Escape to Ephasus

 Sunday 15 September

Another early start and we're on the bus to Ephesus at 8am. Once the capital of Asia Minor, during the 2nd and 3rd centuries it had a population of around 250,000 and was the 4th largest city in the world. As with Troy, its location shifted owing to the harbour silting up so that it became an inland city, and gradually it depopulated until it was finally abandoned in the 14th century. 

Discovered by a British engineer, Ephesus was excavated by Austrians who are still at it - it's estimated that only 20% of it has actually been uncovered, and the renovations are quite remarkable, with baths (always sited near to the gates of a city so that weary travellers could freshen up on entry), a latrine (men taking a dump communally - can't see the attraction myself), a gymnasium (school) , brothel, a clearly defined main street, theatres (natch) and a magnificent library. And who knew - the phrase life begins at forty comes from the age at which a torch guardian retired. The sole duty of these guardians was to guard a flaming torch at the entrance to the city which indicated whether or not it was safe to enter (so plague-free for example), and they were forced to retire at forty, so....

 

Of all the ruins (and I'm seeing quite a few), it's by far the most impressive and it makes me realise how Rome, Greece and Turkey overlap. 

We then move on to Turkmen weavers, a carpet co-operative where we watch these amazingly skilled women double knotting away to create the most beautiful wool, silk and cotton carpets. These can take from 8 to 15 months to create, and a government scheme to recruit home workers to perpetuate these unique skills means that now 2800 women are employed in the showroom and in villages. Tax advantages from local government to encourage compeititive pricing stimulates the tourist trade and yes, fortified by complimentary apple tea and wine, this tourist has ordered this beautiful silk and cotton number to be reduced in size for a little bedside mat at great expense - it's an investment piece I'm told, and it will arrive by Christmas - without the fringing. Never has an impulse purchase cost me so dear and I probably should have haggled but it's not a bazaar and when you see these people at work with their dexterity and dedication... 

We have lunch at the weavers and then head off for a long drive to Pamukkale, turning further inland to an area that's becoming increasingly arid and mountainous. We arrive at the lunar-ish landscape formed by calcium deposits and thermal pools at Herapolis, which also boasts more ruins and a museum containing very fine recovered sarcophagi and stautes. 

After a paddle, we have a good walk around to get the step count up before heading for our spa hotel which is new and very tastefully done - enormous room all for me

and we manage to have a lovely relaxing dip in the thermal pool (which is enhanced by a distant call to prayer which I always find rather beautiful) before a decent dinner and a nice bottle of local white wine at a reasonable price. Yet another buffet though - not much chance of anything more imaginative in these massive tourist hotels, but we fill our plates anyway! Sadly our start is even earlier on Monday (which is going to be a very loooong journey to Capadoccia) so we don't get to repeat the spa experience, which was considerably less crowded than my last time which was in Bath, funnily enough.