Marmaris to Selcuk, Turkey

(John) We had nothing against Marmaris, it was a fine looking place, the hostel was friendly and eager to please and the little restaurant we ate at served good food at good prices, although I was disappointed to learn that the Tons of Fish Salad was actually just an interesting translation of Tuna Fish. We had hoped accommodation in Turkey would be cheaper than in Greece so we quickly moved on knowing that other less swanky towns would offer better value. Selcuk was supposed to be such a town, so that was where we headed. Our friendly hostel owner in Marmaris told us how to get there. It entailed a short walk to the Pamukkale bus company office where they would take our money and shuttle us to the bus station. We first had to get to Aydin on the Pamukkale bus and then switch to a mini bus or Dolmus as they are known in Turkey for the last short leg to Selcuk. Once our tickets to Aydin were purchased for 20 TL each (that's about 13 CAD or 8 GBP) we had half an hour to spare before we boarded the shuttle so we wandered around a nearby supermarket discovering that life in Turkey, or Marmaris at least, is no cheaper than Greece.

As promised the shuttle took us to the bus station, we looked around for the ugliest most beaten up bus in the lot, expecting it to be for us but our shuttle dropped us next to some space age looking luxury coach with techno-bus written on the side. I had never seen anything like it. The front was swept to a point and was all glass. Once inside the view from the seats was amazing, just like a glass elevator. The seats were comfortable with more legroom than needed, seat belts and a small TV screen that offered a selection of entertainment options. An attendant in a smart uniform stowed our bags in the overhead bins and we left on time.

Once moving we were offered a cup of water by one of two smartly dressed attendants, later we were served a selection of hot and cold beverages and a choice of snacks. The scenery was glorious. Tree covered mountains and valleys of fruit trees rolled past under a slowly clearing sky clearly visible through the glass roof. Lesley watched a movie in Turkish while the kids and I played games on our video screens. We also passed around an English language version of a Turkish newspaper purchased as we waited to depart telling us about the killing of Osama Bin Laden. We were relieved to read in the extensive editorials that the Turks seem to approve of the action by American forces although they did not expect Al Qaeda to collapse as a result. One bus company manager told us that he thinks it was all a conspiracy to improve the American economy and to get Obama relected and that Osama Bin Laden is either still alive or long since dead. Elaborate, but stranger things have happened.

We arrived in Aydin after a three hour trip that felt more like two hours and immediately found a Dolmus to take us to Selcuk. The little 20 seat bus was no luxury coach but it was new, air conditioned, we all had a seat and nobody was smoking. The journey took 45 minutes and cost 6 lira each (4 CAN, 2.4 GBP). In all Marmaris to Selcuk was a very easy and enjoyable journey.

Once in Selcuk we set about finding accommodation. A couple of guys approached us at the bus station and we listened to their offers. We thought that we had got one of them down to 50 lira including breakfast and free shuttle to Ephesus, but were determined to do better. We then found the tourist office who gave us a map of all the budget options and we went to them all to find that they all offered the same deal for 20 TL each. We ended going to the 4 for 50 lira option but the guy that had made the original offer was not there, and his cousin very reluctantly honoured the deal. However later we were informed that breakfast would be 7.5 lira each and it really wasn't far to walk to Ephesus. We had also been told that we would have the dorm room to ourselves, but awoke to find that bus station guy was asleep in a bed at the other end of the room. We won't be buying the breakfast as I'm afraid they might have spat in it.

Photos: Our first few paces in Turkey (Marmaris); Fat Cat at the Marmaris Hostel.