Travel Blog: What's Kusadasi Without Flying Carpets??

We arrived in Kusadasi - correctly pronounced Koo-sha-da-se - to a lovely day with expected high temperatures in the range of 26 degrees. Nice to know that weather forecasting here is just as good as it is a home. We hit an afternoon high of 32 according to my phone.

As we had already toured the archaeological site at Ephesus a few years ago, and were going to an evening classical concert there last night, we opted for an excursion to the Ottoman towns of Birgi and Tire. It involved a lengthy bus ride each way, but we got to see some of the rural scenery of western Turkiye (also the correct spelling).

We spent most of the excursion in Birgi, which has a very long history, dating back to the 1st Century BCE, and has been on the UNESCO Tentative World Heritage Site list since 2012. It seems to take UNESCO a very long time to make final decisions. Birgi has survived through the control of Greeks, Persians, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, so it must have been culturally and economically significant not to have been destroyed at some point.

This part of Turkey was on the original Silk Road, the trade route that sent good like silk and spices from China to Byzantium or Constantinople, which is now Istanbul. But we'll leave more about that until we reach Istanbul tomorrow. On our drive we passed a fortress high on a hill that dates back to the Silk Road days.

When we reached Birgi, our first stop was the public washrooms. You can't have cruise ship passengers go more than 2 hours without access to washrooms!! Our guide warned us that they weren't luxurious, but even according to Larry they were 'primitive'. Some of the other comments made me think they dated back to the Ottomans, just like the rest of the town.

Our second stop was a silk weaver (no surprise there) to see how they make the fabrics. As pure silk is quite expensive, even though it lasts forever, many weavers have started to include cotton or fine wool in their materials, using them as warp (the up and down base threads) in their materials, and using silk for the weft threads and patterns.

After this visit and a little 'free time', we visited a mosque. The Grand Mosque is under renovation (surprise!) and is currently closed, so we went into this smaller mosque instead, and had the basics of Muslim religious observances explained to us. Turkey is 99% Muslim, with the other 1% made up of all sorts of other religions, including Jewish, who all coexist peacefully with each other.

All mosques are designed in a similar fashion, with the lower floor for the men to pray, and a balcony area for the women. The painted archway on the main floor is the representation of Mecca, the holy site of Islam. When praying, all Muslims must face Mecca, so this represents the direction to pray. Behind the doorway is a staircase leading up to a small platform is the Muslim version of the Catholic pulpit, where the priest makes his sermon each week. The Muslim Imam does something similar on Fridays, which is the Muslim holy day.

Next we hopped back on the bus (it was a small bus) and drove to our next stop which was the oldest part of Birgi that is still standing. These houses date back a couple of hundred years. Many don't look like much on the outside, but some are fairly deep with nice courtyards.

This last place was a shop that specializes in dried fruits, vegetables and herbs and also sells various juices and other products. It is also a tea room where we were served a refreshing little glass of Turkish tea.

They also sold toys and handicrafts like pottery
and these little things. I'm not sure what they are but
they're quite colourful!

Some of the spices, including dried mushrooms,
oranges and blood oranges as well. These
are used quite liberally in Turkish cooking

Hanging peppers, mushrooms, even eggplant, are
among the items sold here.

After our tea break, we wandered around the town a little more and learned about Birgi's importance as a centre of theological learning. Up until the time of Turkiye's independence in 1923, there were still schools of learning that were led by the Imams.

For lunch, which we didn't know about as it wasn't in the tour description, we were taken to a small boutique hotel in one of the old houses. The grandson of the original owner took the house over, renovated it to include guest rooms, lounges and a restaurant, served us a lovely traditional Turkish lunch.

Our appetizer platters included dolmas (stuffed
grape leaves), zucchini salad, tomatoes and
baba ganoush. We were also served borek, which
is phyllo dough stuffed with cheese

The lunch was so good, I forgot to take a photo of the main course! It was tandoori lamb on pitas with rice. The rice had dried mushrooms and currants and some lovely spice flavours in it as well.

Dessert was a simple cake that was probably soaked
in orange juice or something similar. It was also
delicious.

This was the view from the restaurant in the
rear of the hotel.

After lunch we headed back toward Kusadasi, stopping at the town of Tire. It has a history as a textile town, where much of the economy was based on weaving silk and angora (from goats) as well as being a place for the caravans to rest their pack animals. There doesn't seem to be much of an old town left here, except for the caravanserai, a high building with a large courtyard where travelers and traders could house themselves and their animals during the journey to Constantinople. We had tea, or coffee, there as well - these Turks sure like their coffee breaks!

One of the particular ways of processing fabric here is felting. As a knitter I know felting - that's where you knit a piece in wool, wash it in hot water and dry it. This messes the wool fibres up and knots them together so you get a thick, practically indestructible, fabric. Here they take some felted bits and coloured raw wool and make a design. Then they cover it with a small pile of raw wool and press them together. This used to be done by sitting on one's knees and pressing, but now they use a machine and press for an hour to create the felted fabric.

This family business used to make rugs, but switched to felting. Now they use their materials, which they also use to embellish silks, for everything from table cloths to jackets and hats, but especially shawls. It was so unique I purchased a shawl for myself.

So that was it for the tour. On the way back I managed to draw a little ink and watercolour sketch of some of the buildings in my mini sketchbook. Yes, I painted it on the bus too!

We had about an hour and a half after we got back to prepare for the evening's event - a classical concert at Ephesus. The dining room was opening 15 minutes early so the tour participants could have enough time to eat dinner before we left. We had to have something, even after that big lunch, so we opted for lighter dishes.

Our group of about 60 people arrived in Ephesus a little after 7 p.m., which was just after dusk. The area around the Odeon was scattered with tables holding nuts, vegetable crudites and the like, and waiters were serving Turkish red and white wines. We were told that we couldn't have the concert at the library because of some official edict. We're not entirely sure of that, since Silver Spirit was also in town with us and left just before we did at 11 p.m. Hmmm......

A trio serenaded us during the pre-concert canapes

We sat about 3 rows up the the Odeon, the smaller amphitheatre. These structures are 5,000 years old, and the acoustics are so good, we could hear every note, even whey they played very softly.

There is a colony of feral cats around the ruins, and a few of them came to visit before and during the performance. So it isn't just domestic cats that like classical music!

We also had a canine companion for the concert. He came and went, and came back, and was chased away by the waiters and tour staff, and finally plopped himself down on an upper bench until we were done. At times he practically stole the show!