I have (unintentionally) picked up a temporary travelling companion. Bill, a young Australian, at least as autistic as I if not more so, with a degree in archaeology and no life plan, has attached himself to me like a little lost puppy and followed me mercilessly from town to town as I wander slowly south in Turkey. He would not have been my first choice of partner but we are getting used to each other. I purposefully pre-booked into a women's only dorm at our most recent hostel to get a bit of space but when we arrived the dorms were all full and so the owner put us together in a twin room. I had to accept my fate.
Here in Kusadasi we have traipsed together round various ruins including Ephesus, which claims to be the best set of ruins anywhere, and the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (though there's so little left of it it's not that impressive anymore) (and I have to admit it's nice to have my own personal guide who knows all the history and mythology) we have been to a couple of water parks, one of which claims to be the best in Turkey and another which claims to be the best in Europe (which confuses me a bit since I thought we left Europe behind when we went east from Istanbul) (and I have to admit it's nice to have someone to push me into doing the scarier rides that I might otherwise skip) and we've been out for many meals together. My inner frugal tourist thinks I ought to be cooking my own supper when in hostels that have kitchen facilities but, for example, last night we had Turkish style chicken donairs at a tiny cafe complete with aryan (a youghut-like drink), side salads, and huge helpings of hot peppers and mixed pickles for $3 each!
Bill is very well read, a great conversationalist, and actually not a bad travel partner at all. He takes a picnic lunch and a book along and stops for an extended break somewhere shady in the middle of the day wherever we happen to be and I quite like the habit. Currently he's torn between following me to my next destination and going to Athens where his mother will be arriving to meet up with him... Hopefully he will make the right decision and I will go back to being constantly lonely rather than constantly smothered.
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| A somewhat anticlimactic first of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, only 1 of 127 pillars remains and poorly reconstructed at that. Bill for size. |
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| Lovely temple ruins at Ephesus... |
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| ... and interesting regular houses too with mosaic floors and frescos on the walls. |
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| Lunch break. |
