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Early Advertising in Ephesus

Follow the footprint and take a left at the next crossroads to the house of "Great Repute" or is it ill repute? I am now in Turkey and visiting the ancient city of Ephesus. The temple of Artemis at Ephesus is considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient world - What an amazing place.

Library at Ephesus

Right across the street from the previously mentioned establishment is found the library. Connecting the two is a secret underground tunnel -- ummm, I wonder what that was about? Honey, I will be spending the afternoon in the library!!

The Goddess Nike

You can see the swoosh in her dress where the Nike footwear emblem comes from. Makes you wanna go to the :-

Public convenience

Anyway that is the Richard tour of Ephesus. For a more enlightening and cultural experience it would be best to Google it!!

Since my last post I have travelled through North Montenegro and the northern part of Greece and then into Turkey.

Here are some images of the fantastic riding I had in North Macedonia. When I was heading towards the mountains I was stopped by the police - expecting that I had committed some terrible offense, only to find that the police were making sure that I did not go riding in the mountains by myself as the roads were very bad. Nice, very friendly people. Did I heed their advice?

Near Bitola North Macedonia

Old Roman road

Mountain Village

End of the line

I guess the cops did know what they were talking about.

Salamander

What the heck was a salamander doing on the snow way up here in the mountains!!

Northern Greece

Due to the snow in North Macedonia I cut down into Greece with the hope that the mountain trails would be less snowed in, however many had not been cleared of downed trees after the winter. 

Squeeze

I did manage to get past this obstacle but around the next corner there were a lot more trees across the trail so I had to retreat.

Meteora

I visited the area known as Meteora where numerous towering sandstone outcroppings were topped by monasteries dating back over 500 years. A place I would put near the top of incredible sights that I have seen so far on this trip.

1915 Çanakkale Bridge

After crossing into Turkey at Ipsala I visited the Gallipoli Peninsular, and the many battlefields and cemeteries from WW1 - not sure why I visit battlefields as they are depressing knowing that all that was gained was the heartache of so many mothers.

The Çanakkale suspension bridge across the Dardanelles Strait, was opened just two months ago, and at a length of 4,600 metres it is the longest in the world. I had recently read about this engineering marvel and was really looking forward to it - got more than I had expected. After paying my toll and crossing the bridge I took a wrong turn and found myself coming back across in the other direction. Arriving back at the same toll booth I explained that I so enjoyed it the first time I wanted more of the same. So I got to cross the bridge not once but three times!!

Dang Dog

I have got a bit of a history of being bitten by dogs. I had been warned about this mutt that was hanging around the pensione where I was staying. Having walked past him a couple of times with no problems I let my guard down - he snuck up behind me and -- ouch!!

Anyway as I have not foamed at the mouth I think I am ok.