#Turkey2017: Selçuk DIY Walking Tour

3 hours by Pamukkale bus, we reached Selçuk otogar by 8PM. On our original itinerary, we should've booked an earlier bus (9 AM) so we could've visited Şirince but we were still groggy after the overnight trip while buying our bus tickets that we had to be flexible.

Most of the Pinoys we came with were heading straight to Kusadasi but we preferred to just stay in Selcuk so we won't have to pay for transport or tours just to visit everything.

Quick facts: 

- central town of Selçuk district, İzmir Province in Turkey

- original Greek name, Agios Theologos (Άγιος Θεολόγος), referred to John the Theologian

- In the 14th century, it was the capital of the Emirate of Aydin

- Under the Ottoman Empire, it was known as Ayasoluk. In 1914, it was renamed Selçuk after the Seljuk Turks who first led incursions into the region in the 12th century Wikipedia

We booked a room in Nicea Hotel, just a few minutes away from the bus station. See below map for directions. I chose this hotel because of its proximity to the otogar (bus station), landmarks, and most importantly, the train station (Selcuk Gari) for our flight to Istanbul.

Staff at the hotel were very nice and the breakfast spread was same as Bellamaritimo's. They even gave us a free map for our DIY tour! :) Now we have an idea how much to spend at each stop HEHEHE

First stop: St. John's Basilica on the historical Ayasoluk Hill. Truly worth the hike for only 10L each!

We also went to Isabey Mosque but I didn't have a headcover so we chose not to enter, it's only a few minutes walk down the hill from St. John's Basilica. Most of the sights were really close together, except for Efes (Ephesus) and House of Virgin Mary (which looked close to Efes on the map but really, it's not).

Since everything was so close, we chose to walk instead of availing of the 150TL/person tour offered by the hotel, which included transportation and lunch. However, only the basilica and Ephesus had entrance fees so we decided to skip it because after all - we were doing everything DIY already.

Temple of Artemis

what the 3km walk to Efes looked like

Ephesus Stadium

and this.... is what I live for (Library of Celsus)

It was quiteeeeee a walk, which could've been done by a 3TL dolmus that we didn't know earlier HEHEHE good thing a kabayan enlightened us after we reached the entrance. You can take the dolmus from the bus station and back, you just have to wait though, because it only passes by every 20 minutes. You can take the bus to Pamucak (Beach) from the entrance as well.

After a whole day of walking, we had a few hours' rest and off we went in search for the train station because we'll be taking the 6:47 AM one to Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport the following day. Looking below there's no train at that time but trust me, there is ;) (You can look at their website as well though). The station was at least 5-8 mins. walk from the hotel, and you don't have to reserve your seat. Just buy your 5TL ticket on the day of your trip, along with fresh hot simits and coffee, and you're good to go.

The train is just in front of the ticket office, no need to cross to the other side.

CAN IT BE DONE AS A DAYTRIP?

Personally, no. Technically we only had a day to explore the city and we didn't have enough time nor energy (#gurangproblems) to cover everything in just 1 day. We were wiped out after Ephesus and it was only like 4PM. If you're not in much of a hurry, I do suggest at least 2 days to dedicate here so you can soak everything in properly.