The ancient city of Sardis in Turkey is located 65 kilometers east of Manisa, so it is quite easy to get both from there and from Izmir. Sardis is another unique place in Turkey, and so ancient that his story actually firmly intertwined with myth. Scientists suggest that this area was populated by another 1200 BC, and a few later, the leaders from Anatolia appeased here with Greek conquerors. Then Sardis Ros and incredibly flourished due to the fact that gold was found near the mountains.
But according to an ancient legend, the source of the city's wealth was in the very Frygian Tsar Midase, whose hand turned into gold. In any case, from where this gold did not occur, the leaders successfully flourished and succeeded, and they could even invent metal money. Then the city was captured by the Persians under the start of Kira the Great, but again recovered and flourished under the direction of Alexander Macedonsky, while in the seventeenth year of our era, a destructive earthquake did not happen here.
Then the Romans managed to restore the city and even built one of the same 7 churches in it, which was mentioned in the revelation of John the Bogoslov. A much later in 1402, he was captured by Tamerlana's troops and then the city was never able to recover. He was once discovered only at the beginning of the last century by American archaeologists who were looking for the remnants of Roman and Byzantine monuments here.
To get here you must first get to Dolmusche, and then walk on a non-noticeable agricultural area. Here there are two main clusters of ruins now - you will easily find them, having passed on foot from the main road. First, you can see the ancient gymnasium and synagogue, which are open daily from 8.30 am to eight in the evening. They are located in the northern direction from the highway. The marble road and the Byzantine shopping street passes, there are still well visible holes in the sidewalk and drainage ditches.
Unfortunately, only the foundations of buildings are left from an ancient city. Yes Low walls with doorways are also visible to the inscriptions in Greek and carved water tanks. On the right side of the synagogue, you can see the building of the gymnastic and bunny complex of the third century of our era. Dali is a marble courtyard, which was perfectly renovated in fact to its original state. Over the courtyard are the remnants of the swimming pool.
Then it will be necessary to turn to the West and go through the crucible track from the Sartmustafa tea houses to the second preserved area of the ruins of the city, which are 1200 meters from the motorway. Here the most important attraction can be called the temple of Artemis, which is also discovered daily from half the ninth in the morning and up to eight in the evening. It is actually one of the four largest temples in all Malaya Asia. He was built at the King Tsar, then ruined the Greeks during the period of the Ionian uprising and then rebuilt under Alexander Macedonian.
To date, only a dozen of massive ionic columns, which can be attributed to the Roman and Greek periods, but only two are completely preserved. But according to the foundation, it is possible to judge how large was the temple, which at that time rolled with the cult facilities of Ephesus, Didima and Samos. In the southeastern part of the ruins are the ruins of a small Byzantine Church, and on a narrow strip in the eastern part under a canopy you can see that there are small excavations. The ruins are surrounded by hills with luxurious forests and vineyards, among which can be seen in some places, but producing a strong impression, as in the territory of Cappadocia, rocks.
You can get to Sardis on Dolmoshe from Manisa, who follows Salichly, then by bus from Izmir, or by train, which is also sent from Izmir. Train, of course, to get more convenient, but much slower. But the train returns back to Manisu a little later than dolmoshi. Dolmushi plant passengers near the turn on the Sartmustafa on the highway, and the railway station is approximately one kilometer in the northern direction near the little village of SartMath. Hotels in Manisa are quite a bit, but you can stay in Salihli. It is a city with a market that is not far from the Ammir-Afonkarahisar highway. In the city itself there is nothing interesting, but it is very close to the ruins.