Selçuk

Selçuk is a lovely, quiet town in which to stay -- we stayed a week. It is easy to reach other sites in the Aegean area of Turkey and the town is calm, quiet and attractive. In addition, there are good restaurants and plenty of raki. Our hotel there, the Nazar Hotel, was excellent, with great pool, delicious rooftop restaurant and wonderful reception.
Selçuk The 6th-century Byzantine Citadel of Ayasoluk, as viewed from the window of our hotel room Selçuk Running through downtown Sel�uk are the remains of a Byzantine aqueduct, now used only for nests by storks, like the one on this tower in the center of town Selçuk Stork family Selçuk Daddy stork on the wing
Selçuk There he goes! Selçuk Downtown Sel�uk is quite nice, with several pedestrian streets full of restaurants and souvenir shops Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Entrance to the Basilica of St John. The apostle is considered to have fled here with Mary, the mother of Jesus, where they died. John's tomb is inside the Basilica. Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk View from the Basilica of the Temple of Artemis
Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk All that remains of the temple is this lone column -- with resident stork family! Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Entering the Basilica Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Behind the Basilica looms the Citadel Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Model of the Basilica, which was quite large and grand
Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk At dusk, the light on the monument and the background hills was just beautiful Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Gate and columns Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Columns in the nave of the Basilica Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Nave and site of St John's tomb
Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk One John at the tomb of another, 2000 years apart Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk One morning, one of the dignitaries of the Eastern Orthodox Church was at the Baslica for a special service. It was very colorful. Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk And they had quite an excellent, though small, choir Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Blue bells growing among the stones
Basilica of St Jean, Selçuk Outside the walls of the hilltop Basilica Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk Just downhill past the Basilica is the Mosque of Isa Bey, with a stork's nest on its minaret, of course Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk The impressive and beautiful stones of the mosque's exterior wall Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk Entrance to the mosque, built in 1375
Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk The other thing that makes this mosque especially beautiful is the courtyard full of greenery, more with the atmosphere of a cloister than of a mosque Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk Bluebells hanging on the mosque wall Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk The court and stork-topped minaret Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk Resident storks
Isa Bey Camii, Selçuk Inside the mosque Selçuk The Citadel is beautifully illuminated at night Selçuk Museum The Ephesus Museum contains artifacts discovered in the nearby ancient city of Ephesus Selçuk Museum Fascinating face of the resting warrior
Selçuk Museum This must be Athena Selçuk Museum This 1st-century statue of Aphrodite is simply gorgeous Selçuk Museum More Aphrodites Selçuk Museum Head of an emperor
Selçuk Museum Very small ceramic -- looks like a smiling face capping a flask Selçuk Museum Statues in the courtyard Selçuk Museum Beautiful very small statue of a deer-like animal Selçuk Museum Tiny gold statue
Selçuk Museum The bronze of Eros riding a dolphin displays a real sense of movement Selçuk Museum One of the two rather curious statues of Great Artemis, covered with eggs or breasts or something... Selçuk Museum Face of the Great Artemis Selçuk Aqueducts in downtown Sel�uk, complete with storks
Selçuk The stork on ... top on the right seems to be ... amorous Pamucak Beach One morning, we took a dolmus to the Aegean coast to see the beach at Pamucak. The bus dumped us at an intersection and an english couple told us the beach was "down there". "There" turned out to be about a kilometer away... Pamucak Beach Horse seen along the way Pamucak Beach Well, there is the beach
Pamucak Beach Siv almost in the Aegean Pamucak Beach In search of civilization, like a restaurant, we wound up on a long sidewalk leading to a huge hotel complex, from which we fled to the nearest (500m away) dolmus stop and a ride back to Selçuk. So our trip to the beach was not a great success. Selçuk Meanwhile, back in Sel�uk, John met a Belgian lady who made carpets for doll houses (tiny loom on left) and who was also a cat lover Selçuk Cats shedding white hair on beautiful rugs
Selçuk Streeeeetch Selçuk Kids of Selçuk Selçuk Street scene Selçuk The delightful Nazar Hotel
Selçuk Sa piscine... Selçuk A floater of Swedish origin in the pool Selçuk Towards dusk, swallows starting dive-bombing the pool and scooping up water Selçuk Alice, the friendly hotel dog
Selçuk Delicious mezes at the restaurant on the hotel roof, where we ate many wonderful meals Selçuk Our gang with Osmin, one of the hotel proprietors Selçuk Our gang filling our stomachs Selçuk Jean-Jacques, John, Christiane, Siv, Murat (owner's son), Jean and Dani�le
Selçuk Clouds and illuminated citadel