Türkiye 2/1/2020 - 2/9/2020 |
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Friday 2/7/2020 - Flight to Izmir, Touring Ancient Sardis, Izmir Agora and MarketWe woke up bright and early this morning (4:30 a.m.) and checked out of the amazing Shangri-La Bosphorus by 6 a.m. It had been an exquisite stay; the hotel really was top-notch. They even gave us each a parting gift: a ceramic tile fridge magnet! We had wanted to buy a magnet in Istanbul to add to our collection, but we had not done so. She selected two different magnets: one of the nearby Ortaköy Mosque, and one of the hotel itself. Wow, the attention to detail and service here is amazing.Toplum had suggested that we have the hotel provide us with a boxed breakfast, since we were too early for the buffet. But we weren't yet hungry, and he said that we would be fed on the flight anyway, so we politely declined. Türker drove us through the dark streets of Istanbul to the airport for our 8 a.m. flight to Izmir. We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Türker, but we did not yet need to say farewell to Toplum. He would be accompanying us to Izmir, so he helped us to navigate the two security checkpoints in the airport. The flight boarded earlier than scheduled. It was only 45 minutes in duration, but they still served us breakfast (a toasted tomato and cheese sandwich). When we landed, we picked up our luggage, met our new driver Mehmet, and got into our comfortable van. Modern-day Izmir is the third largest city in Türkiye, after Istanbul and Ankara, respectively. It is the location of the ancient city of Smyrna. Our hotel for the next two nights would be in the city of Izmir, on the Aegean coast. We would take day trips to Sardis today and Ephesus tomorrow. Both of these ancient cities are several hours from Izmir by car. The ride to Sardis took about 90 minutes. Mehmet parked the car, and as Toplum purchased our tickets, we were greeted by a friendly young dog and an adorable puppy. When I had checked the weather forecast online, it had predicted sun and warmer temperatures than we had experienced in Istanbul. As a result, we had packed away our hats and gloves in our checked luggage. We didn't take the time to hunt through our bags for them when we arrived at Sardis. But it was not sunny here; in fact it was rainy and raw. Mehmet gave us each a large umbrella, and I covered my head with a scarf to keep warm in the wind. Craig found that his "cane hand" got quite cold, since he couldn't keep it in his pocket, so he wrapped his bandana around his hand to protect it from the elements. We were literally the only tourists at the site, and the pair of resident street dogs seemed very excited to have some company. They seemed eager to show us around their turf. They accompanied us at first as we walked through the site, until they got into a skirmish with one another and the little guy ran away and hid. The main route from the Aegean to central Anatolia passed through Sardis for 2700 years (from 700 B.C. until 2001 A.D., when it was superceded by a new highway). It was the western terminus of a 2400 km road to Iran during the 6th-4th centuries B.C. The Sardis archaeological complex consists of multiple sites. We started at the Roman Bath / Gymnasium Complex, dating back to 200 A.D. We entered the complex and strolled down a wide east-west ancient avenue lined with Byzantine-era shops which were constructed in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. These shops were utilized until the early 7th century, when an earthquake and fire caused their abandonment. The standardized modular construction of these shops leads experts to believe that they were built by the city and leased to shopkeepers. Artifacts excavated from the shops give a sense of the function of each shop, and inscriptions even sometimes declare the name or ethnicity of the shopkeeper. One shop which was used for the preparation of dyes and paints contained a water tank which was made of repurposed marble slabs. The Christian shop owner carved crosses over the existing inscriptions on the slabs, in an effort to safeguard his water supply. We looked at a few neighboring shops, but I was having a hard time staying focused. I wanted to see everything at once. Although I studied Latin and Classics for 5 years in middle/high school, I have never visited Greek or Roman ruins in person. I was really excited to see some Classical columns along the perimeter of the avenue. I was taking a ton of photographs of them from every angle. Toplum must have found it amusing, since he knew that what was still to come would put these columns to shame! We entered the gymnasium complex by passing through a red brick archway, walking on slabs of white marble engraved with the initials of the masons who installed them. A