Selcuk; The Perfect Center

Selcuk is where we stayed over the weekend. It's perfect location-wise. It has an Otogar (bus station) that can take you to every tourist town in the area as well as some sights of its own like a beautiful ottoman castle above the city on a hill that's lit up at night, (that i forgot to get a picture of) Tons of stork nests, an Efes Museum, lots of hotels, hostels, and restaurants. It also has a downtown shopping center and the nicest residents I've met in Turkey.

Statue of Artemis 

(At Efes Museum)

Storks!

Sirince; Turkish Wine and Women

The next day after our PMD tour, we visited Sirince a small tourist town that has lots of wine shops and turkish knickknack shops as well as modern greek influenced architecture. Due to the fact that, after the Turkish Republic was formed in the 1920's there was a mandated population exchange. Where Greece forced turkish people to move out of Greece, and Turkey forced greek people out of Turkey.

Houses in Sirince

St. John The Baptist Church

Local Women

Man Blowing Glass outside the Church

Miletus; Home of Thales

Our second stop was Miletus, also a major port city was said to have the smartest people of Anatolia. A couple of examples are Thales, Leucippus, Hippodamus and Aspasia.

The Theatre

The Theatre Entrance (with view of The Caravenserai)

The Theatre Hall

The Theatre 

The Faustina Baths and The Palaestra

The Frigidarium

The Calidarium

The Calidarium

The Theatre

Didyma; City of Prophesy

The last "city" we visited only had one building, but this was one Awesome building. The sheer size of the columns are logic defying. I cant even imagine how they built this almost three thousand years ago.

Temple of Apollo

Temple of Apollo

Walkway of Passage to Adyton

Row of Columns

Row of Columns (one still standing)

The Adyton (Secos)

Relief Scuptures

Priene; Mountain City

The first ancient city Barbara, Jeff, and I saw was Priene. Which was a port city with three levels. The lower level for the most part remains unexcavated and the upper level atop the mountain isn't open to tourists. So we explored the middle level.

The Theatre

The Acropolis

The Temple of Athena

This wheel was on every site, if someone knows what it means please let me know. I'm really curious.

The Temple of Athena

Priene Houses

The Bouleuterion (Council House)

Efes; Not the Beer

So this past weekend Jeff, Barbara, and I went on a weekend trip to a few ancient - and some not so ancient - cities. I took tons of photos so the next couple of entries are just pictures of those cities.

The Marble Street

The Library of Celsus

The Library of Celsus

The Library of Celsus

The Grand Theatre

The Grand Theatre

The Grand Theatre

The Grand Theatre (back entrance)

The Latrina

The Temple of Hadrianus

The Stoa Basileios (The Royal Walk)

The Marble Street

The Gate of Hercules / Kuretes Street

The Odeion

The Fountain of Domitianus

The Stoa Basileios (The Royal Walk)

The Temple of Domitianus 

The Monument of Memmius

Kuretes Street

The Grand Theatre