We left Marmaris bright and early by bus, with only a slight concern as to if we were going to the right place (people kept saying Dalaman but all the signs said Havalimani which turned out to mean airport in Turkish) and picked up our car. For the next 2 days, it was just us, our mighty Renault Fluency and the open road.
First stop was a nearby park, where we used our newly learned Turkish to order ( 2 water = iki su) and managed not to accidentally double the amount of food.
Then straight on to Ephesus, a 3,000 year old city that had been inhabited by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines at some point in its long history.
Once we parked at the bottom, we took a free shuttle that stops at the government-sponsored school for Turkish carpet making and learned a ton about the different styles and materials used to make these beautiful rugs. For example, we learned that you can use different materials for the weave (ie: wool on cotton or silk on silk) and that the quality of a rug can be seen in its tassels. Who knew? We also saw the finest “rug” in the world, which had 4,000 knots per square inch (which is amazing when you think the average rug has 180)!
Then on to the ruins! We saw temples, tried to puzzle out inscriptions, strolled down column-lined agoras (long marketplace streets) and practiced our oration in the huge Amphitheater.
– J & G
Very cool pictures! And the food looks glorious. Now where are the pictures of Jess????