This morning we had to get up at 5:30 AM in order to have breakfast and meet for our 7 AM tour of Kusadasi and the surrounding area. Some people might call this a vacation but I call it torture.
We got off the ship at 7:05, met our guide (Ali) and started out on a long days journey into night. There were only six of us; Rita and Jules, Joan and David, Enid and myself in a 14 passenger van so we had plenty of room to stretch out and relax.
Our first stop was Milet where there are the remains of an ampitheater that is approximately 2,000 years old and is still in fair condition. It was built next to the Agean Sea and over all those passing years it has filled in with silt and is now 7 kilometers from the Sea.
Next we went to Didma where we saw Apollo's Temple (or what is left standing of it) and then we headed for Ephesus or Efes as the locals call it. Even the road signs are spelled (is that a word?) with both names. Our guide was absolutely fantastic and I am going to send an email to his boss telling him what a great job Ali did. We were all impressed by him and rewarded him accordingly. When we got to Ephesus we stopped along the route for Ali to explain what part of the ruins we were at and he was so good people stood around to listen to him and then went back to their friends to tell them too. Ephesus was amazing. It is still an archeologist's dream to dig and uncover more of the city. To date only about 30% has been unearthed. The first two Ephesus' were destroyed by earthquakes and the Roman warriors. Each time it was destroyed they changed the location and rebuilt by using a lot of the previous materials.
Then we went to a Turkish restaurant for lunch. You didn't expect us to miss a meal, did you? The price was $10 US and we got what they call a 3 course lunch. We all got a salad, then some kind of soup, and some of us got meatballs (they weren't round but were rectangular chopped beef with rounded edges. They were strange looking but tasted okay. Someone had shish (that means stick) kabob with chicken. Now isn't this informative? For dessert we had what Turks call Halavah but was more like Wheatena with honey made into a square piece of "cake".
After lunch we went to a pottery factory and watched a craftsman make a sugar bowl and cover from raw clay on a potters wheel in about 2 minutes. If was fun to watch and he was so talented I could've stayed there all day. Then we went to look at the finished products in their showroom and I picked up a plate and asked for a price. The salesman told me I had very good taste and I knew I was in trouble. With 30% off and an end of season discount the plate was over 1200.00 dollars. When I stopped choking I said I'll continue to look around for something in my price range.
From there we went to a Rug Factory and got a spiel about carpets, saw how they are made and the most interesting part of the tour was watching the silk they get from cocoons. In the same building was a huge jewelry store but it was high pressure sales. I felt like I was in a car dealership. We then went to a leather factory but didn't buy anything there either. I was going into spending money withdrawal.
Then we headed back to the ship and got here about 4:30 so you now know what kind of long day we had. I bought some things from a street vendor after I got it for the price I named. I thought he wouldn't accept it but when he did I wondered if I should have gone lower. Before I left FL for this cruise I was 66 and I now feel like 85. We walked close to 4 miles today and have absolutely no idea how far yesterday but I bet it was close to today, if not more.
Tonight we had dinner reservations at the Tuscan Grill with Joan and David and except for a few (and slight) problems the meal was excellent. It was long so we missed the theater show but went to the comedy theater to see Uber Rossi and laughed for a solid hour. If I could only remember some of his jokes I would be a happy camper. Through the grapevine we heard the service in the dining room was once again terrible. Our table waited 25 minutes for their appetizers and 1 hour for their entree. We're sure they had those problems because we weren't there; why else would it have been slow.
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My dad's tours should come with a warning! On our first cruise, all three of us lost weight because of all the walking we did. You're lucky he let you stop for lunch! Usually we never stop to eat.. ask my mom about our first time in Rome!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving reading your entries; you are doing a great job, and thanks for the shout-out! Looking forward to meeting you too! - Lauren