15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 5

29/12/2023

Our 2nd, also last day in Izmir.

Love the intricate marble pattern flooring in the hotel.

We were very early around 7am, we almost had the whole buffet area to ourselves.

Western breakfast finally, but nothing fancy.

Boring, but cay was forever good.

Once the sun was up, it became warm.

We booked a private tour from www.ephesustravelguide.com.  Total 175euros for 2 of us, including pick up at hotel, Basilica of St. John, Ephesus, lunch, Sirince Village and transfer to airport.

It was so foggy, glad that the driver was very cautious and drove safely.

I told the tour guide I was interesting in local leather products.  He brought us to a big store selling replicas haiz...

UNESCO Heritage site: Basilica of St. John.

View from Syasuluk Hill, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

Tomb of St John, not sure why he ended in Turkiye, the history is complicated.

Was told ppl baptise here.

Marble coffins.  Not sure how it works, as in how to bury??   Cos they were too heavy to be carried.

Some words still clear.

Imaginary look of the Basilica.

Next was another UNESCO Heritage site, but this was super duper magnificent:

Ephesus.

I was very excited but old man was bored to death.

Underground water pipes.  Bigger circumference would fit into a small one.

Naughty looking cat.

Red marble columns (although some didn't look too red, it's actually red if you were to splash some water on them).

The Ephesus library could be seen at the far end.

Imagine how glorious this place was.

It's difficult not to fall in love with Turkiye when it has cats as guardian angels.

Goddess of Nike.

This was an ancient shopping street.

The guide said at some point, they were running out of building materials, so this was build with marble and bricks.

Forgotten what these holes were for... haiz...

Word carvings so clear.

Atas shops with atas mosaic floorings.  It's AMAZING!!!  The designs were so intricate, too artistic and beyond beautiful sia, I went crazy de.

How could these art work be done in those days?  It's insane.

One of the most magnificent UNESCO heritage site indeed.  I am so fortunate to be able to visit this place... I am so lucky.

Another guardian, I believe cats keeps evil spirits away.

This is the funniest site, behold the ancient toilet!

Apparently, the nobles and rich people would get their servants to warm the seats before they sit in.  Then it was time to socialize.  In front was a small drain with flowing water for washing.

There was even a small stage with music entertainment.

Pity that they fenced up so we couldn't test sit and see how it felt lolxx...

Walking towards The Library.

Thank you for having me!

The little hole served to hold lit candle so that ppl could see and read the bulletin lolxx...

The stone bulletin with important notice like when to pay tax, hur hur.

Another guardian angel.

We were standing at brothel area which was right opposite the Library.

Men would lie to their wives that they were going to the Library, but would sneaked to the brothel opposite.  So men would be men no matter at which decade lolxx...

Hubby in brothel.

I couldn't believe I was here.

I don't know how else I can describe the beauty of this place.

Build by greeks since 40AD and was enlarged to 25,000 seats by the romans in 44AD. Was told Elton John held his concert here in 2020, wow...

He took more than 5 shoots, only this one was ok.

Lunch.

Resident doggie so cute.

We told them straight we couldn't buy carpets cos Singapore was too humid and dusty, so they left us alone.

Simple lunch was included in the tour.  We bought a can of coke and a small cup of cay and was ripped off 150TL.  But since this place was a shelter for single mothers and women who needed help, we just treat it that we done a small charity ba...

We went to have a quick look at the silk cocoons and weaving of carpets.

Traditional weaving of carpet is very time consuming thus the expensive price, good that we don't need any in Singapore.

After lunch, we headed to Sirince Village which was just 10mins drive or so.

The tour guide said normally locals visit here but rarely overseas tourists.

The village was very quiet during winter season, we were almost the only ones walking around.

It's so beautiful here omg...  Turkiye is so underrated to Asians.

Very old house not safe for living in any more.

Trying to pick up a conversation with a cat.

Chanced by a leather shop.  Finally a proper leather shop and not replica shop.

I chosen small bag with cat print design, the owner shorten the strip for me.

The owner's dog was a cutie.

It was difficult to have pic her cos her eyes were totally at her owner, I was ignored all the way lolxx...

She was still looking at her owner with so much love in those eyes.

I bought a bottle of jam for a few dollars.  It's sweet, tasted like caramel.

I bought a color changing ring for around S$12.  This guy expanding it for my fat finger.

Throughout our stay, we only had Turkish ice-cream once, and that's in this village (shop at left side in this pic).  We did a video of course, but my blogger wouldn't load videos since a long time ago, I didn't bother to try also.

Beautiful right?

This restaurant was very blue.

This sweet lady is 80yo.  Like other senior ladies, they love wearing flare flora print pants.  They are muslim but they don't wear hijab, they tie a scarf over their head.  Though she is old, her complexion is sooooooo smooth, real beauty de... 

The joy of travelling is priceless to me, grinned until out of control, I was truely really happy.

A pic with the local tour guide for remembrance.

We were promptly send to Izmir airport for our flight to Cappadocia.  There's nothing much to do.  Food options were limited and expensive.

1.5hrs flight from Izmir's Adnan Menderes Airport to Kayseri's Erkilet International Airport in Cappadocia.

SunExpress was the only airline flying to Cappadocia, thankful the budget airline went smooth.

Dinner before boarding, I had microwaved chicken chop with rice, old man had cold tuna sandwich plus a drink, cost 465TL (about S$22) 

We had a check-in luggage, took some time to churn out.  There were only 2 belts here lolxx... very very small airport this was.

The shuttle pre-arranged with the hotel came to pick us up together with a few others.  We went round and round Goreme dropping people off at different hotels.  By the time we reached ours was mid night liao.

Lovely resident dog Melissa came to greet us at the reception, she was 12 years oldie already.

We only had a few hours to sleep.

Thanks for reading and coming back always, next post would be something to look forward to..... HOT AIR BALLOONS, yup.