a couple of days in sunny, kicking, selcuk

Sunday 21st October

Well Selcuk is a very nice place to wonder around for say - 2 hours. I had provisioned today to do absolutely nothing. But after three of four hours I cracked and got up and went out for food and a walk.

If you ever make it to Selcek there is the most phantasmic kofte take away called Sisci Yasarin Yeri down on the main street for 3 lira (1.20). After this strenuous effort we wondered up to the ruins of the Basilica of St John the Apostle built by Justanian between 527-67. I was pleasantly astounded. I had no idea of the size of the place. It was once the marvel of the Christian world. All that remains now are the ruins of the once vast Cathedral. This is so typical of Turkey: Every day new excavations are uncovered. There seem to be more ruins per square mile in this the country then we have in the whole of the UK.





Some other interesting facts about Turkey you may or may not know:

• Turkey is the only secular Muslim country among all the Muslim countries in the world
  
• Esperanto is based on the structure of the Turkish language.
  
• St. Paul was born in Tarsus (located in southern Turkey). His missionary journeys signalled the arrival of Christianity in Asia Minor from 47 AD
  
• Mount Ararat, the highest mountain in Turkey, is believed to be the place where Noah's Ark landed.
  
• St. Nicholas - today's Santa Claus, was born in Patara (next to Kalkan) and lived as the bishop of Myra in Demre (also near Kalkan).
  
• Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World stood in Anatolia - the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.

• The words "Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)" were said by Julius Caesar when he went to Anatolia in 47 BC
  

There are tons more. Fascinating stuff! After that we walked home and took turns pretending to ride a tractor. Tractors here are not the old, lumbering, monolithic vehicles we get at home... no no no. They are sleek, swift, and very shiny. You know your a man went you have one of those things between your thighs. I am pretty sure that most teenage boys have tractor magazines and posters over their beds. I know I would. They have tractor show-rooms everywhere - the same way we have car show-rooms. I never knew tractors could be such a babe magnet. We also saw a young man giving an old lady a lift - possibly his Grandma - on a motorbike... on the pavement.





We arsed around for the rest of the evening - had some beers and a Nargele, then went to bed; by that time, it was raining.