Selçuk —> Ayvalik

We started the morning with a bang and experienced our first ever earthquake! We felt the room shake for about 10 seconds and then Gab received a message alert that there was an earthquake near the coast about 21km away and measured 4.6 on the Richter scale. Thankfully there was no injuries or broken things!

We left our town and headed north towards the town of Bergama, where we visited a government-funded carpet initiative. We explored the warehouse of the company which provides over 2000 women with jobs to produce carpet which is then sold throughout Turkey. We were able to watch the women weaving on the loom and Gab even tried it out! The women who create these carpets have been using this technique since 5BC! We learnt that some wool carpets can take weeks or months and some carpets made from silk can take over 5 years to make depending on how big they are! We also learnt that the different colours of the wool are created from different plants or nuts such as walnut, pomegranate and onion skins! It was so impressive seeing so many amazing carpets and thinking of how much time and effort has been spent on creating the beautiful pieces.

We then travelled to the seaside town of Ayvalik where we had lunch and then checked into an old ottoman mansion which would be our accommodation for the night. It is a two storey building with bricks and wooden elements with old furniture which was previously a French consulte. After checking in, we headed to the seaside to board another boat for an afternoon of drinks and swimming! Lots of fun!

We went out away from the harbour and stopped in a swimming spot where we enjoyed plenty of time in the sun and water with our new friends. We went back to the harbour and unfortunately one of our friends Amy had cut her toe very badly on a clam/something else under the water and so needed to go to the hospital to get it checked out. The rest of us went out for dinner, with the local cuisine being a toasted sandwich which we enjoyed by the sea. We went back to the mansion to have showers and play cards before Amy joined us later in the night with her toe still attached to her body!Read more