The Odyssey brings me to Homer

I had travelled to Izmir to meet an old school friend who was travelling with her family. Having promised to meet her at the hotel for breakfast, my first hurdle came when the train stopped at a station in the middle of a field and we were shepherded off and taken to a shuttle bus. The route, it seems, was undergoing major engineering work, a crucial fact you miss when you don't speak the vernacular. When I had located the hotel, I got some strange looks from security - it seems I was not kitted out in quite the style of the 5 star's regular patrons - but was eventually let in and enjoyed my first cooked breakfast in weeks.

Her parents having rented a car, I experienced the luzury of 'private transport'; I had forgotten the freedom that we take for granted when we are not relying on timetables. We drove down through Selcuk to Ephesus, the site of some of the most extraordinary ruins in this part of the world. Having parked in the main car park, we boarded a 'free' shuttle bus that kindly took us via a school of carpet making, just on the off chance that we should be looking to purchase a carpet - see '20 Lessons', lesson number one: nothing is free. When we eventually reached the ruins, the sun was baking the ground, and tourist groups swarmed around their multilingual guides like flies.

The ruins at Ephesus are fascinating because of the great length of time that this area was settled. You can see inscriptions in all periods of Greek and Latin, and a myriad of styles of architecture. I of course am not educated in the subtle differences between these, but my friend is terrifyingly well read and was able to provide me with information. In the afternoon we drove up into the mountains to have a picnic, and spent a good deal of time searching among the trees for a particular kind of plant to no avail. But getting a chance to fully explore a less populous part of the country is something you rarely get as a solo traveller without a car, and so I made the most of it. Back in Izmir, we ate out in the evening at an authentic Turkish restaurent by the sea - my first real taste of a selection of the local entrees.

My second day in Izmir was spent in varying degrees of panic. I woke up knowing that I only had a bed for one more night and had no more idea of what country I was going to as I did what bed. My main options were to head to the Greek islands, to explore the Turkish coast further or to head inland. After hours spent looking over maps and doing my research in internet cafes I chose the latter, but I had left little time to do anything else all day.

So on my final day I spent a little more time exploring. Izmir is a city that at once appears perfectly simple; as you spend time here, however, you lose faith in the geography you have built up in your mind until you become entirely lost. The outskirts are a sea of square technicolour houses; interesting although not beautiful at a distance, but not worth exploring. The centre itself in many ways resembles a Western European city, but none of the shops are the same. In fact, for the first time in living memory, it took me over an hour to locate a Starbucks. (I know this is unadventurous, but I was after coffee that didn't have mud in the bottom and wouldn't send my system into shock. Besides, few people here understand requests for a Grande Iced Latte.) However, by the sea there are some interesting features including a small mosque and a famous clock tower, and of course the city is famous not only as the alleged birthplace of Homer but as a crucial place in the fight for Turkish independence. Having explored these and resigned myself to the fact that I have about exhausted what Izmir has to offer, I settled into an internet cafe, which is where I write this: small, out of the way, but incredibly cheap. A little while ago, as I was typing, a fight broke out outside, perhaps a sign that it's time for me to move on!

The Odyssey brings me to Homer

Izmir, Turkey