Inscription from 600 BC. About two inches high. At Delos, statue platform.

Events of the day:

Ephasus. En plein air Lunch at carpet coop. Introduction to oriental carpets. Kusadasi

(Kusadasi) / Ephesus/ Camlik / Kusadasi....

This was a very rich day, but not "too much", not (overly) tiring. This page needs significant work. (Page starts with some photos of some Kusadsi kids, who were promised they'd be here, and I don't want them too far down the page... if you've seen the photos, kids, please email me, so I can move them down the page!)

Three main events: Archaeological site at Ephesus / Visit to carpet co-op at Camlik/ Free time in town of Kusadasi

We arrived in the thriving modern city/ port of Kusadasi at the start of the day, left on coaches to drive to Ephesus. Ephesus, today, is an isolated archaeological site. It was once a port city, but the harbor silted in, and I suspect there was some geologic uplift, too, leaving Ephesus high and almost dry. The "almost" is important: Not only could ships no longer get it, but also malaria took hold. So the city died "quietly", and much remains for us to see today, as it didn't perish in fire, or volcano, or rampaging warriors.

Kusadasi was the eastern end of the Silk Road, so not insignificant, in itself... but somewhat eclipsed by The Main Event. We enjoyed Kusadasi later.

We were taken in coaches, roughly northeast, about 7 miles, arriving at the Ephesus around 8:30 to beat the crowds and the heat. More on our visit to the site later. After our time there, on to the museum, in Selcuk, about 2 miles ENE of Ephesus. From museum, on to carpet co-op, four miles south of Selcuk, passing en route site of Temple of Artemis, one of seven wonders of the ancient world. And the ruins of the Basilica of St John.

If you've been integrating successfully, you will know that left us with a journey of about 7 miles, WSW, to get back to where we'd started the day. We had free time to explore the town in the first part of the afternoon.

The visit to the superb excavations at Ephesus was one of the highlights of the trip. More on that when I can get the photos processed. In the meantime, some footballing kids from Kusadasi.

In one of those photos, the football has been supplied by PhotoPlus (a program like Photoshop.) Care to guess which photo needed the computer's help?

Ephesus

We enetered the site at the top, and worked our way down this major street. (Photo taken looking southeast, back along the street we had just come down.)

Near the bottom, we went up into the "terraced houses", a recently opened part of the site. They run down to this street on the south side, i.e. the side to the right in the photo, but at a point behind (farther down hill) me, at the time I took this photo.

After the amazing excavations of the terraced houses, we got to the bottom of the street, into the square where the facade of the library has been partially re-erected.

Coming upon the scene at the left was one of the "remember to breathe" moments of the trip. I've been so amazed by what we'd already seen in the upper "minor" parts of the site, that I'd forgotten what was ahead, as "the main course".

In the photo at the left, the odd "building" you see in the left forground is the eastern face of the lower part of the building which has been constructed over the "terraced houses", to protect them from the elements. Vast. Stretches a long way up the hill.

These two photos barely scratch the surface. Many more to come.

The museum at Ephesus

More photos to come.

Visit to carpet co-op

There is a concern that that art of weaving oriental rugs may be threatened by various factors. We visited a co-op which hopes to keep the skills and traditions alive. They gave us a tremendous introduction (and opportunies to acquire anything from a small, inexpensive momento, up to serious works of art. On member of our group had brought measurements for three large rooms, and went away happy.

For most of the information and photos about the visit to the carpet co-op, you will have to go to the sub-page I've created about that. But just as a "taster"....

The carpet in the photo below, with its two inset "details" panels, was about 26inches by 40 inches. In the style of a prayer rug. At 3,200 knots per square inch, it is a work of art, to be hung... carefully... on a wall (in a museum?) $78,000 dollars. But if divide that by the hours spent by skilled craftsmen (and women) to create it, you will see that it would be a bargain.

Kusadasi

As I said at the top... this page needs major work! Ephesus was WAY more exciting than conveyed here... yet.

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