Kusadasi – Tapestry of Turkish Culture

Our stop in the port of Kusadasi was my first official contact with the continent of Asia.  What once had been a sleepy little fishing village only a decade ago has been transformed into a major port for cruise liners such as ours, to disgorge thousands of summer tourists to over-run the ruins of Ephesus.  Kusadasi is now a modern, friendly, vibrant resort town of 65,000 people catering to the tourist industry, which can cause the population to more than quadruple in the season. 

Backing into the port of Kusadasi

It was thrilling to think we were in Turkey, ancient Anatolia, with a prehistory stretching back to Neolithic times, perhaps the source of the Indo-European languages.  The Hittites built a magnificent kingdom here dating from 1800 BC, and around 1200 BC Ionian Greeks started colonies on the western shores, including Ephesus.  The fabled city of Troy, in its earliest building phases dates to about 1700 BC.  Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, the gateway to Europe, was once Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, then the Byzantine Empire, then after 1453 was renamed Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire. 

We disembarked from the ship for our shore excursion and met our guide Nevin, who would first take us to Ephesus with time left over for shopping in the Bazaar of Kusadasi.  We drove through farmlands of cotton, olives, oranges, and past small concrete-block villages, trying to read the Turkish road signs.  As we approached Ephesus Nevin told us the road we were on was once underwater, that Ephesus had been on the seacoast, but the harbor silted up over the centuries and now was 6 km inland.  It started as a Greek city in the Bronze Age, about 1400 BC, and from its earliest days had been associated with the goddess Artemis.  The many-breasted statue “Diana of Ephesus” that we saw at the Vatican Museum last year originated here.  One of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” the Temple of Artemis was built in the late 6^th century BC by King Croesus, his name synonymous with fabulous riches because he first minted gold-silver alloy coins.  The temple was burned down in 356 BC by a sociopathic nobody named Herostratus who, according to the historian Pausanius, wanted to become famous, even if it meant doing something dastardly.  Nevin showed us the site of where the huge ancient temple once stood, and all that was left was a tall column of obviously mismatched sections, standing forlornly in an open field. 

 Harbour Street

 

The Grand Theatre

 

The Temple of Hadrian

 

 The Celsus Library

The ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus covered an enormous area, about two square miles that in 200 AD, at the height of the Roman period, was home to about 50,000 people.  I think there were about 50,000 people there that day, all straining to hear our own tour guide above the cacophony, all trying to get photos of the fantastic Roman ruins.  After entering through the Magnesia Gate, we stumbled down the marble paved road to see the Odeum, the Celsus Library (featured in almost every Archaeology Magazine I have), the Temple of Hadrian, the Fountain of Trajan, and the Grand Theatre.  Grand, indeed, it could hold 25,000 spectators, and Nevin told us St Paul had preached here.  It was almost too much, so much to take in with such a mass of humanity in the way.  I would have to come back here in the “off-season.”

As promised, Nevin took us back to Kusadasi to a carpet weaving demonstration and factory sales pitch.  I must admit the carpets were gorgeous, and I would have purchased one if I had an extra $6000 laying around.  The people were so friendly and accommodating, and we enjoyed the show.  Carpet weaving has been one of Turkey’s most treasured arts going way back.  If you visit Kusadasi and wish to purchase a gorgeous Turkish rug, and support their ancient arts, try:

Majestic Carpet and Jewelry, Ataturk Bulvari No 20, Phone 90 (256) 612 44 04

Email: Majesticcarpet@ttmail.com