Istanbul to Selçuk

Istanbul ıs wonderful. Lookıng out across the waters to the poınt where Europe meets Asia wıth mınarets scattered on the skyline everywhere you feel as if you are in one of the world's timeless great cities.
We arrived early on Saturday and met up wıth the group after lunch. The And Hotel ıs perfectly situated.We have a wonderful view of the Aya Sophia from our wındow and the vıew from the roof terrace restaurant ıs spectacular. The group ıs great and our leader ıs Turkish whıch ıs such an advantage over an Australian leader.
The first afternoon we took an orientation walk, starting with the tomb of Mehmet İİ. We have all become old hands now at removing our shoes and donning headscarfs when we walk into mosques and other holy buildings. One of the highlights of the walk was the Rustem Pasha Mosque, hidden away in the old spice market. Not big, but full of beautiful blue tile work. Then we wandered down to the water and over the Galatea Bridge, finishing up with the first of many great meals. The food so far has been universally great. Perfectly grilled and spiced meats, fantastic eggplant dishes and other vegetables etc. Gözleme whıch ıs a traditional specialty of thinly rolled pancake like pastry stuffed with what you want - spinach and feta in my case.
Sunday mornıng (after breakfast on the terrace) we went to the Aya Sophia Museum. İt was a 6th century church that was turned ınto a mosque after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire and then Ataturk restored it as a monument to both traditions in the 1920s. Visited also the Blue Mosque (too big, too many people)and the smaller Aya Sophia whıch we all preferred.Again very exquisite tilework. İ am actually becoming really keen on mosques (which is lucky in the circumstances).
Justin and İ went to Topkapi Palace in the afternoon. İt is at least as big as any other palace we have seen - even Windsor Castle(land size anyway)İ think. The harem quarters were amazing. Room after room unfolding with increasing degrees of decoration until you reach the inner sanctums.Tile work of such elegance and beauty. The afternoon was topped off by walking to the edge of the grounds and having tea at a cafe on the terrace overlooking the water and across at İstanbul at the point where the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn and flows into the Sea of Marmara. An absolutely timeless and great city of the world.
And then we walked back along the steep winding old cobbled streets, gloriously colured tulips everywhere until we found a fish house for dinner.
On Monday morning we took the ferry to Yalov and then caught a bus to Bursa a large and wealthy town with a main street like anywhere else except for some very fine mosques of various styles. The highlight of the evening was seeing the Whirling Dervishes in action. The performance was fascinating and had to be seen to be believed. It immediately had the 2 drs in our group analysing the physiological reasons for being able to spin non stop for 20 mins. This was followed by a trip to a late night dive and some of us (not me) indulging in water pipe smoking.
Yesterday we spent most of the day on a bus from Bursa to Selçuk which is a really lovely and ancient village in a stunning location. Sitting on the terrace we look out over hills and ancient ruins.
We wandered around the town checking out the ruins from as long ago as Roman times. There are giant stork nests on top of old aqueducts guarded by the graceful big birds.
After a delicious dinner on the terrace the whole group headed of the Haman (Turkish baths) where we all rinsed ourselves in the communal bath and then lay on a large marble slab in the middle of this hot steam room. Then we were scrubbed down and given soap massages by the masseurs followed by oil massages. Amazing.

Yesterday we went to the ruins of Ephesus whıch must be one of the best preserved ancient cities. It has a history dating back from 1000 BC to maybe 500 AD and has remains of Byzantıne, Greek and Roman civilisations. Amelia - your hero Augustus visited in 29 BC. The grandest building was the Library (as it should be) which was built to rival the one at Alexandria and the original facade is still standing.
Some of us followed this up in the afternoon with a visit to the Ephesus Museum which contains much of the contents of the excavated houses. We also walked up the hill to St. John's Basilica which was built in the 500s by Emperor Justinian to honour St. John the Gospel. Our own Justin has been fighting a losing battle by trying to explain to everyone (guide included) that this is not the same John who was a disciple of Jesus but they all persist in thinking he lived to 120.
Our group took a dolmus up to Sirinçe which is an old Greek village ın the mountains wıth very unusual domestic architecture. İt is famous for fruit wines and our guide took us to a wine house to taste many. They were not to my taste but others imbibed freely and a very relaxed group headed of for dinner ın yet another rooftopcafe wıth an unbelievable view. The group has relaxed now and we have some very amusing people so there is much banter and fun. Our own Prince Harry is obviously wasted ın the British Army. And the food continues to be delicious if somewhat predictable.