Today is our last of 3 days in Selcuk, a small city on the Aegean coast of Turkey next to the ruins of Ephesus. We saw the ruins yesterday, which were amazing, and today went to a small town in the hills 8 km from here called Sirince. Although I’ve never been to Tuscany, Sirince is what I imagine Tuscany would be like. The highlight was eating lunch on the broad terrace of an old Greek School that had been converted into a restaurant, overlooking the valley.

So much has happened that I can’t possibly tell you everything from this internet cafe — look for blog postings in the coming weeks. But here are some highlights:

Cirali — Our 1st stop was our favorite. 3 nights here. Great hotel run by a very warm Turkish/Canadian couple. Things we liked were the friendly people, biking to the beach and stopping at our favorite juice bar, the lushest vegetation, overgrown ruins of Olympos, and a beach backed by soaring mountains. Topping it off was our nighttime hike to see Chimera, an ancient site where flames naturally shoot out of the ground. Dazzling under the starry sky.

Our next stop was 1 night in Kas, a small scenic harbor town. Pretty, but not much to do, and condos are cropping up on the hillsides, ruining the atmosphere. Funniest moment was when a large, black and white hissing beetle landed on Abraham’s shirt. I tried to get it off, but it started hissing loudly. Abraham had to pull his shirt off in the crowded square. An old man told him the beetle was good luck, but I think he was just trying to make him feel better.

We spent the next 2 nights in Kayakoy, near Fethiye. Our hotel was in a quiet, countryside location, and run by a wonderful Turkish/Dutch couple. A short distance away was the abandonded town of Levissi, which was once inhabited by Ottoman Greeks unti the 1920’s, when most Ottoman Greeks went to Greece and most Greek Muslims went from Greece to Turkey. The complete town still exhists on a hillside, but without inhabitants. It was fun to explore. The other highlight was the spectacular turqouise coastline. The water was an almost impossible Turqoise color. We spent an afternoon lazing there on the beach. The moutains provided a stunning backdrop.

Well, that’s all I have time to write. Overall, it’s been a fantastic trip. Thursday night we fly to Berlin, then back to DC on Monday the 18th.