Before the tour headed to the restaurant for our afternoon meal, we had another stop to make: St. John’s Basilica:
https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?SectionId=STJ01&DistId=STJ
The Basilica of St. John is another hugely important, ancient Christian site. It is here that John, Jesus’ favorite disciple was buried, and a church was built on the site. There is still enough left to picture the once quite impressive architecture with massive halls supported by arches and columns dating back to the 1st c. AD. Again, even if this history isn’t your thing, try to appreciate the sheer mastery of the architecture in its own right. We just don’t build like this anymore with such grace and magnitude. Although some may argue that modern architecture is as skilled, I would argue (I’m told I do that a lot) that given the technology and materials, they were quite masterful at their craft; let alone how the messages themselves were expressed through the art of architecture. Regardless, it was fun to imagine the enormity and magnitude of this once ostensible basilica.
If you aren’t keen to poke around on the link up there ^, here is a short sentence or two about the basilica: “Basilica of St. John which was built on the burial site of St. John by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 1st century. It is one of the largest structures of the period. At the center of the six-domed church is the Tomb of St. John. The dome is supported by 12 columns in the church, there is a baptistery dating back to the 4th century. The door of the baptistery is well worth visiting.”
Here is a photo of what it probably looked like before earthquakes destroyed most of it:
This is by far a much smaller archeological site and by now I was petering out on photo taking, so there are only a very few I can share. Here are those that I got along with a few snaps Mikki took as well:
Everyone was getting pretty hungry by now given the mild complaining we heard amongst our tour group of about 30 folks. It was finally time to head to our restaurant destination, which for the life of me can’t find any name of. I’m so sorry!! Terrible trip reporting right there. To the best of my recollection, it was set in a historical train station used in during the 1920’s-1950’s and had quite a collection of train paraphernalia on display. Sadly, or maybe thankfully, I only have photos of the food, all of which was truly amazing!
As I mentioned in the last chapter, this was a “Biblical Ephesus Tour” which naturally included a “Biblical Feast”. All of the dishes served to us could have, or would have, been served during the 1st c. AD. Mostly-ish. When we walked in several tables were set up so we’d be eating “family-style”. We are fine with that and love meeting new people and making new friends. In fact, we’d gotten to know a really sweet family, Mom, Dad, and 2 teen-aged, extremely well-behaved and polite kids. Of the 8 tours we’d eventually go on, they were with us on 7! What are the odds?! Of all the 7-10 tours offered at every port, we seemed pretty like-minded. They ended up sitting with us along with another couple and it was great fun chatting over this exquisite lunch.
On the tables were little dishes of nuts and dried fruits with feta cheese wedges, decorative mounds of tzatziki and hummus, lettuce salad (I’m positive iceberg was NOT GMO’d yet, so for authenticity’s sake some chicory or dandelion or other field greens would have been more appropriate. It would probably have gone untouched too I suppose, so there’s that.), another little salad of leeks and veggies (that’s more like it), some little honey cakes with fig jam, and some olive oil with herbs.
As we sat down and started to explore the foods, the mom noticed that several of the dishes at their end of the table had been nibbled on by (most likely) some local kitties. I personally found it hilarious, but she was not having it. Clearly grossed out, she asked if they could have new items of those that had been pilfered. This flustered the staff but they still cheerfully brought out drink orders. Mikki ordered some wine, and I ordered a Coke. I made the rookie mistake of forgetting that you will never get a soda that is cold or served with ice, so suffered with trying to use that to quench any thirst I had. The water was very welcome!
Here’s a photo of the full table as it looked when we arrived. You can see the decimated honey cake on the left side halfway up and the feta cheese that the critters noshed on.
After they brought our drinks and we’d had plenty of time to enjoy the dishes on the table, they began to bring out the other courses. There were a lot and it was FAR too much to finish. Believe it or not, one of my favorites was the green beans- again a mistake historically (those originated around Peru and the Spanish brought them to Europe/Asia later), but I gave it a pass and just enjoyed. There was warm, fresh bread, and a perfectly cooked fish dish with onions and other veggies. Lastly, there was a lamb dish cooked just right; it was very tender and not gamey at all. I LOVED this as it was cooked with honey and other beautiful spices (no photo of this one). YUM!
Of course there was a gift shop on the way out where you could spend far more than you should on Turkish delight, Turkish coffee sets, honeys, spice mixes, and olive oil EVERYTHING. It was on this tour that we learned from our guide that while Spain and Italy are the top 2 exporters of olive oil, Turkey is #5 after Greece and Portugal, which was shocking to me. (The Portugal part, not Turkey.) I didn’t buy anything but enjoyed browsing, nonetheless.
