Journey – 2011
Navigating this
Mediterranean
Diary:
Diary of a trip to the Mediterranean – Part Four
Turkish Delight
Sunday, October 16, 2011
(on board the Star Princess, leaving the port of Kusadasi, Turkey)
This has been a great day. We took a tour of the ruins of Ephesus (about which, more in a minute), but the best thing of the day was not history, or ruins, or touring, or our magnificent cruise ship... it was... (are you ready?) ... shopping.
Shopping!? Tony Harwood-Jones hates shopping! What’s going on!?
Let me explain.
Not satisfied that millions of tourists each year come to their country and wander about old ruins, the government of Turkey has arranged that all tour busses must stop at certain emporia that will explain, and display Turkey’s most famous commodity: the fabled Turkish carpet.
Barok Carpet
“... we were ushered upstairs to a room full of magnificent carpets.”
Oh yes, and they also sell them.
When you are on a tour bus, you pretty much have to go with the flow, so when we were deposited at the entrance of Barok Carpet, we dutifully filed in and were ushered upstairs to a room full of magnificent carpets. A young woman was seated on the floor in the centre of the room with a small demonstration loom in front of her, and while our official hosts explained the process, she quietly and wordlessly weaved silk into place, knot after knot.
We were also served Turkish coffee and some sweets. Turkish delight, no doubt.
Well we learned something of the long history of Turkish carpets, and were shown details of their intricate design. We were informed about the rural women who might spend as much as a year patiently weaving a single carpet, and we learned that the making of carpets provided a social bond where many women would visit and chat while doing the endless repetitive tasks of tying knots and tightening, tying knots and tightening. We were told that Turkish carpets became something of a status symbol throughout Europe beginning in the 15th Century and continuing almost to this day.
History. Cultural studies. Love it.
I have no idea how the next bit happened, but with the educational session over, the tourists began filing out of the place, yet somehow many of them were subtly manoeuvered into what can only be called “deal closing rooms.” There each person – alone now – was encouraged to examine carpets at leisure, with their own personal expert who would gladly show them anything in which they might be interested. This expert, or consultant – we wouldn’t want to say “salesman” – had a number of helpers who kept bringing specific carpets in and laying them out for the admiration of the victim... I mean, the prospective client.
I was heading out with the crowd when I noticed that Heather was no longer behind me.
I found her in one of the deal closing rooms.
A consultant had already learned her name and where she was from (as I came into the room I think I heard him say, “My wife is from Scotland. Her name is Heather, too!” I don’t know about the wife, but his English was so good it was entirely possible that he speaks it at home). Assistants came in and out under his instruction, unrolling carpets with a flourish for Heather to admire.
One look at her and I knew that she was hooked.
Heather loves beautiful things. She admires them in and of themselves, but if she has a chance to buy one, she likes that too.
This salesman was very very good at what he does. It was as if he could read Heather’s mind. He sensed that she liked something, and would call for more of the same, and with just the slightest clues from her, he’d get a darker hue, or a variation in pattern, and with each carpet unrolled before her, he got closer and closer to the type and style that she might like so much she could – just possibly – buy it.
A large and exquisite rug hit the floor, and she gasped at its beauty. But it cost about $10,000. Her delight was manifest, but her rejection of the price was so clear that he called for a smaller one of comparable pattern. Again she liked it, and her rejection of the price was not quite so strong.
“We ship it to your door, fully insured, with all customs paperwork and duties taken care of. You need only open the package and put this beautiful carpet in the place of honour in your home!”
I know my wife pretty well. I didn’t think she would pay such sums, no matter how skilled the salesman. But as his samples got below $5,000, something subtly shifted in her. I began to wonder if she might actually buy one. The salesman saw it too, and intensified his presentation. We were down to prayer-rug size now, and with me in the room the conversation did divert rather nicely to a discussion of Islam. But he drew Heather back into the circle by showing how the pattern for an official Muslim prayer rug differed from the ones that he thought she liked.
Ohh and did she like them! My poor, wonderful, sweet wife was almost quivering with desire for the latest one that he put before her. But she shook herself, as if trying to shake off a dream, and said, “I just can’t. I just can’t spend $2,000 on a rug, as beautiful as it is.” And I knew that while her heart was almost breaking, she meant it. This wasn’t negotiation on her part. As much as she wanted that carpet, she considered such extravagance and self-indulgence to be inappropriate. She was going to walk away. And I fell in love with her again for the thousandth time.
There was but one thing to do.
“I’ll give you $1,500 for this carpet,” I said, indicating the one she so clearly wanted.
The salesman stopped, and looked at me, calculating. Heather’s eyes were popping out of her head. “Tony! You’re not serious!”
“I am. I want to give you a present that I know you’ll really like.” She was struck dumb. There was electricity in the room. And a long silence, while I looked at Mister Married-to-a-Scottish-woman-named-Heather.
