Selcuk

Friday April 4, 2014 Selcuk
Although last night's dinner at Ejder Restaurant was very tasty, something didn't agree with me. Anita and I ate exactly the same food but it was only me who had to rush for the toilet at midnight. I whiled away a couple of hours there on and off. This is the first time this has happened to me on one of our trips although it did happen to Anita one morning last winter in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I guess that's not bad. We credit the oral vaccine Dukoral which helps prevent diarrhea and cholera. If not for the Dukoral I expect we would have been sick many more times, considering the number of small family-run restaurants we've eaten in. They can't all be clean.
I managed to eat a bit of breakfast but not much. Anita did her share as usual.

 After breakfast we set off for the Temple of Artemis. Just down the back side of the hill where we're staying is this ruined mosque or hammam (Turkish bath), we're not sure which. We've seen some buildings like this with blown glass in all the little holes, providing skylights.

 Artemis was a goddess of fertility. This temple, built to replace earlier versions in 536 BC, was 100m long and 60m wide with over a hundred columns. It was so massive and beautiful it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now it's just one poorly re-constructed column, bits of foundation and a turtle pond in one of the excavated areas. Not much is permanent in this world.
We wanted to go to the Museum of Ephesus but it's closed for major renovations.

I wasn't feeling well so we walked back up the hill to our pension. There are lots of buildings here like the one to my right. Pretty little town.

 Our pension is just ahead of me in the buildings on the left and right. They have a total of 12 rooms. When we arrived, the lady who runs the place made me some sage tea to help my stomach. After that I slept for a couple of hours before we went up to the roof terrace to enjoy the late afternoon sun.

 This evening we walked down to a little restaurant, Ev Evki, where we sat in the courtyard under the grapefruit and orange trees laden with fruit.

 I didn't order anything but did manage to eat Anita's rice from her plate of chicken schnitzel. The staff at the restaurant, likely all relatives, had a surprise birthday dinner for the owner at the table across from us. They had big platters of food and desserts. They gave us 2 big slices of birthday cake which I couldn't eat. Anita managed to eat both pieces except the bright yellow icing. It was the polite thing to do. Anita's schnitzel and a large glass of ayran cost 15 lira ($7.50) which is all the money we spent all day.

We went for a little walk after dinner and Anita took a picture of this bread case. These are in front of every little convenience store. A bakery truck comes around to fill them up early every morning so the stores have bread for sale.
Unfortunately, I had to cut our walk short to return to our room in order to avoid a re-enactment of "the George Brett story" (check youtube). Hopefully tomorrow my problems will be behind me.