large square courtyard called a palaestra was the location where exercise and sporting activities took place. A roofed colonnade had run along the perimeter. The only vestige of the colonnade is a mere fraction of the columns which once comprised it. Between the palaestra and the bath complex stands the massive, awe-inspiring Marble Court, consisting of two levels of columns, archways, and porticos. Some of the columns had sculptures of faces on their capitals, a sort of visual ethnography of the various ethnic groups which comprised the Roman Empire. Behind the Marble Court were the baths. Bath complexes were popular across the Roman Empire, for hygienic as well as social purposes. The set-up was the same throughout the Empire:
I really felt like this trip was getting to the heart of adolescent Steph. Not only had we seen landmarks associated with James Bond and Agatha Christie (both of which figured heavily in my middle school adventures with Tyson), but now I was seeing the ruins of a Roman bath and gymnasium which date back to 200 A.D. Thirteen-year-old me wouldn't have believed it! Luckily, although Craig doesn't have the same personal connection to these aspects that I do, he thoroughly enjoyed them as well. Next we explored a synagogue on the Gymnasium grounds. The Jewish community at Sardis may date back to 5th century B.C. The greatest influx of Jews seems to have arrived in the 3rd century B.C., when they were transplanted by the Hellenistic Seleucids from Babylon among other places. The halls adjacent to the southeastern side of the palaestra had been given to the Jewish population for use as a synagogue circa 4th-5th century A.D. This apparently belies a good relationship between the Jews of Sardis and their Roman rulers. It is the largest known synagogue of the Jewish Diaspora period. Entering the synagogue from the east, we passed into a colonnaded forecourt with an urn-shaped fountain in the center. We then passed through one of three door thesholds into the main assembly hall. This hall was 50 meters long and could hold 1000 people. The floor of this massive space was sectioned off into seven large rectangular segments. Each had been decorated with a distinct geometric mosaic design, giving the effect of seven massive carpets. These mosaics date back to the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. A surprising amount were intact, to one degree or another, today. The patterns and colors were mesmerizing. Some were black and white, others incorporated tessera in shades of blues, yellows, purples, and reds. In total, mosaics covered 1400 square meters of floor space in the synagogue. Flanking the largest center doorway are two shrines which had housed the Torah scrolls. At the far end of the assembly hall was an apse which contained marble-clad benches as seating for synagogue elders A sturdy marble table had eagle relief carvings on its legs. This table pre-dates the synagogue, and was repurposed here as a table for unrolling and reading the Torah scrolls. On each side of the table is a statue of two lions, one facing forwards and the other facing backwards. These lions were also repurposed. It is thought that they may have originally been associated with Cybele, the Anatolian Mother Goddess, and were upcycled to represent the Lion of Judah We were still literally the only people here at the Gymnasium / Bath / Synagogue complex. It was cold and drizzly, and nearby mountaintops looked picturesque with a light coating of snow. We walked the entire length of the Byzantine shops on our way back to the parking lot. At this end of the complex, near the synagogue, we saw a paint shop which had apparently been operated by a Jewish man named Jacob, as the name was found inscribed next to drawings of menorahs. We passed other shops for selling/recycling materials such as glass or metal. Some of the shops on this avenue had been restaurants. At the southwest corner of the site, we saw the public latrines. A bench-like piece of stone would sit four men, cheek-to-cheek, so to speak. We could see the trenches carved in the floor to channel water. Speaking of latrines, we could use a rest room before leaving the site. We made a pit stop and I browsed in the small gift shop. Then we got back into the car and Mehmet drove us to our next destination. We passed orchards and farm land on our way to the Sardis Temple of Artemis. Note that this is not the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Temple of Artemis; we would be visiting that in Ephesus tomorrow. It was only a short drive to the temple, and when we arrived, Toplum bought our entrance tickets. Three cute street cats were hanging out by the ticket office. As I tried to get their photo, the ticket seller made kissy noises to try to get their attention for