More ancient sites, Turkish carpets, Turkish bath, and a village visit

Wishing well with a twist - if you can land your coin
on the stone platform, you get the wish!

 On the 26th April we went to Pergamon, taking a cable car ride to the top to see the acropolis.

Amphitheatre 

A row of arches in the understructure of the  temple

That night we were staying in Kusadasi and on the way we stopped at Selcuk to see a demonstration of how rugs are made. It is quite amazing how they get the silk thread. The silk rugs were absolutely beautiful, with up to 100+ knots/cm2 the designs can be quite intricate, and the women who make them are VERY skilled and dedicated. It can take over 8 months to make some of the rugs!

Getting the silk threads

The colours in this rug are just the natural colours of the
sheep wool

So many beautiful designs.. If only I could afford one, and
a house to put it in!

Closeup of a design

That night we had a Turkish Bath, where we all lay on a warm stone table (in our togs). While we were waiting to be washed we got a foot scrub, followed by a whole body exfoliation. The amount of dead skin that came off was kinda gross, but I certainly did feel softer afterwards! Next was the wash and a bit of a massage. The washer had a cloth bag that he inflated after soaking it in soapy water. He then squeezed it to get a mass of bubbles! After the wash, I had an extra massage that was nice :)

The next day we visited the ruins at Ephesus. It started raining halfway through, and so we all wished for it to stop raining we we walked through the wishing pillars... and it did stop!

So many poppies!

Looking miserable in the wet. I think we were
the only group without umbrellas :P

Mosaicked road 

The toilets

'Turkish Mum'! Lorraine :)

The ancient Library

Signage to the 'whorehouse'

One of the more friendly kitties... although
this one may have attacked after this photo.
I can't remember :P

sarcophagi

After we had visited Ephesus we went to Yalcin's village for lunch, where we met his wife. The food was very yummy! We then went for a walk along the street, where one of the locals honked his horn at us to get us to stop, just so he could take a picture of all us tourists! We also walked passed a school, and the kids were more than happy to have their picture taken :) That ngith we said goodbye to the 8 dayers as they were catching a bus back to Istanbul.

The local school kids