He said, “I can’t ship it to Canada for that price....” More silence. “But it is small enough that we can pack it up for you so that you could carry it in your luggage.”
“Could you?” said Heather.
The salesman and I sealed the deal.
The carpet was folded up and compressed so that it fit into a smart little handbag that appeared as if from nowhere. They have done this before.
As we walked back to the ship, shopkeepers that we passed would start to invite us in to see their wares, until their eyes fell on Heather’s special new handbag. Several said, “You have already purchased a carpet! May you enjoy it!”
Heather, tightly clutching her prize, said to me, “I’m worried that you might have paid too much.”
“Well, I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be either. Think of it this way: instead of saying to your friends, ‘It was such a bargain!’ all you need to say is, ‘My husband bought this for me,’ and your status among women will be maintained. Anyway, it was so much fun to watch you in there, that I had to get it for you. Pleasing you this way gives me enormous pleasure.”
For the rest of the day, Heather remained completely blown away by what I had done. She could not believe that I would so joyously throw a large sum of money at a gift for her. And she not only appreciates the expression of affection, she absolutely loves that carpet, in and of itself. Indeed, at one point she said, “This is something that I would insist upon taking into a nursing home with me, when that day comes.” 12
I logged on to FaceBook in the evening and posted a short account of our day, saying, among other things, that I had “...bought a present for Heather in a Turkish market. She really likes it.”
And not long afterward, one of my FaceBook friends commented: “It must have been Turkish delight.”
Which wasn’t far wrong.
Ephesus
But what about Ephesus, one of the Biblical cities that I had really wanted to see?
Just as we had done in Athens I paid the cruise line for an official guided tour of the site. The tour came with an excellent and knowledgeable guide, 13 but more importantly it came with a bus. The bus was quite necessary, because the site is far inland.
This fact, when I first heard it, surprised me, because my only knowledge of Ephesus comes through the New Testament, where the city is quite obviously a seaport. St. Paul arrived and departed by ship. In those days the place was on the shores of the Mediterranean. But not so now. In the 2,000 years since Bible times, the landmass of Turkey has risen higher and higher, so that what was once a deep harbour is now dry land; what was once a port city is now a series of astonishing ruins 20 kilometres away from the sea!
What you will find on the Mediterranean coast today is a modern city called Kusadasi. 14 Its main industry is tourism, so there are resorts and excellent beaches, places to buy carpets (see above), and a large port well equipped to handle cruise ships. At the top of a hill overlooking Kusadasi there is an enormous statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 19th Century founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president.
Passengers on the numerous cruise ships that call at Kusadasi usually come wanting to see Ephesus, so modern busses and tour guides collect them at the port and take them far inland, past an airport and up into the hills, until they get to the site of the ancient city.
Some also go to see what is said to be the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus, was living at the end of her time on earth. The official Roman Catholic position is that Jesus’ “beloved disciple” settled in Ephesus, where he took Mary into his home and provided for her. 15 A small ancient dwelling has been located several kilometres from the main site of Ephesus, and has been declared to be the place where the two of them lived out their days.
I myself am not altogether convinced that such locations can be identified with certainty, and so I didn’t take one of the tours that stop at Mary’s residence. We just spent our time – about two hours – exploring the main site, which was an experience all in itself.
In Corinth, which was the other Biblical city that we visited on this trip, 16 human habitation has been continuous for thousands of years, so that some archaeological treasures probably lie undetected to this day, buried under churches and homes and office buildings. Not so in Ephesus. Our guide told us that a massive earthquake happened there around the year 800 CE, whereupon people essentially abandoned the city, so that today whatever there is to be discovered lies under open fields and has been comparatively simple to dig up.
There are the remains of baths, and fountains, and what our guide said were the equivalent of hotels; there are barbershops, and a giant amphitheatre, and most memorable of all, the elaborate façade of a public library.
All of which forced me to revised an assumption that I didn’t even know I had: that Ephesus was a small town whose inhabitants lived in little more than mud huts. I don’t know why I assumed this – both about Corinth and about Ephesus – but I did. This place, the real Ephesus, was grand, with possibly as many as 250,000 inhabitants. It was a wealthy city where the influence and power of its citizens was clearly on display, through marble streets, elegant statuary, and striking public buildings. Seeing those ruins changed a lot of my thinking, not just about Ephesus itself, but about the ability and character of St. Paul who spent some very significant time there.
For instance, there is a line in the Bible 17 which says that Paul “...argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” The ruins of Ephesus showed me that this lecture hall was no dump. It would have been a grand and imposing place, and the people who went there to listen to Paul would not have been a bunch of illiterate bumpkins. Somehow this strange preacher could “argue daily” so effectively that a significant number of the residents in that sophisticated city were won over to his views!