me. Near the small ticket office we saw several wheeled mining carts on narrow guage railroad track. It was a short walk to the ruins of the temple. In the distance, we could see mountaintops frosted with a light coating of snow. An iron crane sat as a reminder of the excavation that took place at this site between 1910-1914. This hand-operated crane could lift 5 tons, and was transported around the site via the narrow gauge rail track with the help of a small locomotive. The temple was covered in 10 meters of dirt by the time it was excavated. Two of the 20-meter-tall columns were still standing at that time, and remain standing today in the southeast corner of the site. They dwarfed us and were simply awe-inspiring. It was no longer drizzling rain, and patches of blue sky could periodically be seen behind the columns. The temple was 300 feet long by 150 feet wide, and its impressive footprint is still visible though many of the architectural elements are no longer intact. You approach from the west and first encounter the oldest portion: a Lydian altar to Artemis made of limestone. This was expanded into a full-blown temple by the Greeks in 300 B.C., and was renovated by the Romans in the 2nd century A.D. Signage illustrated the architecture as it existed in each of these three periods. The temple comprised 20 columns in length and 8 in width. The columns were 20 meters tall, and had elaborately carved capitals and pedestals. The column capitals are Ionic in design, and weigh 2 tons each. The circular discs on the pedestals were carved with with a variety of motifs, including oak leaves and acorns. The columns consist of stacked "column drums", some of which have been intricately carved with fluting on 24 facets. Some of these fluted drums were laying on their sides, looking like chunky gears. Two columns have remained standing since they were first erected. They tower 20 meters over the site, hinting at the scale and former glory of this temple. The capital on one of the columns is slightly offset, likely damaged by earthquakes which have ravaged the region in the intervening 2000+ years. We figured that the odds of it choosing today to come crashing down on top of us were in our favor. When the site was first rediscovered, much of the marble was blackened due to the ravages of time. The stone was treated with antimicrobial agents which restored it to its natural white state. One column drum was left in its unrestored state for comparison. The site remained relevant even as Christianity spread through the Roman Empire. The Temple of Artemis became associated with Mary, mother of Jesus. A small brick chapel devoted to her, now known as "Church M" was built in her honor at the southeast corner of the temple in the 5th century A.D. Sardis is one of the so-called "Seven Churches of the Apocalypse" addressed in the Biblical book of Revelation. Through this book, John of Patmos sent messages to seven Christian communities in Asia Minor around 95 A.D. We could see the remains of Lydian fortifications in the surrounding mountainside. Legend has it that a guard on the night watch dropped his helmet from the citadel wall. Persian invaders witnessed this, and watched how the guard climbed down to retrieve his helmet and how he climbed back up again. During the night, invaders followed in his footsteps and opened the gate to the citadel, at which time Lydian Sardis fell to the Persians in 546 B.C. The temple grounds are flanked by the riverbed of the Pactolus River. Electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) was plentiful in this river. In ancient times they would place sheepskin in the river to mine the gold. Gold flakes would get trapped in the wool fibers and could be easily extracted. It is thought that this is the origin of the Greek myth of the golden fleece. The Lydians discovered the technology to separate the electrum into its gold and silver constituent elements, which allowed them to produce gold and silver of consistent high quality. They produced coins of nearly pure gold and silver, and are known as the founders of currency as we know it today. We laid eyes on a whopping two other people at the Temple of Artemis site, and even they were off in the distance, atop a hill, getting a view down at the ruins. It is really amazing how we had Sardis virtually to ourselves. Toplum says that even in high tourist season, most people opt to visit Ephesus instead, since Sardis is a bit more out of the way. The fact that the main highway now bypasses the area probably also contributes. We are very glad that Toplum took us here today, and we will be seeing Ephesus tomorrow. After spending the morning in Sardis, we drove about 90 minutes back to Izmir. Toplum asked us what we would like to do for lunch. It was almost 3 o'clock, and we