Wednesday 26th APril Idecided to stay 3 nights in Selcuk at Attilla's, catching the Fez bus to Koycegiz on Friday. Wes still really tired from the whole Anzac tour so other than a walk around Selcuk town to get some lunch and change travellers cheques I didn't do much. While in town I stopped at a patisserie and had apple tea with a nice elderly Turkish lady (the owner), she was really sweet, although we did have a little trouble communicating. I lazed around the pool at Attilla's and read for the rest of the day. I met some nice girls from Brisbane, Anna and Bec and we're all going to Pummakale tomorrow. At about 5pm I managed to conivince another girl to come to the hammam (turkish baths) with me. It was certainly an experience! There is only one Hammam in Selcuk and its not very touristy, it was mixed sex, although we were actually the only ones there at the time, and there were only male attendants. So there we were, starkers except for a towel around our waists being scrubbed and massaged by these slightly creepy looking Turkish guys. It was all good though, until I blacked out that is. I think I must have been a bit dehydrated and after lying on the heated marble slab for a good half hour I started to feel nauseaus and had to leave the room, apon which I passed out and was helpfully revived with smelling salts by the guy at reception! I didn't think smelling salts where something that existed other than in reticules of 18th century corset wearing women! The whole experience was good though and I definately want to go for another one before I leave Turkey, I have never felt so clean!
Thursday 27th April Today I went on a tour to Pummakale. We left at 9am as it is a 3-4hr drive away. After a huge buffet lunch at a 5 star hotel that probably cost half of what we paid for our tour (wasn't impressed) we got to Pummakale (the mineral sodium sulphate (?) pools) and Hierapolis (ruined Roman city) around 12.30pm. Despite not having alot of flowing water left becuase of over use by the hotels, the sodium pools were amazing. The water was quite warm and very 'soft' feeling. The whiteness of the pools made the water seem really blue, I think it would look awesome at sunset. The ruins of the Hierapolis were interesting too, the amphitheatre was definately the best preserved I've seen. We arrived back in Selcuk around 7.30pm and unfortunately I was starting to get a cold so didn't last for more than a couple of beers.
Friday 28th April My fez bus was leaving at 2.30pm today so a group of us decided to go have a look at Ephesus in the morning. By the time everybody had packed and checked out etc it was like 10.30. We walked to Ephesus (about 30min) and then hired a guide (50 lira for 1.5hours) between us all. At first it seemed like the guide was a waste of time, (he got two phone calls in the first 10min!), but he did point out lots of interesting little things that we would have missed on out own. Ephesus is a whole city of ruins which is pretty cool. We saw the public baths, the brothel, the library, rich peoples houses and numerous temples. We ended up having to get a taxi back to Atillas which was annoying because it was expensive but we didn't want to miss the Fez bus!
