Touring the region after Ephesus on Tuesday

After Ephesus, we drove the short distance to the beach at Pamucak. This is a wide expanse of sand beach along the mostly rocky shore of the Aegean Sea. It is mostly undeveloped except for several resorts at the southern end of the beach as the coastal road slopes towards the coastal city of Kusadasi where the cruise ships dock. We drove in that direction. We noted some similarities to places like Myrtle Beach with water parks and the like, but no putt putt. Kusadasi was a busy, new looking town.
We left Kusadasi and drove inland to the mountain village of Sirince. This little village is famous for its wine, but has turned into another place where the cruise boats dump their passengers, with no appreciation for the local culture, en masse to spend a few minutes and leave. There are a number of street side shops selling trinkets and being operated by people who probably are not even locals. We had an excellent meal at a legitimate local restaurant eating the gozelemeh, freshly prepared flat bread that is similar to quesadilla except it is filled with eggplant or spinach and cheese. A photo accompanies showing the woman making the bread fresh.
We relaxed at the Sirincim restaurant which was quite relaxing despite the tourist traps up the hill in the remainder of the village. We left town driving to the coast again and went north on the coast, seeing beautiful coastal vistas. We parked and walked the beach at Maydonoz Koyu. Here, people have little beach cabins and shacks with hammocks and other seating out in front just next to the pebble strewn shore. A totally locals and Turkish beach spot.
After relaxing at the coastal towns we drove inland so as not to miss our plane. The roads were well marked and we made it to the Izmir airport. We had plenty of time so we backtracked to Menderes and ate at a new restaurant called Konyali. I would highly recommend this as a stop before catching the plane back to Istanbul. Fariba had sheeps head soup! There were other Turkish delicacies, all excellently prepared and reasonably priced.
We flew back to Istanbul, worn out. We negotiated a cab fare instead of riding a bus. Our cab driver made the normally 45 minute trip in about 20 minutes. It was one crazy cab ride. I gave him a tip and a NASCAR hat when we made it alive back to our apartment, exhausted from a long day.

Ephesus (Efes) Tuesday June 19

We got up at 3:30 a.m. and got our stuff together and walked to Taksim and caught the Havatas bus for 12 lira apiece. It took us about 35 minutes to get to Sabiha Gokcen Airport where we had a 6:40 a.m. flight on Pegasus Airlines to Izmir. We had a quick (and expensive) breakfast at the airport and then boarded our flight which was almost full for the one hour and five minute flight. It is a 9 hour drive from Istanbul to Izmir so a flight is definitely recommended for someone who wants to visit Ephesus which is about a 50 minute drive from Izmir.
The night before our drive I saw on the weather channel that temperatures would be near 97 degrees. We decided we would rent a car rather than riding buses so we would have control over our destiny. That was a majorly good decision. We got a straight drive Ford Focus with good AC for $70 with unlimited mileage and including a prepaid toll car for tolls. We picked up the car from Avis and followed the well marked roads to the exit for Selcuk, which is he closest city to Ephesus.
Immediately upon exiting the freeway, we saw a neat looking little place for breakfast. We stopped and went to the open air restaurant called Kayayurt and sat on the shaded patio of this family owned restaurant and enjoyed another great Trukish breakfast for 50 lira for four of us. The place also had very nice restroom facilities.
We drove on to Selcuk which is an unremarkable city that looks to be only 40 years old or so. We drove the 3 km past Selcuk to Ephesus. As you approach Ephesus (called Efes in Turkey--which also happens to be the national beer), it is easy to miss the exit for Ephesus. We drove past and made a u turn. Driving back, we saw the coliseum built into a hillside.
We pulled up and paid the 7 lira parking fee. We ran the gauntlet of vendors selling everything from water to fake Rolexes to purchase our admission tickets for 25 lira apiece. We entered the grounds and began to see the many ancient architectural remains which make this place so amazing. Pictures are attached.
One thing that was surprising was the mass of tourists at this site as it is a rather isolated part of Turkey and we didn't see many fellow tourist types at the airport in Izmir. Soon we realized that the tourists had come from cruise ships that had docked at nearby towns. The tourists appeared to be European and Asian with very few or no Americans. It was very hot at the site and we wondered how some of the elderly folks were handling it.
The site has some incredible old structures, most prominently the library, the coliseum, and a column lined road. It is worth a side trip to see, especially considering round trio airfare on a 737 from Istanbul is only $75 per person. We left a very hot Ephesus and drove to the coast. More on the rest of the trip later.