Isa Bey Mosque

The Isa Bey Mosque is one of the finest early Turkish buildings on the Aegean coast and one of the least visited. It stands in the old centre of Selçuk, below Ayasuluk Hill and a few minutes on foot from the Basilica of St John and the Ephesus Museum. The mosque dates from the late fourteenth century, during the emirate of Aydin, and an inscription dated January 1375 names its architect as Ali, son of Mushimish of Damascus. Its plan is unusual and grand, with a wide, open courtyard and a prayer hall supported by columns, and its black granite columns are said to have been recycled from Roman baths of ancient Ephesus. That reuse is part of the charm: the mosque is a physical link between the classical city and the Turkish town that grew beside it, and the stone you see was carved long before the mosque was built. The courtyard is peaceful and shaded, a good place to sit after the sun and the crowds of the ruins, and the setting beneath the basilica and fortress hill makes a memorable photograph.

How to visit it respectfully matters. It is a working mosque, so visitors can usually go in outside prayer times, but you should dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and women should carry a scarf for the head. Remove shoes before entering the prayer hall, keep your voice low and do not photograph worshippers. Entry has generally been free, as for most working mosques, though it is wise to check locally and to leave a small donation if a box is provided.

Hours depend on prayer times and the weather, so it is not a place to plan to the minute, and if the doors are closed you can still see the courtyard walls and the setting.

What makes the visit rewarding is context. Before you go, read a short account of the Seljuk and Aydin periods and of how Selçuk replaced Ephesus as the settlement as the harbour silted up, because the mosque then explains itself. Look for the carved details of the portals, the brick and stone work, and the juxtaposition of Roman columns and Turkish architecture.

From the courtyard you can look up at the walls of Ayasuluk fortress and the basilica of St John, and the whole complex reads as one long story in stone. It takes about twenty to forty minutes, which makes it an easy addition to a Selçuk walk that also includes the Ephesus Museum, the Temple of Artemis and the basilica.Who is it for? Anyone who wants a quiet, free counterweight to the bigger sights, and especially visitors interested in architecture or in the layers of history that Selçuk contains: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman.

It is also a fine early-evening stop, when the light on the stone is warm and the courtyard is calm. Because it is outside the main tour circuit, you may well have it nearly to yourself. Pair it with a coffee or a meal in the lanes of Selçuk, and use it as a reminder that Ephesus is only one chapter of the story.