Turkey Day 7

We left Antalya this morning heading for Fethiye, another seaside town, this time on the Turquoise coast. Our first stop was for lunch at Saklikent Gorge which is believed to have been formed by an earthquake. We ate lunch on a platform over the icy cold waters that run through the Gorge - it was a fabulous picturesque location to have lunch!

En route we also stopped off at a carpet dyeing, weaving, and manufacturing house. This house was located in a small village and is staffed by the local village women. The carpet house was primarily for showing tourists the process from silk worms to silk, freshly shorn wool to spun wool thread, the dyeing process (all natural materials used for dyeing), to the carpets and the intricate knot tying that comprises the Turkish carpet. They then show you an array of the carpets allowing you to walk on them and feel the difference between materials.  The majority of the carpet making actually takes place in the village homes and a lot of the patterns are unique to the family who make them. These patterns are passed down through the generations and never shared outside the family.  There were a few carpets that took our eye but the one we really loved was of course silk on silk and rather large so therefore very expensive - needless to say we didn’t buy it.