TURKMEN CARPETS

After our visit to the ancient city of Ephesus, our tour bus stopped at Turkmen Carpet Weaving Center for a "cultural demonstration" on Turkish carpet weaving. This stop wasn't outlined in our shore excursion description, but we had heard beforehand this was a common detour for cruise passengers. 

The demonstration, admittedly, was better than expected. We were introduced to this beautiful, handcrafted artwork and shown the pain-staking process of how women weave these extravagant rugs by hand-tying knots, one knot at a time, while following a complex pattern. It was impressive.

We were less impressed with the tour stop when the demonstration concluded and we were directed to the showroom. We just weren't in the market for purchasing an expensive carpet and didn't need any sales pressure, so we ran out of that showroom at our first opportunity. 

 ^^ silk cocoons, being unrolled for thread. ^^

 ^^ we discovered turkish apple tea. ^^

If you end up in Turkey and want to invest in a carpet, please do your research so you can negotiate a fair price.