Ephesus and Kusadasi, Turkey
Daybreak on a calm sea heading for Kusadasi. We arrived to discover that we were alone in the new harbor – no monster cruise vessels were in port, which meant a much less crowded tour of Ephesus, the premier metropolis of Roman Asia Minor. After a twenty-minute bus ride, we entered the upper gate of the archaeological park embracing this site, to begin our approximately one-mile walk down its ancient streets to savor its glorious past. Arguably the most impressive Greco-Roman city in the eastern Mediterranean, Ephesus may have had as many as 250,000 inhabitants at its peak in the 2nd century AD. Our stroll toward the ancient harbor area of this storied metropolis led us past and into major prestige monuments like the Library of Celsus, the Odeon, and the Grand Theater, as well as more mundane ones like a public latrine and a brothel. All provided an unforgettable history lesson in stone in this great outdoor museum.
In many ways, our tour today was a capstone experience that helped us better understand what we had seen previously at the ancient sites of Aspendos, Perge and Kaunos. The excavations and restorations at Ephesus have been done with a clear intent to maximize the didactic potential of these stunning and expansive ruins. As some of our shipmates commented, this city by itself speaks loudly and clearly to the majesty of the classical world. No one who has shared the adventure of walking on the marble pavements of Ephesus, viewing the opulent remains of its buildings, and sensing the echoes of its distant past will ever forget the moment. Realizing that only a small portion of its total expanse has been excavated or explored even after about 100 years of scholarly investigations also gave us pause. What more works of art await future discovery? What other secrets does this city still hold in its silent earth?
A drive by the ancient site of the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, confirmed the Latin aphorism sic transit gloria. All that now remains visible of this once magnificent structure, a tourist attraction in its own right in antiquity, was a single column standing in marshy ground. A large nest, probably of a stork, surmounted this one feature.
Lunch ashore at a Turkish restaurant gave us an opportunity to sample some of the best of this country’s varied cuisine. The buffet that awaited us was overwhelming. The best news was that no selection or choice was an incorrect one. We all wisely sampled many dishes and discovered that each was better than the one before. It was a perfect way to begin saying our goodbyes to this country.
Our next stop was the museum in Seljuk, a modern Turkish city near the ancient site, where many of the more important recent archaeological finds are now on display. This visit added substance and texture to our earlier walk through Ephesus’s history. Although many artifacts from previous excavations are now housed in European museums, the ones currently on display will stay forever in Turkey. The displays in this museum, like in so many of the recently built or renovated local museums around this country, are done with simplicity, economy and grace with ample signage in both English and Turkish.
Our last stop on our very full day was the Turkmen Art & Rug Weaving Center where young women from various areas of Turkey are taught the traditional crafts and techniques of making carpets by hand. We were first treated to a performance of traditional dances of Western Anatolia by a troop of young men and women and an even more “lively” exhibition of belly dancing by a woman well versed in this form of terpsichorean art.
A very informative discussion covering the manufacture of silk and a variety of traditional rug making techniques followed, along with a showing of the many types of carpets. Refreshments, a Q&A session, and an opportunity to buy any of the rugs on exhibition (in a completely low-key and friendly environment) ended our exposure to the intricacies of one of Turkey’s traditional crafts now being rescued from near oblivion in shops such as this one.
A short bus drive back to the Sea Cloud for a recap of our day and an informal buffet ended a wonderful last day in Turkey. There was an opportunity to explore the busy seaside of Kusadasi at night before we sailed for Chios, but only an intrepid few of us had the energy to leave our ship again after what had been the busiest day on our expedition.
