We arrived in the port of Kusadasi, Turkey which is the
gateway to Ephesus.
Ephesus is a World Heritage site that is one of the world’s
oldest ancient cities an once home to over 250,000 people.
Excavations have been underway for 150 years and only 20
percent of the city has been uncovered.
They have excavated the Great Theater, the Temple of Hadrian
and the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We traveled on the main street of the city walking
for about an hour marveling of how this city was built.
One of the most amazing things was that everything was built
out of marble, from the streets to the tall columns.
They we went up the mountain to the site of the last days of
Mary. The stone house is very tiny but
the religious site is beautiful. This is
the home that Mary and the Apostle John lived out their last days. When Crist was being crucified, he asked John
to take care of Mary and this is where they lived.
We had a wonderful guide and driver. What was supposed to be a 3 ½ hour tour
turned into a 5 ½ hour tour.
Along the tour, it is expected that you will visit either a
gold jewelry store, a carpet store, a fashion store or a leather store. We chose a fashion store and a leather store
and words cannot describe the experience of Turkish sales people and the
pressure they can put on you. If you
realize that’s what is going to happen, it is easy to deal with.
At the fashion store, we were ushered into our own private
area, the lights dimmed and we were treated to a runway fashion show. The video only shows part of it. Then of course they pushed and pushed to sell
us something. Guess what we didn’t buy
anything at any of these stores.
Back on ship, we dressed for dinner, which was good and then
went to the show. Tonight the show was 4
males singers recreating the quartets of the past and they were pretty good.
Finally we went to the casino where Barb lost a little as
did Ed.
Tomorrow is a sea day and we are looking forward to just
relaxing all day.
Night
