By Heidi Trautmann

Apart from an organised tour of five days for a private group, a second tour was offered for four days for any other music lovers living in Cyprus, a dream to come true, combined with a cultural programme covering the urge for ever more information of the past and quenching one’s thirst for excellent wine and food of the area. Under the following link, the reader may be informed about what was offered.

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2533325118#.V3YrTdJ96JA

However, I want to write about the tour our private group did. My husband and I know Turkey quite well since we have been sailing along all its coasts for many years and have explored the immense and well preserved witnesses of history on many occasions and trips across the country. Thus, it was with much pleasure that we accepted the occasion to see that part of the country again.

We travelled by Atlas Jet from Ercan to Izmir, not more than 70 minutes. The airport,  about 30 minutes from Izmir, was empty, hardly any activities, tourism has sadly and heavily decreased. I still remember the airport of the 1980s, not more than a shack, where we arrived coming from Munich to spend our holidays on our sailing boat which was moored in Kuşadası.  In those days we met with camel caravans alongside the American taxis which were the fashion then. Things have changed drastically, beautiful highways, all very clean and its middle strips beautifully done. The region we travelled through is known as the antique Ionia with Izmir, Ephesus, Selçuk, Priene, Didima and Milet, places we were going to visit during these days. A brilliant green landscape with rich estates of fruit, vines and olive trees, so soothing in these hot days of summer.

We were taken to a winery estate in Çamlik near Selçuk, a place called Yedi Bilgeler or The seven Sages … where we were to stay for the coming days. What a beautiful and peaceful place, the estate in a green valley surrounded by hills, with the main building and smaller stone houses around a big swimming pool.

The owner recounts as follows, as he took us around the estate and invited us for a wine tasting…. “Like most of the good ideas ours also started with a dream. The dream of producing  our own wine . To make a dream come true many things have to come together. So we had to wait until 2010 to find the right spot ,the right grapes ,the right architect and the needed cash to realize our dream. Once getting started there was no turning back, and since that day we are working hard to realize our dream.

From the very beginning our aim was to go for quality rather than quantity. We imported vines from France to match our soil and climatic conditions,we placed the fermentation tanks on a higher level than the storage tanks to avoid the usage of pumps .The winery itself is in the middle of the vineyard and we are working with one of the best winemakers in Turkey , Antoine Bastide d'lizard.

Now there was one thing left to do; We had to give our dream a name; Just like Anatolia is the the birthplace of wine so is İona , the ancient name of our area; the birthplace of philosophy.If philosophy is about finding the truth, the answer is  in wine . As they say IN VİNO VERİTAS .

We wanted to make a tribute to the great men who laid the foundations of rational thinking 2500 years ago . So we named our brand YEDİ BİLGELER - SEVEN SAGES.All the wines we have produced so far were named after one of these philosophers. Anaxagoras, Lassos,Thales, Solon, Pythagoras, Khilon and Bias, who were born in the same region.  

Overlooking the valley we sat down for dinner, the photos speak for themselves. They make their own olive oil and grow all what is needed to spoil their guests. See their website www.yedibilgeler.com

The region exerts an almost magical attraction, with every breath you inhale you taste the beauty, tragedy, the wonders of the past of a people; history to be read in its landscape, its ruins, its music and food and its people living there today. Places that were once close to the sea are now far away inland, covered up by soil and sand, somewhat salty. However, the water molecules of the old Meander river are still the same, evaporating and coming down again as rain, at least I believe so. Turkey being the bridge to the East,  once for the explorers to reach the Far East, for the tradesmen to look for new things for their markets, the Crusaders to reach the Holy Land, for many who sought paradise and were told that at the shores of Minor Asia, golden fruit would be hanging from the trees as we know from legends and saga; even the Wikings were attracted to find out what was behind those rumours, and that must be the reason why so many people of that region have blue eyes and blond hair.

People of the ancient times were always on the move, either looking for better pastures, a better life, or out of curiosity; some stayed and mixed with the locals, others moved on. Wars and subsequent occupation changed temporal and spiritual authorities, new traditions were imported, new styles and architecture we can still see today more clearly in such density than in any other countries. Migration is the sorrow of today in many European countries: where the pastures are rich the poorer go to, a law of physics, isn’t it? But migration has always happened, everywhere.

