Day 7 (May 14 2010)

Today marked our first full week traveling. In the morning, we left the large town of Izmir for the site of Sardis. First we left to see the considerably large temple to Artemis there, almost the size of the massive Artemision in Ephesus. Nearby the temple is a smaller early Christian church. The main spectacle at Sardis is the massive gymansium/bath complex with shop stalls in the side. The front of the gymnasium is at least 60 feet tall, and was reconstructed for the full effect. It's too bad they don't make buildings this big anymore! Next to the gymnasium is a beautifully preserved Synagogue, with almost completely intact sections of tiling that still show detail.

After touring this spectacular  site, we left for the Ephesus area. On our way there, we stopped at a carpet factory/museum where we got to see the beautiful process that goes into their handmade carpets. There are three main types of carpets you can get: wool carpets, cotton on wool base carpets, cotton on cotton carpets, and pure silk carpets. Plain wool is easier to make as the threads are bigger, but it is limited to strictly geometric designs as finer flowers would appear too rough. By using cotton on wool carpets, the thread count can be much higher and much smoother and more intricate designs can be made, such as flowers and vines. Cotton on cotton is like this except a small bit finer. Silk is like the Porsche of carpets, it is very expensive and has such a high thread count that it takes years to make a tiny carpet with it. However, the colors are so vivid and the contrast is so fine that full pictures can be made with this carpet design. When brushed in one direction, the pile of this carpet can give a completely different appearance when viewed from different angles. It is truly a beautiful work of art.

The manager first told us that this was a working museum, not a store, but if we wanted to buy something nobody would say no. After this, we were shown by the manager of the store how silk is made from a cocoon to a strand of thread. He showed us the carpet makers blaze away at the tiny knots and weaves, and we were then given free drinks (Some alcoholic) and taken to a show room to be awed by their mind-boggling assortment of over 10,000 carpets (we weren't shown all of them, thank goodness). I'll put it this way: few people left the building empty handed.

After this experience, we left for the amazing site of Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the biggest port towns in the Hellenistic age, and thus is home to one of the largest Greek theaters still standing, many almost perfectly preserved row houses and a staggeringly large library. There's so much to this massive port town that only a tiny fraction of it has been excavated for lack of funds. I imagine if they did excavate it all the site would be too overwhelming to visit, though.

We visited most of what has been excavated there, but by far my favorite part was the beautiful row houses. As Regan explained it, this is where the finest and richest of the town would live, in beautiful mansions adorned with intricate floor tiling and wall murals. This part of the town was like the Beverly Hills of Ephesus, and no detail was left uncompleted.

After a long and thrilling day, we left for the hotel Tusan near Canakkale. Wow!