IN Turkey, but by no means WAS it a Turkey ... or ... Please pull the rug out from under me...

Today's excursion/adventure started out pretty darn early ... our wake up alarm was set for 5:30AM to make a 6AM breakfast and hit the gangway at 7AM to meet up with our guide for a 4 hour tour to be back on ship by noon for a 1PM sail away.  Now in my mind getting up at 5:30AM on vacation just seems wrong ... oh well.

Today we docked in the Turkish port city of Kusadasi.  This part of Turkey is in Asia Minor ... Istanbul where we will be tomorrow is in Europe ... I can't even believe I just typed that!

For today's tour I had done some internet research way back in September and booked through an agency recommended by several travelers.  Our tour's objective was to see as much as reasonably possible in around 4 hours.  Sounds simple enough until you find out what you are actually going to see and the distances involved.  I had a bit of trepidation going into this part of the odyssey simply because we had booked this and the Istanbul tour on the internet and already paid in advance for the tours.  What if no one was at the gate wagging a "Mr Millsap" sign ... however; all was well our guide (Nelay) and driver were pretty much johnny on the spot and led us to a very nice Volkswagon "tour bus" outfitted for 10 or so passengers ... we had the bus solely to ourselves (6 of us) as well as the guide that spoke very fluent and easy to understand English.  This lady has been guiding tours essentially since the ruins were  opened to the public (just over 25 years) and was very personable and easily answered all of our questions about the local politics, economy, costs of living and so on.  It turns out that until 25 years ago the city was a small fishing village of a few thousand people but when the ruins at Ephesus were discovered the population ballooned as did the service and tourist industry.  We are in the final two weeks of the busy tourist season and in two weeks basically the whole area goes on holiday because the cruise ships stop coming.  The city is very clean and well kept and essentially "new" since much of it was built up in just the last 25 years.

So we are on board our private tour bus and our guide suggests that we boogie on to the "house of the Virgin Mary" to beat the hordes of tourists that have booked through the ship and will be coming in BIG buses shortly.  We motored several (20+) miles through the country side much like the Texas hill country and then started a very steep and windy climb up a VERY narrow road along a very perilous cliff ... I'm thinking about all those big buses behind us and am glad I'm not in one of them!

The "House of the Virgin Mary" was discovered after much futile searching by various archaeological teams when a nun that had never been to the area described a very detailed vision she had of the exact location.  Following her vision the searchers were able to locate the small house without difficulty.  This is the "house" where the Virgin Mother spent her last days on earth.  In 1961 Pope John Paul XXII proclaimed the house to be sacred and is now not only a "tourist attraction" but a shrine visited by thousands of faithful every year.

Leaving Mary's house we motored a short way back down the mountain road to the location of Ephesus.  I hadn't realized that the people living here at the time were in fact the "Ephesians" to whom St. Paul wrote his letters while in captivity. 

This was at the time actually a port city with the Agean sea right up next to the city.  The city had approximately 500,000 citizens at its peak.  While Pompeii was an amazing place,  to me Ephesus is even more breathtaking.  When you see pictures you will understand ... these people knew the earth was a sphere, that there were other planets, had a sophisticated underground sewage system and the streets were literally paved with marble.  The temples and even business buildings were beautifully decorated with friezes and frescoes and it was clearly a center of culture and sophistication.   One picture I will post early into the gallery is of the library ... it was at the time second only to the great library of Alexandria.

After walking for an hour or so through these ancient and proud ruins we hopped back on the bus for a quick picture stop at the Temple of Artemis.  This was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Back on the bus and back to the city of Kusadasi for some what else but SHOPPING ...

Our first stop was at an amazing store that sells upscale jewelery and carpets ... we watched a demonstration of how the carpets are made (truly amazing to see a woman continuing to work on a rug she started in January and still has about 3 months before it is finished) and then were taken downstairs to see what was for sale .... uh oh ...all I can say is "Oh my God ..." ..this store (underground) had several fairly large "rooms" with beautiful wood floors completely devoid of furniture except for the "couches" that spanned two of the four walls ... the owner had 3 or 4 "helpers" start taking carpets of all sizes and colors (and knot counts and fabrics...) and started scattering them about the room while we were served hot apple tea in tiny individual flasks ... uh oh ... all the while describing the quality of the various carpets and basically providing an education while making a very smooth sales pitch ... uh oh ...
Now remember that beautiful silk handmade rug Carolyn REALLY wanted but didn't buy because clearer heads prevailed ?... well not so much this time ... in 6-8 weeks we will receive an actual genuine hand made Turkish rug ... what can I say ... maybe it will be a "magic carpet" and I can sell rides around the neighborhood to try and recoup some of the "end of the season sale" price .....

We visited the shop that is actually owned by our guide Nelay and the ladies in our troop made additional purchases there.


Back to the ship and away we sailed ... next stop ... Istanbul ... uh oh ...

Bade