gymnasium is still used in Germany today. In America we use the term for a place of physical training, which was part of the ancient educational system.

A reclined position or to recline comes from the ancient couch used for eating called a kline. Think of the classic picture of a Roman being fed grapes on a slanted sofa, with no back or arms, and the image is on the right track.

Finally, and I’m sure there are more that were not discovered, the god of competition was named Nemesis. This term has evolved, over time, from a name for a healthy competitor to now epitomize an archrival or detractor with almost assumed ability to undermine.

A nice coincidence in arrival timing is that it is “stork nesting” season. Their bills clatter together to form an aviary castanet chorus. Former Roman aqueduct stanchions serve as a perfect nesting spots throughout town.





A delicious next door neighbor to the hostel was a "Turkish Pizza" shop, similar to the American version except elongated and no tomato sauce.



The evening finished with a perfect view of another Crusade Era fortress, from the balcony of the hostel.