still had some other sightseeing to do. We certainly wanted something quick and casual. We had been seeing döner kebab restaurants everywhere since arriving in Türkiye, yet we hadn't eaten at one yet. We fell in love with the dish when we first tried it in Berlin. It is a dish with Ottoman roots. A vertical rotissierie method was developed in the 19th century for cooking dense conical stacks of seasoned meat. Thin shavings are carved from the outer layer and served in a wrap or sandwich. So we asked Toplum if we could get a döner kebab. We didn't care if we bought one at a food stall or if we went to a restaurant. Toplum spoke to Mehmet in Turkish, and Mehmet drove us to Baskan Döner. I ordered my döner as a sandwich on a bun, and Craig ordered his as a lavash wrap. Both contained lettuce, tomato, onion, and spices. They gave us each a complimentary cup of tea (complete with an individually wrapped sugar cube). Lunch was delicious and quick enough that we still had plenty of time for afternoon sightseeing in Izmir. Izmir was once known as the ancient city of Smyrna. Smyrna was said to have been founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. Smyrna/Izmir ended up having greater longevity than cities like Sardis and Ephesus. While the latter were harbor cities on river mouths which would eventually end up choked in silt, Smyrna is located on a gulf. Its harbor is still viable today, whereas Sardis and Ephesus are no longer located on the water. Our first stop was the Izmir Commercial Agora, which was built during the Hellenistic era. It was a place of commerce and industry. It was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 178, and was rebuilt under Marcus Aurelius. The Agora, an open air museum, is impressive. It exists as an oasis in the midst of a very congested part of the modern city of Izmir. The Agora courtyard was used as cemetery since late Byzantine period, and the tradition continued through Ottoman times, which explains how it remained undeveloped as the modern city encroached. The headstones and sarcophagi have been moved to the perimeter of the site. The majority of the large courtyard space is being used as staging ground for the various architectural elements unearthed at the site. The sun had come out by now, so the weather warmed up a bit. We had views of a Kurdish village up on a hill above the Agora. The juxtaposition between this ancient site and the modern day Izmir was quite striking. We could hear a man speaking over a loudspeaker. Toplum explained that it was a school administrator. On Friday afternoons, schools broadcast the Turkish national anthem. But this school administrator had a hot microphone and was broadcasting his admonitions for students to sit down and stop talking before the actual anthem played. Toplum found this quite amusing. After admiring the late afternoon sunlight emphasizing the ornate carvings on the headstones and sarcophagi, we explored the West Portico of the Agora. Around a dozen columns stand here. A staircase leads down to the subterranean "cryptoportico." Stone archways perpendicular to one another divide this basement level of the West Portico into chambers were trades such as leather tanning were performed. Roman-era tunnel-like water channels, large enough for a human to climb through, run below the city. We could see entrances to these channels in the basement level of the West Portico. Water flowed to the city from a now-unknown source. Terra cotta pipes diverted water from the channels to fountains and workshops within the Agora. There is even a still-functioning water fountain here. Now that's engineering! It was completely surreal down here. It was not claustrophobic, as the ceiling/roof is lost to time. Only the walls and archways remain, open to the sky. Puddles on the ground reflect the archways, which gives the illusion of infinity. You could sense all of the history that had transpired there over the past 2300 years! One thing that made us chuckle was that, although there were signs clearly prohibiting walking on the tops of the arches, a street dog frolicked atop the arches, running back and forth, in flagrant disregard of the rules. Our final stop today was the modern day Izmir marketplace. From one of the main streets, we turned down a narrow alleyway with awning-covered shops. The alley was crowded with locals shopping, yet unlike some foreign markets where we have felt vulnerable as potential targets for pickpocketing, we felt completely comfortable. Locals were quite friendly to us, and we took plenty of photos as we wandered down the alleyways, enjoying the sights and sounds of a bustling market. First we walked through the food portion of the market, where we saw colorful produce, fresh fish, and meat for sale in a narrow street covered by