Ephesus

Wednesday 12th June

Waking up to another beautiful day looking at the bay we had to proceed to pack up and make a move to places further. Heading our campers north we had to pass back through Marmaris and in need of restocking our larders and fridge we stopped at a large Kipa supermarket and had fun looking through the shelves trying to find the things we needed and things to try. Well stocked up with food and then with Diesel and Gas we were ready for the next stage of our travels.

We set our GPS to the south shore of Lake Bafa  it indicated a camp site/restaurant which we thought we would take a chance on still being there, as all our google searches had not come back with much information.

Another nice drive through the countryside before we drove down through the hills  and saw a pleasant vista of craggy hills and  a large lake.

Stopping outside the campsite, it didn’t look very promising so we got out and had a look, approached by a man he told us it was open and indicated an area where we could park. The area was part farmyard, part scrub plot, and though not well kept we thought the lake view and with few options sealed the deal. The plot was uneven, overgrown and we had to share our space with the cows, chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl. The “facilities” we could use were in the nearest accommodation cabin and although clean enough they were typical of much of Turkey’s ablution facilities, poor plumbing, rocky toilet bases and shower heads that spray all over the place and so high that the short of stature can only dream of reaching up to redirect the stream.

We did have a nice peaceful night there and in the morning we packed up again to drive the next short distance to Ephesus.

We arrived about 11 and parked in the south car park, boiled the kettle and had a coffee to prepare ourselves for the investigation of old stones. Running the gauntlet of the usual souvenir stalls, selling hats, turkish style outfits, bags, jewellery and “genuine” copies of old coins we paid for our tickets and passed through the turnstiles.

We had a pleasant couple of hours walking around the old ruins of an important port and trade centre ,  mingling with the many other tourists we took our photos hoping to catch the immensity of the place. Appreciating the effort involved to restore some of the old sites we lingered along the way, but the heat was getting to us and we needed to have some lunch. Back at our campers we had a quick bite to eat then drove to a campsite 10 kms away at Pamucak,  Dereli Camping where we found a lovely large campsite with lots of shade provided by rows of Gum trees. We found our spot and all agreed it would be a great place to spend a few days, time to do some washing, clean the dust out of the campers and still have some time to laze in the sun, swim or whatever took our fancy. So that is what we did.