Ephesus and Knossos (ruins, ruins, and more ruins)

Last week when the ship docked in Izmir, Turkey, we took the opportunity to go and visit ancient Ephesus.  I have been there before a couple of times, years ago with guest tours, but Nick has never been, and we felt it was important to make the trip out there.  It was impossible to take public trans, as the train wouldn't get us back to the ship in time, so we had to take a taxi (its about an hour away).  We got a group together and split the fare, so we each paid 25 euros for the round trip, plus the entry fee to the site.  It was a perfect day, not crowded, not hot, but sunny.  It was stunning to see it in that weather, undistracted by the crippling heat that I remember.  We made a quick photo stop at what is left of the Temple of Artemis nearby, so we could cross another one of the 7 Wonders of the ancient world off the list.  On the way back our taxi driver, who was blasting Lady Gaga, took us the long way round back to the port, and we got to enjoy the beautiful coastline.

A few days ago, we visited Heraklion, Crete, for the first time.  We figured out how to take the public bus to the Minoan ruins of Knossos.  Famously the mythological home of King Minas and his Minotaur and labyrinth, it is a really neat site to visit - there is a lot there.  It is interesting because bits of it have been extrapolated and reconstructed (likely erroneously) by Arthur Evans, the British archaeologist who bought the site around 1900 and excavated the ruins.  That in itself is an interesting thing to see.  Later on in town we visited the Archaeological Museum and got to see many of the objects recovered from the site.  It was ideal to be able to see Minoan artifacts, and the place they came from, in the same day.  The museum and the site each helped us get a better context for the other.  

Bosphorus Cymbal Factory

This week I had the fantastic opportunity to accompany our two drummers on an Istanbul field trip in - to the amazing Bosphorus cymbal factory.  Gianni, our drummer, and Gethin (Queen's Room drummer, from Wales) let me tag along as they made the pilgrimage on board the public tramway system (for about an hour and a half) to the factory on the outskirts of Istanbul.  Both drummers had been there a few weeks ago for the first time, but were returning again, this time with slightly different purchases in mind, and more money saved up to buy these amazing cymbals.  Bosphorus is run by 3 Turkish men who started their official company about 30 years ago, but use age-old secret techniques they learned as apprentices from masters before them to create the most perfect, unique, and amazing cymbals.  Turkey has always been known for this tradition, and modern techniques are still based on ancient ones developed here and passed down.

When we arrived at the tram station, a driver from the factory came to pick us up and drove us to the hidden building quite off the beaten track. I was given a personal tour of the factory by one of the owners, who very patiently and passionately explained exactly how the process works.  ALL of their cymbals are made by hand, and they produce about 300 a week.  Once a week is casting day, where they superheat the metal (copper and tin) and then pour it into individual ingots which will throughout the course of the week be changed into aural gold.  They only have 10 separate pans, and so the process is repeated throughout the day and the workshop fills with smoke and steam.  In the next room on a following day, the process of flattening out the metal begins - they heat each piece of metal in a oak-burning oven individually, then pass them through a rolling press, reheating and repeating the process 7 or 8 times.  Finally, after excess is removed, the cymbals are hand hammered - I saw the room where about half a dozen men literally just sit and hammer all day.  There is also the lathing process - where the cymbal is spun at high speeds and grooves like a record player are added to the underside.  I got to see all of this going on - it truly felt like I had stepped back in time, and was witnessing an ancient secret art of the masters.

After my tour came a couple hours of sitting and observing as Gianni and Gethin tested countless cymbals, looking for just the perfect sound they wanted.  Big, small, hammered, smooth, splash, ride, antique, on and on it went.  I listened hard and learned from their comments about the different qualities drummers look for when choosing a cymbal.  There are nuances I never noticed before.  My ears were ringing a bit by the end, admittedly, but it was well worth the journey.  At the end of the afternoon they were nice enough to drive us all the way back to our ship to make sure we weren't late.  We got chatting with another drummer from a P.&O. ship that was also in that day.  It was really fun for me - I felt lucky to have a chance to go and experience the mastery of turkish cymbals firsthand.  Way better than any organized ship tour of Istanbul!!