West Coast of Turkey (November 10th - November 16th)(continued)
On Monday I cycled through Izmir (known as Smyrna in English), the third largest city in Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara) with a population of 3 million. I wanted to get through on Sunday but ended up a day late. I was about 10 miles from the City when I noticed a horse drawn wagon in front of me so I figured if the trucks are moving around for him, with any luck they will do the same for me.
I stopped as I was cycling through one of the suburbs. I just sat down on a retaining wall and had some bread and cheese and in front of me, was a large bust of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk carved into the mountain.
The 3 day period from November 17th to 20th this year signifies Kurban Bayrami or the Sacrifice Feast celebrated in the Muslim world 70 days after Ramadan. The holiday celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. A sheep, goat or cow is slaughtered and divided into 3, one for the family, one for relatives, friends or neighbors and the final third to the poor and needy. On Tuesday November 16th, I was cycling towards Selcuk and stopped at a gas station for my morning tea. I parked my bike and noticed 2 guys carrying a large object so wandered over and noticed it was a dead sheep. They had just cut its throat to prepare for the feast and were in the process of carving it, so I asked if I could take a picture. It's kind of like a Thanksgiving, Turkish style.
I am now in Selcuk, one of the most visited cities in Turkey due to its proximity to the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus was for a long time the second largest city of the Roman Empire ranking behind Rome. In the 1st Century, it was home to 250,000 people making it also the second largest city in the world. It is famous for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ephesus was also one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelations and is also reported to be the place where the Gospel of John was written. I will be staying here 2 days before continuing south to the town of Fethiye where I will stay a few days to do some hiking on the Lithian Way hiking trail. I will provide pictures of both later.