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June 16, 2005
Day 18: Selcuk
Today most of the group went to tour Ephesus, which is just a few kilometers away. It was a scorching day and the price was quite expensive (plus I was feeling a little ill from last night’s dinner) so I skipped it (along with Jess and Katie) and joined the group for the afternoon excursion to Sirince, a charming little village.
In Sirince, in addition to sampling the famous fruit wines (the peach, melon, and apple were my favorite), I finally broke down and did some shopping. I got an amazing wrap that will go great over a black dress and an Ottoman era (late 1800s) necklace of silver and lapis. It’s definitely the most dramatic piece of jewelry I own—now I just have to find the guts to wear it out.
We got back from the village around 6 p.m. and Sally, Katie, Michelle, and I decided it was time for a visit to the hamam. We had heard stories about how amazing the hamams were, but also horror stories about the painful scrubbing. The one in Selcuk was “mixed”, which meant that in addition to men doing the scrubbing and massaging, there were also men participants in the room.
After a little self-doubt, we quickly shed our inhibitions and enjoyed ourselves. Whiel we were given little towels, we mostly paraded around the sauna room in just our bathing suit bottoms. The two guys (one scrubbing and one massaging) were huge (and just clad in little towels themselves) with big mustaches and commanding voices. Although we were topless, it was totally asexual (except for the very observant male onlooker)—we ultimately decided it was like being a little girls and getting a bath after playing in the mud. We came out glistening and clean and decided we must definitely visit again before we leave.
We ate dinner at Bella Hotel again and enjoyed an after-dinner nagila. We are catching an early morning bus to Canakkule tomorrow and I’m hoping that the clothes I washed tonight and hung on the line will be dry enough to wear by breakfast. Otherwise I’ll be spending 7 hours on the bus in old smelly clothes. Not like it hasn’t happened before, I suppose.
