The Aegean Coast - Selcuk

We arrived in Izmir after a short bumpy flight from Istanbul and picked up a car for the drive to Selcuk, our home base for touring the ruins at Ephesus.  Being the driver, I was relieved that there is far less traffic here than in Istanbul.  That said, you still need to stay alert for the inevitable motor scooter passing on the shoulder or the huge tour buses that simply drive down the middle of the road and push you off to the side.  There are also tractors, carts, cows, and other obstacles but these are easier to avoid as they are slower moving.  Normally I don't get the extra insurance coverage when traveling; here we signed up for it promptly.

The people in Selcuk are simply fantastic.  Warm and helpful, it was surprising to us that they speak better English than nearly everyone we met in Istanbul.  On Saturday there was a large market in town that we were told is a good representation of true Turkish life.  I spent several hours there tasting nuts and dried fruit, spices and teas, all of which are offered up quickly by the vendors as samples.  Of course my favorite section was the food area but there were also textiles, clothing, household goods, car parts, etc... It rained much of the day so I often had to keep my camera bagged but I managed to get a few photos.

These lovely ladies were selling their wares and quick to converse with me.  The woman in the white head scarf was selling table cloths and other crocheted items, all of which she had made herself.  The woman in green was selling delicious red cherries.   

We met an interesting man in the market in Sirince who gave us a quick education on Turkish Silk.  The photo on the left is a box of silk worms in mulberry leaves, their preferred food.  (You can see one the worms in the upper right hand corner).  The worms encapsulate themselves in a silk cocoon which needs to be boiled in order to process the silk into fabric.  There is a Turkish story about the worms; it's believed that since the worms do not take a mate they wrap themselves in the cocoon to keep from being lonely - kind of like a hug.  Makes it even more tragic that they meet their demise in a boiling pot of water...

These photos are from a neighboring village called Sirince famous for it's grape and fruit wine.  We did some tasting of course; the tasting rooms were very colorful and wine pours are done in shot glasses.