We checked out next morning and took a taxi to the airport for our 1 hour flight with Pegasus Air, a low cost airline, to Izmir. From Izmir, we took a taxi to Selcuk. The ride lasted 1 hour and cost around 9o YTL (Yeni or new Turkish Lira).
On arrival into Selcuk we checked into the Hotel Bella.
The corridor leading to our room on the second floor.
We decided to take up the hotel on their offer to drive us to Sirince, a small village in the hills above Selcuk. Its only about 8km away and the ride takes about 10 minutes.
Sirince is a sleepy village which has suddenly been galvanised by its discovery by tourists looking for the authentic Turkish village experience. The main drag if one can call it that has souvenir shops selling dried fruit of very good quality as well a fruit wines.
Lunch was at this little eatery and comprised of gozleme for me and shish kebabs for Gordon. After lunch we wandered around for a bit but in all fairness, the rural charm started to wear off real quick after coming across numerous shops selling fake Rolexes and handbags slap bang in the middle of the main market. We decided to take the local bus or dolmus back to Selcuk.
Back in Selcuk, we wandered around the town, including the main tourist drag with the ubiquitous souvenir and carpet shops. Had our first taste of goat milk icecream and hated it. Two other sights in town that can be seen are the Isa Bey Camii and the St John Basilica ruins which is very close to the hotel.
After a siesta, we had dinner at the hotel's terrace. They provide a fixed course meal of 3 appetizers, a main course and tea or coffee. There are numerous appetizers to choose from and I got to choose 6 since I was not going to have the non vegetarian main course. We had an early night as we had to up early for our excursion to Ephesus the next day.