tarps. We passed a pet supply store. As we walked by, a street cat appeared and attempted to hide under the open buckets full of dry cat food. At one point we even lost sight of Toplum, but we continued to meander, knowing we would meet up with him soon. We emerged onto another street which was more exposed. There were shops on the first floor of buildings which appeared to have residential space on the top floor. The buildings were painted in pastel colors, and Valentine's Day decorations hung from street lamps. We passed by stores selling all types of clothing. A woman in a burka browsed in a lingerie shop. Shoe stores sold work boots and kinky boots. Mannequins modeled sequin gowns with matching hijabs. Other mannequins modeled white circumcision suits with matching turbans (boys are circumcised around age 6). Shops sold bolts of lace for wedding veils. One particularly amusing and somewhat perplexing item for sale was an "Educational potty" in a toy shop. The potty is for ages 18 months and up. It looks like an actual toilet. Its box extolls its virtues:
While in the market area, I even had my fortune told by a rabbit! A Roma man was pushing a baby carriage containing rabbits, including two baby rabbits. Toplum explained that these aren't just rabbits, they are fortune tellers. I couldn't resist this unique experience. The man had a tray of brightly colored pieces of paper which were folded into tiny squares. The rabbit knocks your fortunes off the tray and onto the ground. My fortunes said that I shouldn't worry so much, that I would win the lottery, that I am very much in love with someone, and that I will have a happy life. I was instructed to throw the paper into the ocean to receive my good luck. (Of course, I refuse to intentionally pollute the ocean, so I suppose my lottery chances are really nil, especially since I never play!) He handed me one of the adorable baby rabbits for a photo op before heading on his way. The baby bunny got a little squirmy and tried to hop away, but I managed to grab ahold of him again! A rabbit tells my fortune We walked through an indoor passageway lined with shops and emerged at a courtyard surrounded by small restaurants and cafes. Toplum was in search of Süt Çiçegi. His wife Sandra's family is from Izmir, and his mother-in-law introduced him to this specialty bakery. He tries to go there whenever he is in town. Craig and I secured a standing table outside while Toplum ordered us each the signature dessert of the bakery: sade kazandibi, or burnt bottom milk pudding with almonds. (It's a lot better than its name implies!) We added cinnamon from the shaker on the table. It was delicious, similar to a flan or custard, but with a hint of blackening without tasting burnt. Locals at neighboring tables greeted us and asked what we thought of this local specialty. Everyone was just so friendly and welcoming! When we were done exploring the market, we walked down to the Aegean coast to Konak Square, the location of the iconic Izmir Clock Tower. The 82-foot tall tower was built in 1901 to house a clock gifted to the Ottomans from German Emperor Wilhelm II. The architectural style of the clock is a combination of Neoclassical and Moorish, and is elaborately decorated in Ottoman motifs. Several vendors were selling food for the pigeons, whom children were chasing in the square. Also in the square was the tiny octagonal Konak Mosque with its single minaret. This mosque dates back to 1748. We had some tantalizing peeks at the Aegean Sea, and the palm trees on the coast belied the fact that the climate here is significantly different than that in Istanbul (though you wouldn't know it by today's largely raw weather). Mehmet picked us up here to drive us to the hotel, the Swissotel Büyük Efes. Although the hotel is visible from the square and is very close as the crow flies, it was a bit more convoluted to get to it due to the one-way streets. We passed the front of the hotel, but the parking lot is in the rear, near the convention center entrance. So Mehmet had to loop around the Kordon seaside promenade. We had lost our bearings by the time we reached the parking lot. We entered through the conference center entrance, and it was quite a walk just to get to the check-in desk. We had been on our feet a lot today, and during the course of the ride back to town, Craig's legs had stiffened up. It was a difficult walk for him. We were totally overwhelmed at check-in, as the clerk explained the logistics of the property. The hotel has 3 "blocks" : A, B, and C. We would be in C block, on the 5th floor in room 3516. Breakfast would be on a floor which was not accessible from the elevator in our block; we would have to go to another block to access the restaurant. Ummm...what? We had been awake since 4:30 a.m., and our heads