Kusadasi, Turkey

We cleaned up on trivia last night and guess who the star was? Wrong. It was “Name That Tune” and Norma carried our team. Lucky she had listened to all those old tunes her parents used to sing. One of the couples felt so bad they didn't know any of the tunes so they gave us their “O” points. We now have enough to buy something at the big "sale" tomorrow.

Tacky Tourists

We sailed into Turkey this morning at 7:00 a.m. – 180 nautical miles from Rhodes - and departed for our morning tour of Ephesus, a biblical city of magnificent proportions (another UNESCO site). In case you are a little fuzzy check out the biblical chapter “Ephesians”. Nile, our tour guide is an English teacher so we had no problems understanding her. Besides various temples (including the area of the Temple of Artemis – one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world) we saw the terrace houses which housed the upper class Ephesians.

The Library

The Grand Theatre

They had running under floor heating from steam, fresh water and sewer in their homes– pretty amazing to see the terra cotta pipes they have found and realize how civilized they were 2400 years ago. The agora or market was fun to walk through and visualize what it might sound, smell and look like in biblical times. The library was impressive (especially with its underground tunnels to the brothel - our picture was taken in front of it) and the Grand Theatre which once hosted performances by Elton John and Sting. Apparently the acoustics are magnificent and until recently had been used for a variety of concerts. After the fans attending the “Sting” concert caused a great deal of damage and destruction, it was decided not to permit any more such concerts there.

Terrace "Apartment"

Sandals Need Repair? How About an Anointment?

At the end of our tour we were invited to view a carpet shop demonstration. It was designed to get you to buy a carpet but was very informative, nonetheless, including a demonstration of how silk is harvested from silk worms. The carpets were magnificent (so were their prices!). They told us the silk worms feed exclusively on the mulberry trees. They harvest the cocoons, place them in hot water and stir them with a broom until the silk begins to separate in a string – about 4,000 feet long – which is then combined with many strings and spun onto a wheel for later dying and weaving. They also gave a demo of how it is double knotted into a rug and then spread out over 50 rugs for us to see the comparison. It was all pretty impressive but we did not buy.

Carpet Demo

We spent a bit of time in the bazaar of Kusadasi. Turkish bazaars must be experienced to be believed. There were so many shop keepers who “wanted to be our friends” – we did not realize we had such captivating personalities.   “Madam – you forgot your leather jacket” or “Sir, over here for that new watch”. Again we are impressed with how clean things are in Turkey. There is constantly someone sweeping the streets and picking up garbage.

The weather has been excellent the whole trip. No rain and mostly equitable temperatures, Today it was in the mid 20s. The archaeological site could be oppressive in the summer heat so obviously this is the time to visit.