During the following days we visited some of the famous places and that is when we have to admit that our ancestors were masters in many fields of the arts, architecture and all that went with it, sculpting, images in stone of immense beauty, ceramics, the knowledge of natural colours, of glass making, they took more time to develop beauty, beauty to make life more agreeable, sure, I know, it was mostly for a very thin layer of priviledged people with the biggest part of the population working hard. In those days city planning and its execution lasted over many centuries. Artists, knowledgeable people – when taken prisoner of war, captured as slaves - were always treated well and given opportunity to show their art.

I do not intend to repeat the known history here of the places we visited, the knowledge of it is so very easily obtainable on the internet, but want to share the ideas that come to one’s mind when one visits the places mentioned.

Selçuk is a centre location for visiting all these famous places; to Ephesus not more than10 minutes, even to Kuşadası only half an hour’s drive. The coast is very close with one long stretch of beach in Didima; after some sightseeing a refreshing swim and with Lucullus waiting for you in one of the many beach restaurants, you have all you can wish for. It sounds like advertising? It is the absolute truth.  

The people of the region are mainly farmers or a even doing several jobs with their families helping but the closeness of Ephesus and the other attractions have brought Selçuk to the fore front of touristic interest.

On the day of our concert in Ephesus we did the sights in and around Selçuk, i.e. the Basilica of St. John, Isa Bey Mosque, Temple of Artemis but also the local fruit market, and finally the amazing Ephesus Museum, you would need days to see it all. The departments of antiquity and museums are doing a lot to improve the conservation at the excavation sites and in the museums and have also introduced educational workshops for youngsters. In this museum one finds the two impressive statues of Artemis, the multi-breasted, very well presented. Our guide was very knowledgeable in history and was fluent in German, you could ask him any question and he knew how to establish connections between the various periods and give clues to why what happened and how it is interpreted today. Interesting. Also the fact that before the Greeks and Romans arrived, older kingdoms, the Hittites had their settlements and fortifications in the same places and we may be sure that some of their building material was used for the erection of Ephesus: findings of pottery is another proof of Hittite presence.

Another proof of progress in cultural and educational conservation was a place we visited and had lunch. A beautiful spot named  Sultanköy in Çamlik, not far away from our Seven Sages Winery.  It was founded in 1987 and is now sitting on 164,000 m2; it serves to protect, develop and market carpet weaving and gives employment and education in the old craft to many people. See their website www.sultanköy.com

Our lunch there was served on white clothed tables under huge pine trees a couple of hundred years old, true Tuscany atmosphere. We were later shown all techniques of weaving, producing silk thread from cocoons, dying wool with natural colours and the weaving itself with the girls sitting in front of the frame with a sheet of patterns next to them. To produce a carpet of 2x3m, let’s say from silk threads gained from cocoons takes two persons about three years to finish. You can imagine what the final prize for such a precious piece would be.

The first day was a sort of attunement, with the region’s culture then and today, the efforts of the local cultural departments to offer their best to the travellers who come here to enjoy a traditional and cultural cocktail, an attunement for the main reason of our trip, the concert at the Ephesus Amphitheatre. The evening was beautiful with a red sun on a misty sky. It took us some time to reach the amphi theatre that may receive about 25.000 guests and hopefully the sun set opposite the open dish of the theatre. A stream of visitors mostly elegantly dressed moved along the stone paved avenues and up the steep stairs to the theatre entrance all with cushions under their arms – I often wonder why the builders made these steps so high, the people of the old times were of rather small height. What did they show on the stage then to entertain the masses, to divert their attention from uncomfortable thruths? Theatre, fights until death decided, proclamations... I tried to visualize the images.