were already swimming with facts about 2 different ancient cities. The familiarity and comfort of our Isntanbul neighborhood was behind us, and it was obvious that this gigantic hotel couldn't possibly provide the personalized service of the boutique Shangri-La Bosphorus. Our brains couldn't even absorb what he was describing. The hotel was quite contemporary in design. There were modern art pieces everywhere. One which Toplum pointed out to us was a kinetic sculpture called "Bir - Lik" by Varol Topaç. This sculpture, hung on the wall like a painting, consists of cross-sections of over 5000 dowels cut from tree branches. It is aesthetically pleasing, but is downright delightful when you get close enough to set off its motion detector, at which point the tree branches start to move in undulating patterns, clacking against each other making a soothing sound. Kinetic Sculpture "Bir - Lik" by Varol Topaç We followed a staff member to the main elevator bank for C block, and then took the elevator to our room. The hallways were very minimalistic and impersonal. Unfortunately, the room was the same. Its furnishings were very generic. Nothing about this said "Türkiye." The room had a garden view, and though we could see the nearly full moon on the rise, we couldn't help but be a little disappointed that we didn't have an ocean view. We found the room to be rather cramped. We felt like we couldn't get out of one another's way. The amenities in the room were disappointing as well. There was a Nespresso coffee maker, but pods cost $4 via the minibar. If you wanted complimentary coffee, it was Nescafe instant. There were two very small complimentary bottles of water. The exact same larger water bottles which the Shangri-La gave us for free were available for purchase for $4 each. These prices are so far out of whack with local prices that it was astounding. And to top it off, the room was hot. We turned up the air conditioning, but it just couldn't keep up. Craig's multiple sclerosis makes him very sensitive to heat, so this was not a good way to cap off the day. We couldn't help but think back to the Shangri-La, where everyone from the duty manager to housekeeping to waitstaff greeted us by name. Where they would give us as many waters or coffee pods as we needed. Where we had a view of the Bosphorus. Where we had plenty of space, and the decor was classic. Craig hit the wall tonight; he was tired and uncomfortable and in no mood to deal with the prison-like "block system" of the hotel to try to go out and find some dinner. We weren't even really that hungry, after our late döner lunch and subsequent sade kazandibi snack. So we decided to just rest and make due with snacks that we had either brought from home (granola bars) or amassed on the trip thus far. Craig tried to nap, and I took a bath. I had brought a Turkish novel with me (The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk). I set about reading it and was immediately entranced by the familiar descriptions of Istanbul. But I couldn't really concentrate; I had a headache, and Craig's cranky mood was contagious. What we really both needed was a good night's sleep. We turned off the meager air conditioning and opened the balcony door to get some fresh cool air. That refreshed us a bit, and I took some time to post about the day's activities to Facebook and Instagram. We figured that we shouldn't leave the doors open while we slept, so I closed the doors and turned on the air conditioning. Luckily, now that the room had cooled down significantly, the air conditioning was able to keep up, and the room was now comfortable for sleeping. Tomorrow would be our final day of sightseeing, and it would be a big one (Ephesus). We wanted to be well-rested! Plus we would need to get up quite early to give ourselves enough time to orienteer our way through this confusing maze of a hotel to the breakfast restaurant. Sardis Smyrna Agora at Izmir |
 Puppy who eagerly showed us around the Byzantine shop ruins at Sardis  Frigidarium of the Baths at Sardis  Marble Court, Sardis  Marble Court, Sardis  Synagogue, Sardis  Mosaic floor in the Sardis Synagogue  Temple of Artemis in Sardis Layout in Hellenistic Era, Imperial Roman Era, and Late Roman/Byzantine Era  Temple of Artemis in Sardis  Temple of Artemis in Sardis  Temple of Artemis in Sardis  Selfie in front of columns that have been standing for 2000 years, Temple of Artemis in Sardis  West Portico, Izmir Agora  Cryptoportico, Izmir Agora  Cryptoportico, Izmir Agora  Market, Izmir  Fortune telling rabbits in the Izmir market  Enjoying a specialty dessert at Süt Çiçegi, Izmir market  See all photos from February 7 |
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 Temple of Artemis in Sardis |
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