Balikesir to Selçuk

I left Balikesir in pouring rain and blowing wind.  I eventually rode out of the rain, but the wind never stopped.  It blew all day, and when I stopped and got on-line and checked the weather, it had been blowing at 20+ mph out of the northwest.  Since I was mostly heading south and west, I received a lot of buffeting.  I didn't have far to go, but it was brutal along the way.

I went over a few more passes.  The one that takes you into Izmir from Manisa on D565 is another doozy.  It goes up and up and up, and the speed limits go down and down and down, in recognition of the steepness and the tightness of the curves.  I was almost scraping on turns at 25 mph, with taxis and trucks wanting to be in my lane too.  I didn't have time to look at anything but the exit to the corner I was in, and listen for the rpms to make sure I had enough torque left to pull out of the turn without falling over.  It was an experience to savor after it was over, because the now of it is trying to survive.  If you didn't have to jockey for position constantly, it would be much more fun.

In Izmir, I had input bad data to Mr. G., so he wanted me to stop there.  I argued with him, finally ignored him, and rode down to the edge of the sea.  It reminded me of the area in Chicago where the road goes along the lake, and there are promenades and parks and such.  Well, this had a long, long sea wall, then some walkways and grass parks, then the roadway, then shops and apartments across the street. 

You can see what the weather was like. 

After I sorted things out, I headed towards Selçuk and the ancient city of Ephesus.  Along the way, I stopped for lunch at a truck stop.

It was mighty tasty.

On the ride into Selçuk, I noticed some things that made me want to stay a little longer, like a castle and St. John's Basilica.  I saw on the map there were some campgrounds on the beach, so I headed that way.  I found a place on the beach, asked if they had rooms, they did, and so I rented one on the beach for three nights.  There is a lot to see and do, so I decided to see and do it.