Wednesday
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Izmir, Turkey - the boat docked at 08:00 in this port, the third largest city in the country. Buses took us from the port, through suburban areas of 10 to 12 story blocks of flats and round the back of some poorer areas that looked like "build your own" schemes still partly in the build stage, and we hit the motorway for the 75 kilometres to Ephesus. Figs, olives, corn and cotten growing in the fields, cotton being harvested by wizzened old folks (or so they appeared). Cattle and sheep, but the cows looked smaller and more sturdy that we're used to in the UK. And so, to Ephesus.
Bus drops us off roadside, amongst a cluster of stalls. Guide hands me our bus number to hold up for the group, and disappears off (to get the tickets). It's still early in the day, but comfortable weather for the T shirt I'm wearing. There's other buses and groups too; a seething mass of people, in fact "Water, 1 Euro ....". And other things for sale too. But well mannered, perhaps because the policeman's directing traffic. And so into ancient Ephesus with our guide, and we start to hear the history.
Like our guide at Olympia yesterday, our guide is very proud of her country and heritage to the extent of over-informing us, and tells us the story of early times, of the coming of Greeks and Romans and the building of the town into a regional capital - a city state, and of the fall of that city state due to the failure of the empires, and the case of Ephesus the earthquakes as it's situated right on the fault lines.
As we started around Ephesus, it looked just like another ruin. More temples, more stories of the Gods - broken statues and temples to Zeus. Drop in a few Eroses and Aphrodites, Hadrians and Attaturks and you have much of the story.
But then, over the brow of a hill and we see a great road leading down to the Library, frontage reconstructed with 80% original material, and through another road to a magnificent Theatre and we realise, yes, Ephesus is something special. Cynicism melts away, and we feel for the guide as she describes how all the artefacts are to be found not here at the site, but at museums in London or Vienna, Istanbul or Izmir.
Thursday
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Istanbul. TRAFFIC. We drive out the dockyard gates and we're in a jam. Our tour took us to the Mosque of the emperor Suliman and the Topiaka palace and we could probably have walked it quicker than the bus. But, yes, the commentary and the re-assurance that the boat would wait for their own coaches, held up in the traffic, was worth it. We had heard so much about the mad bus drivers here but I've nothing but admiration for ours as he drives up single lane roads which are two-way, dodging cars and passing under the arches of the ancient aquaduct with, literally, inches to spare.
Saturday
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I could turn this into a very boring travellogue. So much to see, yet so little time - and conference sessions which leave me wanting many extra hours in the day to write more on both travels and technicals.
We're, briefly, in Dubrovnik today. And I have 3.5 hours of lectures, and a "meet the megageek" cocktail party. Tomorrow, Venice and the flight home. I think I'll need a holiday to recover from this. I'm coming back a little poorer in pocket, and much richer in experience.
