Med Trip - June 10

Another early morning. We docked in Kusadasi, Turkey at 7AM. We had an excursion booked for Ephesus at 8:00. Sister G and BIL were not coming, since they had done this excursion nine months earlier. To save time, we ordered breakfast for our room and were off the ship by 7:50. At the end of the pier we right away saw someone with a sign with my name on it and were off on our excursion before 8 o'clock. Our tour guide, a Turkish young woman was marvellous. We had a very roomy modern mini-van and our guide was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable. She explained that over 95 percent of Turkey was muslim, but very moderate. She was also muslim but not a strong practicer even though she believed in God and prayed regularly. This was Ramadan, a time of fasting, but she did mot fast. Our first stop was an old house dug up outside of the city walls of ancient Ephesus that was reputed to be the house where the Apostle John, who lived and preached in Ephesus, put her up in for her safety. We were lucky that it was still early and we were ahead of the crowds. Of course, since ISIS attacks in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, many cruise ships stopped coming to Turkey, and tourism, a very important industry here, dropped dramatically. From here we were off to Ephesus. This was a huge archeological site where work continues to unearth the old city. This was the third site for Ephesus, used from the third century before Christ to about four centuries AD. Each time, this harbour city was abandoned after the harbours silted ip from the nearby rivers. Currently the site, which was on the ocean's edge, is now 7 kilometres from water. It was amazing to see. Walking down the marble streets, visiting the most intact building, the library, and seeing the amphitheatre, it was strange to think that the apostle Paul and John walked here too, on these same stones. John was exiled to the isle of Patmos, where he received the vision of the book of Revelations, and returned to Ephesus to write it down. Ephesus was a Greek city and the theatre was used for their tragedy plays, until the bloodthirsty Romans took over. They had superior engineering skills and transformed the theatre to accommodate their preferred entertainment, gladiator fights and animal fights. We learned a great deal. After this, we asked to stop for a quick lunch. We stopped for Turkish beer, Turkish pizza, not unlike our own with minced meat and mushrooms, and kebabs with rice and pita bread. We were asked if we wanted to visit a leather factory, a pottery factory, and a rug weaving factory. We were not keen, okay, I was not keen on any option. We decided on the pottery but the guide pushed us, saying we would really enjoy these, and there was no obligation to buy anything. We relented and agreed to go to the pottery and leather outlets. We got a pottery making demonstration and Jo got to spin a pot. It was a little wobbly, and I was concerned with its welfare after we left. We were offered Turkish coffee, much like expresso. Then of course they tried to sell us pottery, successfully, I might add. Our last stop was the leather factory, where the four of us got a private fashion show and a sales pitch for their high quality jackets. The prices were also high quality and I couldn't wait to leave. We got out unscathed. We loved our visit to Turkey. I believe those who do not travel live with false impressions of many places. We expected Turkey to be somewhat barren. In fact, it was lush and green and beautiful. We arrived back at the pier and found a cafe with wi fi, but alas, my cell phone failed to download anything in the time we spent there. However, sister T and M returned to the ship and came back to tell us that they were not operating the scanners onboard, so they were going to get some wine. We picked up two bottles too and had them in our back pack. We got through the check in without any questions. We learned later that even though they weren't scanning, they were still on the look out for wine. I. Guess only those that made their wine purchase obvious got it confiscated. For the second straight night, they did not close the blinds for dinner. Of course the dining room was more than half empty because they were holding a Turkish bazaar on the lido deck. After dinner Jo attended a classical music performance. I passed.

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