Friday, June 26, 2009. Day 8

Stats

Trip total: 576.9

Day total: 82.57

Avg Speed: 20.2

I got up and went for breakfast. In an attempt to control myself, in view of the biking ahead I ate half the quantity from yesterday. Still plentiful. I started biking at 10:30 and it took a while, more than 12 kms, to exit Smyrna. The highway was good and no wind!!! I could really speed up.

As I was exiting town I ran across mount Roshmore see for yourselves

The rest of the riding was uneventful.

What was interesting was that I changed my mind regarding today's destination. I was about 45 kms from Aydin, my original destination, when I saw signs for Selcuk and Ephesos. I called the war council and the decision reached was to divert and spent one day visiting Ephesus. That shortened today's ride, so I decided to rest and take a nap next to the high way. When I got up and followed the road for Selcuk the wind was blowing in my face, as usual, but I did not mind it at all. The important thing was that today remaining distance was only 15 kms.

I arrived at Secuk at 17:00.As I was entering I had a magnificent view of the castle. Well, see for yourselves.

Soon as I was At Selcuk a hotel hawk came up to me and I ended up at his pansiyon. I took the first price he quoted, even though I knew that I could bargain him down. I was too tired to do that. To top it off, he asked me not to discuss price w/ the other guests because my price was so much better than theirs that it would irritate them.

After I settled down I went out for a walk. Storks have invaded this town and are all over the place. They will not even respect ancient aqueducts. See below

I walked to St. John's church, that is, the ruins, where St. John the Evangelist is believed to have been burried. Below is the entrance to the ruins.

Fairly close to Saint John is one of the oldest mosques of Asia Minor. The Isa Bey mosqueThe only thing missing an ancient Greek temple. That would have made the scene complete. And by Zeus, what we had was the largest temple ever of Artemis.

Do not be deceived. After the Christian and Muslim pillaging, topped off by an earthquake, this pillar is the only thing leftstanding.

Next, I headed for the town center. Once more, this is a really pretty, neat, and orderly town. It was a pleasure being here. People are nice, w/ the exception, of course, of the rug sellers, who can be pretty annoying. Below is a photo of the town center.