Ephesus and on to Gulet (day 1)

Ephesus and on to the Gulet

My goodness.  This is quite the amazing reconstructed ruin of an ancient city.  It is actually the third city of Ephesus and they moved for a variety of reasons.  First to the second city to be closer to the temple of Artemis, then away from the harbor as it filled with silt and became muddy, then to the top of the mountain as the Islamist moved in. The baths, gymnasiums, brothels, temples, statues, main streets and shops, fountains, theaters, pipes and gutters for water, the public toilet, homes and the library are built on the hillside above what was once the harbor.  Looking down the hill to the library reminded us briefly of Petra.  We did not get to go into the terraced houses of the rich residents this time, but may be back with our cruise.  One fellow passengers described Ephesus this way:  Carolyn—It was historically breathtaking, not anything like I thought it would be, it was much larger and grander.

We had lunch in the fourth city, on top of the hill.  It used to a Greek town but at some point the Greeks went to Greece and Turks living in Greece came here.  It is an idyllic town up a narrow cobblestone road.  At the top the view of the red roof tops and the minaret in a heavily treed valley with beautiful little cottages couldn’t help but make you want to move here.  We had lunch in a garden cafe.  Did we tell you about the Turkish cats?  They are everywhere and people feed them where ever they are, in the subway, under the cafe table, in Ephesus….Sue fed the cat in the cafe.  A bite for Sue, a bite for the cat.

After lunch we wandered down through the town streets/market, shopping all the way.  You name it, they had it.  Including ice cream frozen in a at least a 10 gallon block hanging from a hook.  With a meat cleaver they shaved the ice cream to put into cones, usually curling the slice.  Fun.  We bought a few little things and admired all the purchases of our fellow travelers.

Off to St. John’s church at the top of another hill near Ephesus.  Once again ruins of a Christian church and the fourth city of Ephesus.  The ruins were filled with flowers of every color and type.  We find ourselves drawn to the flowers over and over again in Turkey.  The roses are stunning and grow everywhere.  Some are cut back and some are twenty feet tall.

Back to the hotel, built on the hillside over the ocean in Kusadasi.  It is an older hotel with blue couches and walls, a classic old bar, an African Grey bird in the lobby, with a resident dog and a few stray cats roaming in and out.  Walls have pictures of the rich and famous from days gone by, including Her Royal Majesty.  We did not see Hilary. Floor to ceiling windows in the dining room allowed us to view the Mediterranean sunsets.

In the morning we left to start our trip towards the Gulet.  Who could have believed that we would spend 4 hours at a rug weaving workshop, school and wholesaler, not to mention the restaurant on the side with it’s own winery and olive orchard.  It is a cooperative in the truest sense of the word, trying desperately to keep the traditional handicraft of rugs making alive.  The buildings were originally the dormitories for the rail road workers.  We had demonstrations on weaving, dying and our favorite—catching the threads of the cocoons by using a whisk type broom.  First factoid:  one cocoon can produce a thread a mile long.  Next came the carpet demonstration from traditional nomadic wool carpets to fine silk art pieces with up to 4000 knots per square inch—at $50,000.  We succumbed.  We bought a nomadic rug made by a young woman prior to being married, you can tell by the way the fringe knots are tied together.

We had delightful barbecue chicken and lamb lunch in the garden next to olive orchard.  Five of us bought rugs, so we were all happy.  Each meal comes with yogurt, tomato and onion salads, bread, and olives as starters.  Nancy shocked Sue and tried an olive, she still doesn’t like them.  Turks love them and eat them with breakfast as well.  So does Sue.  Their rice is scrumptious.  Tulay says it is cooked with butter, no wonder we like it, but there is more to it than that.

Onward to the town where we get on the Gulet, last minute shopping for sunscreen, sunglasses, pharmacy items and changing money.  Off we go.  We are welcomed aboard our double masted ship that has 9 or 10 cabins.  A crew of four, captain, cook, first and second mates.  We motored not far to our night moorage in a bay.  Dinner was served on the back deck.  Chicken and great rice!  With the normal starters and fresh fruit for desert.  Our cabin has two beds, one an upper bunk, and two port holes.  Also its own bathroom with shower and another porthole.  Sue liked describing gullets as looking like Captain Hooks boat, but in reality they are large wooden vessels complete with small bar, galley and plenty of space for everyone.

We lifted anchor at 5:30 am to head to the rendezvous with a smaller river craft.  We travelled through the reeds of the river basin past a beach where the logger head turtles come to lay there eggs.  It is just the start of the season and the third turtle came up last night and left its trail in the sand.  We stopped at a spot where they were catching blue crabs.  They took small ones and tried to attract the turtles for us to see.  Success.  On to our docking spot where we began our walk up the hill to another city in ruins.  There are few beaches here as most of the rock and trees come right down to the ocean.  We found a theater, main street, argos (the market place), church, harbor and city wall and fortress on the mountain side.  The alter in the church still exists from 5th century AD.  Wall carvings of crosses where on the floor, but intact.  Goats, sheep, tortoises and donkeys, including a pregnant donkey hiding in the bushes, roamed the ruins and posed for many a picture.  Again flowers everywhere, thistle, orchid, pomegranate, limes and poppies filled the landscape as we walked down the other side of the hill to the waiting boat.  Up river we viewed the burial site carved into the rock cliffs.  They look like old roman buildings complete with pillars.  The largest, for the king was incomplete but you would see the cave below where he is believed to have been buried.  There is little flat land for cultivation so the town, homes and burial sites are all on the steep hillsides. 

Lunch on the boat.  Patty and Nancy (not Desmond) jumped in for a cold swim.  Waters are promised to be warmer tomorrow.  A nap on the front deck cushions as we cruise to our next moorage on a beautiful sunny yet hazy day through the islands on the coast.