27 April 2023
Turkey seems to get more surprising as the days go on. This morning we visited the amazing Ephesus ruins, which are a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site. This was the third city of Ephesus and was settled in about the 4th century BC. Currently about 15% of the city has been excavated and exposed, with the remaining 85% still under earth. It was originally a port city, but the coast is now quite some distance away – presumably due to earthquakes and land movement. As we wound our way through the wonderfully preserved streets and buildings, accompanied by an array of friendly cats and dogs, it seemed that around every corner there was a new wonder. We saw a mosaic street, with the ruins of the shops and houses leading off it, we saw temples, a brothel with a secret backstreet entrance for the locals and a well-advertised entrance for the sailors. There were Christian messages written in code, a well-preserved public latrine, evidence of underfloor heating and pipes of running water. A very grand library was at the bottom of the main street. This is not the original building but rather a replica – but this didn’t detract from how impressive it was. We were very lucky because when we visited the large theatre (could seat nearly 25000 spectators), one of the visitors to the site was singing what sounded like an Italian operatic song in a very lovely, deep voice. It was quite a magic moment and the acoustics in the theatre were fantastic. Ephesus was a definite highlight for me, and somewhere I would like to return to. I think you could easily spend a whole day exploring the site and taking everything in.
After Ephesus, we travelled just down the road to a leather goods manufacturer called “Popular Leather”. They work with only lamb and sheep skins (so soft), and manufacture for many of the European fashion houses including YSL, Prada, Hermes, Balenciaga, and Dior. We were initially led into a room, given a glass of wine and then treated to a fashion parade of leather jackets from some very high end models (a few of our tour group were coopted into participation – including Rogie, LOL). After that we were taken into the showroom with at least 6 salespeople to our very small number of 16 customers. They were very helpful, and very good at selling. Probably about 50% of our group ended up purchasing a jacket. The quality was superb and many of them were reversable, so you got two jackets for the price of one. The pricing was well discounted from ex-factory pricing and there were some excellent bargains if you were in need of a jacket. Very sadly the Armani jacket that Rog modelled would not get much wear in the Queensland climate.
From there we stopped for a yummy lunch of skewers and salads (great selection) and then drove about three hours to the Doga Thermal Health & Spa Hotel in Pamukkale, where we are staying the night. The facilities here are great, with multiple thermal pools, saunas, various massage treatments, and steam rooms.
We seem to have entered a different climate zone, with snow on the top of the hills. This area has a large geothermal zone, including silica deposits similar to the Pink and White Terraces in New Zealand. Tomorrow we will hopefully be able to visit them.
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