Efes is the second largest ancient-ruined city in the world, surpassed in size only by the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy. Tour guides are good to have for such a place, to point out which buildings amounted to what as well as provide useful information about the area. The problem is this: the tour guide wants the tour to move along as quickly as possible so that no time is wasted (and s/he can go home). The photographer and filmographer (myself and Octav) try to capture as many shots as possible while also listening to the explanations. In the end, there is no time allotted to simply taking it all in.
Of course the Celus Library was impressive. Something interesting: at the time, there was not too much space between buildings for the library and the outer columns are actually more
narrow than the inner columns, giving the illusion of a longer building.
Photo: Looking up at the Library.
The amphitheater was also impressive, but for a different reason: standing right in the centre of the stage, your voice echoes loudly throughout. However, standing only a few feet away, it is difficult to hear anything at all.
At the end of our quick tour we had some free time (though of course not nearly enough). At this time, Octav decided to take a jog through the ancient city. It did take a little longer than anticipated, and after a good 15 minutes, we were greeted by a sour tour guide and an impatient group.
We then left Efes and made our way to a place where carpets are woven by hand. With subsidies from the Turkish government in order to maintain the tradition, many women from surrounding
villages contribute to this industry. In the locality, we had demonstrations regarding the weaving of carpets by hand. We were also shown how silk is extracted from the cocoons of silk worms. The carpets that are woven from this silk can have as many as 4000 knots per square inch and can take many years to complete (and are priced accordingly). After the demonstrations we were taken to a showroom where carpets were sprawled out across the floor and we were encouraged to take off our shoes and feel them under our bare feet. Here, there were carpets of made from all kinds of materials in different sizes and with different patterns. These included some modern carpets which are replicas of famous contemporary paintings.
Our next destination was the Temple of Artemis - or rather, the one remaining column of the temple on top of which some cranes had made their nest. It was quite enormous and so it was interesting to think how spectacular the temple would have been in its entirety.
St. Mary's house was next. It is the supposed house of The Virgin Mary and as such a point of interest for Christians. It was cute, very green and complete with fresh water springs and candles. Aside from this, there
was the Turkish touch - thousands of pieces of fabric with wishes written on them tied to the vines on a wall, similar to those I saw in the Turkish Spring-Summer festival of Hilldirez.
Returning back to the little touristic city of Kusadasi, where our hostel was located, I took a ride in the typical minibuses and had dinner watching the sun set over the cruise ships parked in the lagoon.
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