Today we visited the Ancient Greek and Roman ruins of Ephesus which has ruins dating back to the 10th century B.C. What we saw today was basically what the Romans had primarily built or modified to suit their needs at the time the city fell under Roman rule.

The ruins are spread over a large area which involved a walk over 3km’s in 35deg C temps. Parts of the site (Temple of Artimes) is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World which gives you an idea of the significance of the ruins in this part of Turkey.

We also visited a Government run business showing how the ancient skill of carpet weaving is done. It was extremely interesting and some of the rugs have up to 2,500 knots per square inch, which when you consider what that means when these skilled ladies are producing large scale rugs, it is an amazing achievement.

As with any major public attraction you also get the “side show” of the dodgy shops selling pretty much anything you require. One particular shop was proud to be selling “genuine fake watches” which we both had a good laugh at.

Once we had done the treck of Ephesus we were back on the road by lunch and off to Denizli for the night. The road trip today was only relatively short at 180km’s however the temps climbed to 40deg C for the first time today making the journey that much arduous. These temps are something will shall have to get used to as we head into the East.

The conditions of these roads also takes getting used to, with oily patches not uncommon to glassy surfaces in cities where the bikes happily slide at a moments notice. Thankfully we both have ABS brakes which will assist should we have any panic moments trying to pull the bikes up.

Once we arrived at Denizli, Steve needed to find a good Taylor as the fly zipper in his bike pants had been creating dramas over the past few days and finally let go today. So 25mins later after finding the local taylor and Steve had a new zipper fitted. The lovely old chap did not want payment so Steve bought him a selection of Baclava which he seemed to really appreciate.