The 80 musicians in black arrived with Robert Trevino as conductor and they took us first through the Fantasy Ouverture by Tschaikovsky, a symphonic poem based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. A work in eight movements. It was followed by Franz Liszt, piano concert No. 2 in A major, S.125 with the excellent German/Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott, ...they call her the ‘hottest new talent in classical music’, true, she was like a fireball in red, barefeet and with full physical involvement taking us through six movements. A comment I read on one of her concerts ....Watching pianist Alice Sara Ott perform is both mesmerising and astonishing. How can someone who looks so ethereal play with such force and explosive energy? How can someone so young command an orchestra with such confidence and élan?... The audience was exploding and she had to give an encore which was in contrast to the Liszt piece before.... so softly played.  The concert concluded with Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 in D minor op. 70, op.70 B.14. and here we could experience the beauty and strength of a big orchestra of this size.

What an unbelievingly beautiful and exceptional evening, what an experience with the soft wind coming from the sea, with the ghosts of ancient times around us and the audience got up and would not leave, they called for encores, and encores they were given, four altogether.

Under the moon and old pine trees we walked back, slowly with the music still lingering in our minds and people smiled at each other; a young girl offered me her arm to bring me down the high stairs safely, music unites.

The impression stayed with us for the next day when visiting Priene, Didima and Milet, resonating in us, sensitizing us for the greatness of past architecture but also for the enormous work done by the archeologists in keeping these treasures available for us with ongoing efforts.

Also in Ephesus, the big and important capital of ancient times, works of restoration were being continued. We took our time to visit this place again, we had arrived early but already many groups were rolling through the stone alleys, stopping for taking selfies and not only the Japanese visitors. It was immensely hot and people rushed to find a place in the shade of a column. Ephesos, Efes in Turkish, Apasa in Hittite times and when the Romans took over in 129 BC a population of 33.600 to 56.000 people are assumed. Ephesus was also a crossroads during early Christianity with the temples of polytheism still around whose representatives have impressed me when I was a child. There were gods or goddesses for each subject you wanted help for, they had much more time to attend to a matter than one single god, but we must admit, those gods had not the best of morals but somehow ... human.

From Ephesus we went up into the mountains where Mary Virgin Mother is said to have fled to and had lived until her death. Today Christians, Jews and also Muslims come here to see the place and feel the atmosphere, where children sit by the Baby Jesus in the hut and talk to him or sing, where International convents are held. A peaceful and beautiful place.

Nor far away is Şirince, a former Greek village high up in the olive mountains where today live those Turks from the Greek islands of Crete, Rhodes etc. who found a new home here within the exchange programme of Atatürk trying to stop the war between Greeks and Turks by separating them. Old ladies sitting in front of their old houses, doing needle work; small restaurants, and places where you can buy local specialities; usually the village is heavily visited tourist attraction, today the villagers are desperately waiting for busses bringing foreigners to buy their work... but Turkey is suffering from a decline in tourism, safety can not be guaranteed, as we sadly had to realise on the day of our flight home to Cyprus with the terrorist attack on Istanbul Airport. However, this is not only a Turkish problem, it is worldwide.

We took our leave from this beautiful region and on our way to the airport we visited the centre of Izmir, a most attractive coastal town, the third biggest city in Turkey after Istanbul and Ankara. The city centre is built around a huge bay and all along the coast one can walk along a wide pedestrian promenade. I was here four years ago with an artist friend during the first art Biennale and had fallen in love with the place, especially its small lanes and side streets so full of culture and music, so many museums and art places, universities, with a multinational flair in the air. No wonder, from here came Charles Aznavour and other famous musicians such as Dario Moreno after whom a street is called. Churches, synagogues, mosques, all together side by side. Villages within the city, poor and rich, Syrian refugees quarters – it is said that about 200.000 are in Izmir alone.

We went up by the old lift built by Jews to easier get to their synagogue, and had a good overview over the city, a last glance on the democratic region of Izmir, before we settle down for a last meze lunch in the old Bazaar.

We will come again, we promise.

If you want to have your holidays custom made trust Kaleidoskop Turizm in Kyrenia. We have entrusted them with the planning a couple of times now and our trips were extraordinary, see my website for example the ...Vestiges of the past, here the link to Part  I http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=1166112232#.V3s9GtJ96JA