The most significant difference between tourist travel - the 1-2 week vacation - and a longer more leisurely tour, aside from the time, is the happen upon.
It's pretty clear that the older we get, the more responsible, more planned and scheduled we become - and less inclined in daily life to let life lead us, as opposed to directing it course. When younger, especially during the freedom of college days, and even deep in the 20's, exploration is the whole point. And such, the young ones are more likely to be spontaneous - talk to whoever, make new friends, be open to last minute change of plans. I've been very aware of this even before I started traveling, but it's continued to be confirmed during the last 6 weeks. Of course, there are other factors too. But generally, I've tended to meet and hang out with people in their 20'd and 30's - even those in couples - as they haven't nailed down their day's activities and are more open to the idea that someone new has come into the picture, someone that might be worth spending time with. But in the town of Selcuk, that theory was broken for me - and I'm so glad. Nice change of pace - and conversation.
I knew the minute the bus started pulling into the town of Selcuk that I'd realy like the place. Aside from the asshole who tried to hustle me when I got off the bus, it was very sweet. (Most hustlers when ignored have some humor about it, just let you go on your way. This guy was pissed off that I wouldn't let him take me to my hotel, and that I didn't believe he was actually associated with my hotel... which was a 4 minute walk.) Anyway, Selcuk was exactly what I'd imagined a small town outside of Istanbul might feel like.
Before the sun set, I took a little walk through the town and immediately upon walking into the small area of walking lanes, the town centre I imagine, the carpet guys called out. One of the three spoke excellent English, one pretty damn good, the other not at all, and he disappeared immediately. Sat down to have a tea with them, chatted for an hour. Talk of carpets, New York, America - the one who spoke excellent English had been everywhere. Why? To sell carpets, of course. It appears that the info given to me by my friend Sincey in Goreme about ABC carpets was incorrect. Or so it seems anyway. These guys are apparently are also a vendor too. Hmmm.. No one should really believe a word a carpet salesman says.. These guy invited me to the beach the next day, Pamukke, and the town of Sirince - which were actually two places I wanted to see. I thought I might take them up on it. But no committment is ever necessary. A "we'll see" suffices.
Next morning got up and did the Ephesus exploration. The hotel - Hotel Bella, a kitschy little place that fit perfectly with the rest of the place - said they'd get me a personal guide if I wanted, or I could use offered audio sets, or they could just lend me their book that I could follow along to. I chose the book. In all honesty, after about 5 minutes of trying to match the book to the ruin, I gave up. Firstly, the book sucked. Secondly, it didn't interest me. Just as I felt in Cappadocia, too much information - information that I just don't absorb or really appreciate. A line from a book I'm reading, Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir by Peter Balakian summed it all up for me: "Even if one does not know the history, one feels the presence of the past." When I gave up, I put my headphones on and just strolled. The only exception in all this - the Grand Theatre. THAT was awesome. I sat on those steps - yeah, still with the headphones on - for a good 30 minutes just took it in. Didn't want to leave. Hard to explain actually. Just overwhelming - it's setting, grandeur, enormity, beauty, history. Well worth the rest of it, even having to navigate through the throngs of tourist groups.
By the afternoon, was ready for the beach. Couldn't decide if I wanted to go with the carpet guys or not. Sort of wanted to just be solo and read, but also thought it could be amusing. The one who spoke English well, was pretty entertaining. I stopped by the shop, just to see... The entertaining one wasn't there, so I just had a quick tea with the other guy, who I quickly found out was pretty damn dull. So, I thought solo would be the call. But I was mistaken. I took a seat on a bench waiting for the bus next to a woman in her early 60's eating an ice cream cone. She had just finished saying something to someone passing by and I caught the American accent. Can't remember what I said to start conversation, but found out quickly she was waiting for her husband who left his bathing suit at the hotel, they lived in Mexico, but she was originally from Philly. I told her I could tell her she was an East Coast girl. Which is true.
Needless to say, we became very fast friends. Talk, talk, talk, talk - only like two Jewish woman can do. (Actually didn't find out she was Jewish until much later in the day.) Her name is Caren, her husband's name was Dave. Both great - totally mellow, smart, intelligent, easy going. We rode the bus together and then sat on the beach for a few hours together. At some point an hour or so in, it clicked that I knew where they must be from in Mexico, and asked. San Miguel, of course. My mother and her husband, Jay, spent the month of January there about 5 or 6 years ago - and loved it. The way they'd described it, I could completely envision the two of them being there.
They told me all about their three week travels through Turkey. About their early retirement from the East Coast to Mexico, what they do to keep themselves busy. She, incredibly decided to direct a documentary about how moving to San Miguel had changed her life, while interspersing others telling about how it had changed theirs too. She'd never had anything to do with film before - it just called her name. Many film festivals later, three countries have bought the rights - Singapore, Israel and one other. Bold, amazing. Loved hearing about it. And through her, heard that Dave is the all around good guy, who helps people in town. In Mexico, obviously a very poor, 3rd world country,they are one of the kinds in the community filled with people that don't have money for medince or any other basic needs. And Dave's there to help, when he can, with no-interest loans and a variety of other ways. I could completely see it. They told me about their kids and parents and how they met.....All and all, thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.
After the beach, we all went to check out Sirince... I read three sentences about the place - cute little charming town, overlooked the town of Pamuck and Selcuk. Maybe it was two sentences. We took the bus back to Selcuk and then got on the bus back up to Sirince. The drive up there was beautiful, hills and hills of olive trees. The drive and the company was certainly the highlight. The town felt like a version of disneyland. Set up and created specifically for tourist to buy things - one of them, their awful Turkish wine that they're so proud of, but that is beyond awful. It's too bad too, because the setting really is stunning, feels like you're in Italy. We sat, had a bite, I had a drink of wine, shared a glass of Raki with Dave (a version of ouzo that i hadn't tried yet) and continued talking - travel, politics, etc. Grabbed the bus back to down and went up to the roof of their little hotel (around the corner from mine) for a few hours, a glass of wine, more conversation.
When I woke up, all I knew was that I was going to see Ephesus. And maybe get to the beach - with or without some carpet salesmen. That was it. But because I had no plans, or anywhere specific or definite I had to go, I ended up spending 8 hours with two new lovely people and had a thoroughly enjoying day of it. A lovely surprise that can only happen when you let it.