Now that we’d been stuffed to the brims of our touristy selves, we had one last stop to make before heading back to the port. This was perhaps the most brilliant tour operator move I’ve ever seen… They made sure to get us into a satisfied, big meal stupor then took us to… the Rug Factory.
So, we pull up and are greeted by this smooth talking, well-dressed, suave, Turk, who pretends to be all cozy with our guide. “They’ve been friends since grade school.”, “We’re related.”, etc…. Let’s just say, it was a bit too hmm, overdone? Canned? I’ve lived in that area of the world for many years; I wasn’t buying it. Literally or figuratively. All skepticism aside, we were escorted into a room lined with 6 or so handmade looms- giant ones that reached the ceiling. Inside were 2 women, one actively weaving, the other ready at the “silk harvesting vat”. We gathered around and stood mesmerized as she demonstrated the dying (as opposed to the dyeing) art of making the silk yarns that would be dyed and made into the $50,000 rugs.
- The silkworms die in the process. I did not know that. But they are mindful of sustaining the crop for future business.
- The silkworms only eat mulberry leaves. You’ll still see many, many trees all over the area for home businesses of cocoon selling.
- It takes 10kg of cocoons to make 1kg of silk thread.
- And it takes 5,500 silkworms to make that 1kg.
- Silk is the strongest natural fiber in the world.
While the gentleman gave us the spiel, the Master Weaver Lady showed us the process of taking a brush and pulling a few of the very finest of strands out and then twisting and spinning them onto a spool using her foot power. One strand is 1/10 the width of a hair! It was literally so fine you had to really hunt for the strands as they were pulled out of the cocoons in the water.
If you’re really super, duper into wanting to know the rug making process unique to Turkey, from worm to rug, this is a full presentation at a different facility a few years ago but almost identical to ours:
From there we were allowed to photograph the weaving that was happening, the designs that had been sketched, the various colors of yarn (which also included plenty of wool), and the pictures of the silk-making process. I’d have been happy to have left after that. But…. You didn’t think we were done yet, did you?! Oh please; don’t be a noob! They know that a fair percentage of cruisers have a fair amount of money and are often more than willing to part with it. Especially if they are given unlimited alcohol first.
After the, admittedly, VERY well-done demonstration, we were then taken to a room with stacks and stacks and stacks of rolled up rugs. There were benches around the perimeter, and some teen-aged kids came around with trays of Ouzo, Raki, local wines and beer, soft drinks and water. We were told to take as many as we’d like and my daughter, not being shy at all, took a wine and a beer. I had a glass of wine, and I confess, it was quite good. With everyone settled, we got a bit more education about Turkish rugs. My word! It was a flashback to our visit to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. These people are RELENTLESS! They are aggressive beyond anything an un-intiated N. American could ever imagine. Before we could even comprehend what was happening, there were, not even exaggerating, 5 men rolling out rugs- one every 10 seconds or so. Each would get its deserved oooohs and aaahhhs, each more beautiful and stunning than the last. Vivid greens, purples, blues. Every geometric shape and flower you could imagine. Big ones, small ones; fringed, silk, wool; long, short. He went around the room, careful to engage us, draw us in…”Which one is your favorite?” It was MASTERFUL salesmanship. Like the Barnum and Bailey of carpet hocking; I was fascinated at his skill. The room was abuzz with discussion about the rugs and you KNOW that the carpet-rolling men were not just there to roll carpets, right?
Before we could even discuss how badly we had to pee, we were accosted by one of them, who asked us our names, where we were from, and how much we’d like to spend on one of these beautiful rugs. But I am no novice at this. My hypnotized self was reminded by my middle-aged bladder that finding a bathroom was far more important than being duped into spending 20 grand I didn’t have. They were there to pull a deal and the sooner we took and exit stage left, the better! Relieved to have found the perfect excuse to skedaddle, we found a bench outside and then found the others who were as poor as ourselves and the lot of us then spent the next half hour or more guessing at how many sales they turn per busload. My guess was they sell one rug per 4-5 busloads. Like who has $10,000-$50,000 just ready to trade for a rug after you’ve spend nearly that on the vacation alone?! But lo and behold, our bus turned up a lucky trick. A family from Spain did in fact buy one and were happy to have it being shipped home that very day.
A word about the “Factory”. This was actually a Co-op subsidized by the Turkish government with the goal of keeping the ancient art of making Turkish rugs alive and to provide a source of income to local women. They apprentice for a year and get an increasing cut of the sales the longer they weave. The Co-op sets them up with materials and skills. It’s not enough for the work they put into it, as it is with most schemes like this.
Here is a link that is a very good, well-researched article about the Co-ops.
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/womens-co-operative-carpet-workshop-turkey/
My photos were included in the price of the tour. And I was happy with that. It had been a truly wonderful day with so much to see and contemplate. Sometimes memories are all one needs.