Converts to Paul’s religion were numerous enough that the businesses associated with the traditional goddess of the region, Artemis, began to dry up. The New Testament tells us 18 that a silversmith named Demetrius, and a number of associates, became so incensed at their loss of business, that they got the whole city stirred up – to the point where a full-fledged riot was beginning. They were yelling “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” and probably looked exactly like those riots one sees on TV, where the people all raise their fists and chant some kind of slogan. Some people who were known to be Paul’s friends started to get pushed around dangerously.
The rioters eventually found their way to the amphitheatre, where they did a lot more shouting and threatening. It says something about Paul’s character that he had to be restrained from going in and trying to speak to this raging mob himself. 19
Anyhow, the amphitheatre where all of this tumult took place is still there. It is huge – capable of holding as many as 25,000 people. Were there that many people rioting? I went and stood in it, and in my mind I could still hear echoes of their shouts. It was an incredibly powerful experience. 20
Monday, October 17, 2011
(on board the Star Princess – departing the island of Rhodes)
Rhodes
Today dawned cool and rainy as the ship pulled into Rhodes, so Heather and I lazed about in our suite much of the morning – Heather playing computer solitaire and me desperately trying to catch up with these notes and the identification of the hundreds of photographs that I have so far taken.
At about noon, the weather began to clear up, so we put on our warmest jackets (intended for England, not here!) and stepped off the ship to explore the town.
Rhodes: a city that was once the location of the “Colossus of Rhodes” (the huge statue that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world). The place was famous again during the Crusades, when it became an important base for the knights who had been driven out of the Holy Land by resurgent Muslim forces.
Today the city of Rhodes is dominated by medieval history. With beautifully preserved walls and battlements, it is a place that well remembers its knights in shining armour.
At first, our exploration of the city was utterly entrancing. We went in by a gate that was set between two huge towers, then found our way through cobblestone streets and alleys, until we got to the highest point in the old city. We passed medieval courtyards and doorways, walking along a street that we later learned was called “The street of the knights.” I was looking for a castle that I had seen from the ship, and a mosque, and something that appeared to be a church.
I never did see the castle close-up (although it does tower over the town, once you’re in the streets and alleys it is hard to find), but I found the mosque. The church turned out merely to be a clock tower, but I was content.
The medieval city has been, and continues to be, painstakingly restored. There were signs of archaeological work here and there, and quite clearly the walls, and street facades were all either restored or in some cases continuously occupied and lovingly maintained. All of this maintenance work, of course, may be under threat of cessation, as the Greek government that pays for it is in such a serious financial mess.
“...beautifully preserved walls and battlements” (in a startling contrast, the bridge of the cruise ship is seen just beyond the wall) |
Still, I loved the walk... up to and including the clock tower.
But we now emerged into the district of shops, which are distinctly un-medieval, and my deep-seated dislike of shopping quickly took over and smothered the pleasure of exploring.
Mind you, some of the shops were fun. Several sold life-sized armour, and swords, and the appurtenances of medieval warfare. But most were standard tourist fare: brand name clothing and jewellery, and any number of souvenir shops selling cheap things that were no doubt made in the Orient. By the time we had gone the length of the main shopping street I was desperate to be back in the tranquility of our stateroom.
In due course my wish was granted. Back on board we had a pleasant lunch, and have remained here in our suite – even during sailaway – until now, when it fast approaches the time for our usual late and elegant dinner.
Next: A terrifying bus ride, and other ways that a trip can be spoiled
FOOTNOTES:
12 Dear reader, please don’t jump to conclusions! Heather is not entering into personal care any time soon. However, because of her mother’s recent ordeal, she is just very conscious of what’s involved in moving into a nursing home: a person’s world and a person’s home get reduced to a very few keepsakes. To say that she would take the carpet into a nursing home means that this is a treasure that would be valued and kept until all else has been given up. Which is quite powerful, actually.
Click here to get back to the narrative.
13 Our guide told us English-speakers to call him “Net,” though his full name is Necdet Özeren. A highly-educated amateur archaeologist, Net proved to be extremely knowledgeable. Much of the information about Ephesus that follows in this narrative came from him.
Click here to get back to the narrative.
14 Pronounced “cush-a-das-uh”
Click here to get back to the narrative.
15 See John 19: 26-7. There are scholarly arguments about exactly who Jesus’ “beloved disciple” was. Perhaps it was John, the brother of James, or perhaps another person named “John.” Perhaps he had another name altogether. The Gospel of John is attributed to him, but interestingly he is never actually named in the text. He is merely called, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Click here to get back to the narrative.
16 See “Corinth” above.
Click here to get back to the narrative.
17 Acts 19:9
Click here to get back to the narrative.
18 Acts 19:23-41
Click here to get back to the narrative.
19 Acts 19:30
Click here to get back to the narrative.
20 I recorded a video while standing in the amphitheatre, with the camera sweeping around the vast expanse of seats. You can view it by clicking here.
Click here to get back to the narrative.