Kusadasi, Turkey
Your guide will meet you at 9:00 a.m. at the Port of Kusadasi, and take you to a very interesting ancient city:
[Sardes or Sardis (Sart) was the capital of the Lydian Kingdom, going back to the First Millennium B.C. It was the city of King Croesus, a king famous for his wealth. His name has entered the English language to describe someone very rich and ostentatious. Croesus was the last King of the Lydian Kingdom.
The city had owed much of its wealth to gold found in the nearby Pactalos River. Herodotus, known as ‘the Father of History’, wrote that coins were first minted in Sardis from a metal called electrum, a mixture of gold and silver. The value of these coins was guaranteed with the gold in the state treasury. Dyeing of wool also originated here].
Sardes is important for both Christians as it is one of the Seven Churches of Revelation, and also for Jews as it has one of the best preserved synagogues from antiquity.
Some of the sites that you will visit include the Temple of Artemis, which was converted into a church after Christianity was accepted as state religion, parts of the original “Royal Road” (Kral Yolu, or King’s Road) which had once started in Persia, and the restored gymnasium - which is very impressive. One of the highlights of Sardes is the very well preserved synagogue and the attached shops that belonged to the people who had worshipped in the synagogue.
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