Catching up...

Well, at last I'm in a guesthouse with a decent internet signal. I've covered a lot of territory since my last post, so this installment will be long.

This part of Turkey is crammed with ruins from the ancient Greek and Roman and Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The big concentrations of ruins are set off for tourists, but otherwise ancient remains simply litter the countryside. People casually incorporate ancient ruins into their houses, goat herders build them into their shelters, and bits from one ancient site have been incorporated into later ones.

Here, in the center of Selcuk, the Roman aqueducts are spread across town and into the hills beyond. Some of the buildings use them for walls. And the storks nest on the tops.

All of this gives the locals an up-close-and-personal sense of history we can't imagine.

When I last wrote, I was getting ready to visit Ephesus, probably the best preserved Roman town in the world. And it was really impressive, despite the frightening number of people visiting.

This is the famous library, somewhat askew. At once time, it was the third-largest in the world.

But plenty of more--shall we say--intimate remains are preserved.

Yes, this was the public toilet. People had bathrooms in their homes (as well as central heating from hot water piped under the floors), but the public toilet was a place where men met to socialize. The wealthy would get their slaves to save their spaces and warm the marble before they arrived.

Getting back to higher culture, the Temple of Hadrian has some remarkably well preserved carving, including this archway featuring Medusa.

After a long, hot day in the ruins, I accepted the opportunity to have dinner at my hosts' fancy pension in the hills outside of town. Watching the sun set over Selcuk Castle as I ate a wonderful traditional dinner was a fine way to end the day.