Page 16
Turkey
By; Todd Shealy Mak 10
At the end of last November, I and another volunteer
had a chance to use a few leave days and visit Istanbul
and Selchuk, Turkey. I would recommend it to any
PCVs since this is an easy trip to make, and Turkey is
almost in our backdoor. There are several overnight
bus options from Macedonia to Turkey. Some leave
from Skopje, but I was able to catch one right from my
site in Negotino. One of the local travel companies
arranged the tickets for us at no extra cost. Our bus
took the route from Bitola to the border at Delchevo
(bypassing Skopje), and on to Sofia, then Istanbul. At
the Turkey border,
Americans can buy a
visa for a US $20 bill.
We stayed at the Antique Hostel in Istanbul,
but there are many
from which to choose.
We booked online using hostelword.com.
Travel agencies also are
plentiful in the hostel
district, so it’s easy to
plan any side trips for
those interested.
some of the best shopping anywhere can be found at the
Grand Bazaar, and Turkish baths offer a place to relax.
Our extra side trip to Ephesus and Selchuk was definitely worth it. Ancient Ephesus is an extensive site; we
didn't even have time to see all of it. And it was home
to so much history and so many important figures. Its
Greek beginnings date from the time when it was a sister city to Troy, and its famous Temple of Artemis welcomed sailors into port. It continued to be a significant
city from the time of the Peloponnesian War, to Alexander’s conquests, to
Roman and Christian
times, and finally to the
Byzantine and Turkish
eras. The probable resting places of St. John,
Mary, and St. Timothy
are here, as was one of
St. Paul's early congregations.
Following I’ve included a partial list of
things to see and some
of their history.
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