Last stop: Izmir, Turkey

Last excursion: Ephesus

 This is yet another post that should have been written a while ago, last summer to be exact since this was the last stop on our honeymoon cruise. Jose and I had already visited Italy, Croatia, Athens and several Greek islands before stopping in Turkey for the day. We planned ahead and booked an excursion with the cruise line that visited the ancient city of Ephesus. We hopped on the bus early in the morning but by the time we had arrived there were already a TON of other tourists walking around in the heat.


Ephesus is famous for being the site of the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) though now there are only ruins. It also has the Library of Celsus which is somewhat better preserved.
Library of Celsus
Our tour guide did a good job of relating to us what life would have been like in this big city, how the different classes of people would have lived. We also saw a reenactment after visiting the giant theater created by the Romans.

Turkish rugs

 After leaving Ephesus we made another stop at a factory that made Turkish rugs. This place was subsidized by the government and taught mostly women from poor areas the traditional art of weaving rugs. They walked us through the whole painstaking process. The rugs were beautiful (and expensive) but like our tour guide said, they were definitely investment pieces.
Harvesting silk from worms
Weaving
Showing the rugs

After poking around the store for a bit and admiring the rugs, we headed back to the port. I was not very impressed with Izmir as a city per se. I am glad that we had this excursion planned because there was not much to see otherwise. I would love to go back and explore more of Turkey though. In fact, it is on my 30 before 30 list.

Comments

  1. EmilyAugust 3, 2013 at 4:28 AM

    We went to Ephesus too and loved it. I thought some of the ruins were more impressive than those in Rome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AllieAugust 13, 2013 at 12:34 AM

      I agree, though Rome holds a very special place in my heart : )

      Did you see anything else in Turkey?

      Delete
  2. UnknownDecember 17, 2013 at 12:39 PM

    After reading this blog only i was known this Ephesus is famous for being the site of the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World). Very nice. ephesus tours from Port Of Izmir, Gateway Izmir, CruiseTherminal are most famous places.

    ReplyDelete

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