Wander More Work Less

It’s funny how things just work out sometimes. This morning we had planned to take an Uber to the top gate of Ephesus (Efes in Turkish). Access from the top gate would have made the walk mostly downhill and much easier. If Uber actually worked here, we would have had a lesser experience. Instead, we grabbed a dolmuş that dropped us at the lower gate, so we ended up walking to the top and then back down again. It was longer but much more rewarding in the end. We finished our morning very glad that Uber was a failure. Ephesus is an ancient Greek and later Roman city in the hills near modern-day Selçuk. Many town signs say “Efes” or “Efes Selçuk.” The ruins lie in scrubland about 3 km from our apartment, but were once directly connected to Selçuk. The city dates back over 2,000 years and was abandoned in the 15th century. Excavations began in 1863. If you’d like more detail about Ephesus, here’s the wiki link: Ephesus Wiki Our dolmuş dropped us off just after 8 am, right as the gates open...

Check-out wasn’t until 11 am, or a bit earlier if we were ready, so it was a relaxed breakfast and bag-pack morning. The man who owns the hotel was there to say goodbye when we left. His son had printed some visas for us overnight, which we picked up. The owner noticed where we were going and said he hopes to get there himself in early 2026. He’s done a lot of traveling, judging by the photos on the walls. We swapped WhatsApp details with him as well to share information. 👍 We walked to the bus station to catch our first dolmuş. The dolmuş system in Turkey is excellent. They’re minibuses that provide low-cost, frequent transport over short distances. We’ve seen many going around town. To catch one, you simply hop on and hand your money to the driver or a forward passenger. It’s a set price for each destination, usually printed at the front of the bus. On the walk to the bus station, we passed Keyif Cafe, so we called in briefly to say hello and goodbye. It was great to see that the da...

Getting to breakfast just before 8:30 am kind of worked. The scrambled eggs were warm but not hot. There were also chicken nuggets this morning! They also had toast as well with jam, which I think is my favourite. If only they had peanut butter. The plan today was a similar walk to yesterday excluding the hill. Instead, we decided to check out Pigeon Island. The only difference on the walk at first was the number of cruise boats—just two today. Pigeon Island, or Güvercinada in Turkish, is accessed via a man-made causeway. Along it, there are old photos showing the island and the causeway before construction. Lining the causeway are several large boats that take people out for cruises. Pretty good value—only €5 for an hour-long trip. Not sure how far you’d get in an hour though; they look quite slow! The island is named as it is because it supposedly looks like a bird’s head. Hard to see that from our angle. The island has a castle taking up much of the space, pl...

The call to prayer was my alarm this morning at 5:54 a.m. It lasted until almost 6 a.m., and it seemed to me that it also woke Sarah, but she then went back to sleep. I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I read my book. Sarah later told me she never heard anything. 😁 The hotel served breakfast at 8:30 a.m., which is late for us, but we’re adaptable. 😉 There was a good selection of food, but it wasn’t great. They did have some of the largest olives I’ve ever eaten—massive! 👍 Tomorrow we’re going to turn up slightly early, as today the scrambled eggs were quite cold. They had obviously been prepared and were ready before the official start time. I was quite sore again when I got up and was still sore after breakfast. I wasn’t going to let that stop us from having a short walk and looking around our new neighbourhood. We decided to head down our street, which leads into the main touristy parts of town. It was also the opposite direction from our arrival walk. We passed a currenc...

Well, we’ve gone almost four months without visiting a foreign hospital. Time to change that today! I got up and had breakfast while Sarah was still sleeping. I soon realised that a certain part of me that doesn’t see the light of day much wasn’t right. No, not my wallet! To put it bluntly, I felt like someone had kicked me in the nuts. ☹️ Not a great way to start the day. Sarah got up and was chatting to Kate on WhatsApp while I delayed telling her about my problem. I was hoping it would “come right” in typical male fashion. But once she had finished her call, I did tell her—of course. I couldn’t risk us traveling to another country today feeling like this. I needed to get checked out first. We decided to visit the hospital. As luck would have it, we had walked past the local hospital the other morning when we visited the beaches, so we knew exactly where it was and how far away. Sarah suggested calling a taxi, but I felt I could walk there—slowly. We packed our bags, and since we had...

We had a walk in mind for this morning, but we also wanted to visit Pythagorio, a village on the other side of the island. It was therefore an early start to try and tick off both. The walk started at 7 a.m. as we sidled across the hillside, trying not to lose too much elevation. The starting point for the downloaded loop walk was at the end of the bay, back behind the bus stop. We managed to get there without ending up at sea level first, which was good. The route then began climbing, following a road. We quickly faced a choice: left onto a cobbled walking track, or right onto a much smaller road. Right looked right—even though Google Maps said it was a dead end. Our downloaded route suggested Google wasn’t fully informed. The road did indeed dead end, kind of; it turned into a bush-surrounded hiking trail that climbed steeply up a gully. The combination of steepness and thoughts of ticks had us turning back to take the left fork instead. That way also went steadily up, but not as ste...

We decided the night before not to try and make up for the time we lost due to the ferry delay. We could have done a bus trip today, but instead we just checked out the local beaches. After breakfast we walked down the hill and then along a relatively quiet road to Paralia Gaggou beach—or at least that’s what Google Maps calls it. The actual signs said something slightly different. It was an easy walk, but just long enough that we were ready for an early morning dip. It’s a pebbly beach that turns to sand as you get into deeper water. There were a good number of lounge chairs and a few people already there when we arrived. A couple of resorts and a café sit right by the beach, but it’s all quite low-key compared with many Greek beaches. The little fish bite here! As Sarah quickly discovered—along with the rest of the people on the beach when she let out a yelp. 😂 The fish are about 20 cm long and obviously hungry little blighters. They didn’t bite me—clearly I wasn’t to th...