This provides a fabulous view when seated atop the 40 or so rows of seats. From up there, the disappearance of the sea is all the more noticeable: the harbor had already been silting up in ancient days, remember? Well today, the port lies nearly 8 km from the coast! No wonder the seaside city lost all of its ancient luster.

Another of the reasons Ephesus could mean something to you can be found in the New Testament. Remember the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians? Well here they dwelled… The later Roman Empire, and especially the Byzantine period, was a time of expansion for the Christian faith. However, in the early days, this new belief was not welcome. Saint Paul stopped in Ephesus during his second journey to set up a congregation, and visited the newly formed community again during his third journey.

Paul was not the only apostle to come to Ephesus. Saint John even came to live, and perhaps died, in Ephesus, along with the Virgin Mary. Although their presence there is sometimes disputed, it is traditionally believed that the Evangelist wrote his Gospel and his three Epistles there. It appears John and Mary had a hard time convincing and leading the Christian congregation in Ephesus, since the Christian faith was often challenged. Today, the site of Saint John’s burial can be seen in the form of ruins: a basilica was built in the early Middle Ages on the site of his tomb, and its remains can be visited today. The Virgin Mary’s house, also in Selçuk, just a few km from Ephesus proper, was a popular pilgrimage in the old days.

Going forward in history, after the Greco-Roman and Christian eras, the region abounds with opportunities to witness the modern Turkish way of life. Beware, however, of guided hotel tours for westerners. Local guides even have you visit “typically typical” places, which means everything is in fact prearranged so as to look traditional. Very often, these are marketplaces, or fabrics of either carpets or jewelry: in short, anyplace where you could be likely to buy souvenirs.

Witnessing true Turkey is not that difficult, though. From Kuadas or Selçuk, just hop on a collective taxi or mini-bus. That will be a first step in experiencing the local way of traveling. It doesn’t cost much, and is remarkably efficient. Plus, it’s a lot of fun. And it’s also the best way to meet the wonderfully pleasant Turks. Perhaps a good destination would be Sirince, very close by. This is a charming little village “lost” in the mountain. It’s a very good opportunity to discover the rural environment, whose most striking element is probably the amazing number of wild olive trees growing everywhere. Goats abound, the houses look very nice with their white façades and red roof tiles. Leaving the tourist-treaded commercial streets, and climbing into the village, you will be rewarded with both nice views from atop, and with the sight of wonderful countryside abandoned churches. In fact, they are probably used very rarely. In this village, the Christian faith departed remarkably late. Whereas the Turks arrived in Ionia somewhere around the 11th century, gaining hegemony with the fall of Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul) in 1453, this village remained of Greek influence until the 20th century. Greece also lived under the Ottoman rule until then, but defeat in World War I sealed the fate of the large Muslim empire. Boundaries were drawn up after five years of war against Greece (1918-1923), and thus populations had to leave for their “homeland”. Greek orthodox inhabitants of Sirince left and were replaced with Turkish Muslim populations from mainland Greece. This explains the unusual concentration of churches in a relatively good condition. It also illustrates the cultural mix and heritage of modern Turkey.

Bafa Lake

The Ottoman Empire was constitutionally a Muslim state. However, in spite of numerous conflicts with its Christian neighbors, it was a relatively mild regime, especially since it occupied vast areas of southeastern Europe, where Orthodox Christianity was predominant. Churches were not destroyed systematically, and Christians continued to live in the area for a long time. This can be understood in perhaps the most dramatic site of Bafa Lake. This is a little far off to the south of Ku?adas?. You’ll need to rent a car to get there, but you’ll be assured to run into mostly Turks and very few tourists. The lake is very peaceful nowadays, but it must have been a bustling provincial town in Antiquity. Indeed, the lake was a bay in those days, and it has since been sealed off from the sea by the Büyükmenderes (or River Great Meander, the one which gave its name to “meanders”). Hiking up into the hills surrounding the village, the view spreads on the modest village, and the ancient harbor of Herakleia. Eventually, you’ll end up completing the trio of Turkish village and Greco-Roman ruins with old Christian monasteries. Several of these are withdrawn from civilization, and monks or hermits lived up there. Mosaics are even visible in places. It’s only a one or two hour hike, and you’ll be witnessing the magic cocktail of Turkey: a little bit of each among Antiquity, Byzantine Orthodox, and Turkish.

An ultimate notion of history will help you conveniently. In the 1920s, with the Ottoman breakdown and the emergence of the Turkish Republic, a great statesman came of age in the person of Mustafa Kemal “Atatürk”. His nickname means Father of the Turks, a title which was bestowed upon him as an acknowledgement of his service to the Turkish nation. Indeed, he started a number of reforms aimed at modernizing and industrializing Turkey. He abolished religious law, and based the new Turkish law on Swiss and Italian models, importantly separating state and religion. Perhaps the most remembered of his reforms was the Reform of the Letters, which took place in 1928. Until then, Turkish was written with the Arabic alphabet. The whole language was transcribed into a variant of the Latin alphabet. It uses 29 letters, dropping the letters q, w and x, and adding six letters: ç, ?, ?, ö, ?, and ü. These are pronounced respectively ch as in chair, a variant of gh or zh, e as in number, u as in urge, sh as in shelf, and u as in nude. It does make it easier to read Turkish than Arabic, and even if you’re not proficient in Turkish, you won’t have the feeling you’re lost. And ironically, if you feel like hopping back to the western world, by taking the boat from Kuadas to nearby Samos (Greece), you’ll probably have far more trouble reading ????? than Kuadas! You wouldn’t be just west yet, and Turkey is not that much east either, is it?