World Cruise 2015: Day 93

Things are winding down, only 21 days left. We cannot believe it, but we do miss our cats. I guess we are a little weird. Now we are in Kusadasi, Turkey. It is located on the western coast of Turkey, and is a resort town that attracts tourists form all over the world. Since the area was settled by the Leleges in 3000 BC, culture and art have been at the forefront. Ancient ruins are at every turn. Turkey has about 75 million people and is located in two continents, Europe and Asia. They, though, are not part of the European Union. There are seven different cultures and climates in Turkey. The religion is Islam and is practiced by about 99% of the population. They are not as strict as the other countries; the women appear to be equals and do not have to wear the garb. They also drink alcohol, in fact the national drink is Raki, which is 45% alcohol. They also, by law, can only have one wife and they can have pets in the house. The last sultan was expelled in 1923. The economy of the west region is tourism and farming. They farm in the winter when it is not the tourist season. They produce about 60% of the world’s towel as they grow cotton. However, she said the percentage is going down, as people are looking more toward bamboo for towels. The unemployment rate is 9%.

We had a private tour here and had a great day. Our first stop on the tour was to Ephesus. It is 2300 years old and is why you come to this port. When the Romans conquered Ephesus was a port city. Today the port is 6 miles away. At that time there were 300,000 people who lived in the city. In the year 700 the river silted up as well as malaria broke out, and they did not know what caused it. By the year 800 there was no one in Ephesus. The Turks used the ruins as a marble quarry. In 1869 they started to excavate it. As of today only 20% that has been excavated. It is an amazing place. They have excavated many columns and ruins, houses that are terraced on the hill, two auditoriums (one large and one small), and a library. We spent the morning going through the city. Our guide was very good.

The house where Mary was supposed to have lived her last days is also located in this area. We did not go there. Our next stop was a village call Sirince, with a population of 600. When the Mayan calendar said the world was going to end, there were supposedly two places on earth where it would not, and Sirince was one of them. It is mainly a pretty little village with an Agora (marketplace). From there we went to lunch at this great commune type of place. They grow their own food and have a pretty little restaurant. We ate in a covered gazebo in the middle of the courtyard. Great Mediterranean lunch.

The last stop was where they make Turkish rugs. They make them from cotton, wool and silk. Here they showed us how they take the silk from the cocoons to make the silk for the rugs. The silk rugs can take up to a year to make. All of them are made from hand by tying knots. We did buy a small one for our living room. The one we bought has no died wool, but is all different colors of lamb’s wool. Very muted and very pretty.

Last night the CEO and President of Holland America gave a cocktail party and concert back out at Ephesus. It was held between the library and the large outdoor amphitheater. The theater holds 24,000 people, and we were about 900. It was beautiful, but cold (48 degrees). They did put cushions on the marble seats and did hand out blankets as you got off the ship. Imagine how rocky these ruins are and there are many people on this cruise that use walkers, wheelchairs and canes. We saw four that fell while we were eating out appetizers. We first saw a local dance and then the Aegean Chamber Orchestra performed. We made it till the last piece and then left. We got back to the ship about 11. And, then when we boarded all the staff was dressed up and lined the boarding area to say welcome back. Quite a day.

Now we have one day at sea and then 6 port days in a row. We will spend two in Athens (tour of Athens and the Acropolis), one in Olympia, one in Sicily, one in Naples (tour of Pompeii) and one in Rome (tour of Rome, actually we dock an hour away). I will try to post during that period, as we do not have tours in all of these ports.

1 – Port

2 – Fort across from port

3 – Sign in market; guide said that everything that is imported is very expensive such as cell phones such that they buy a lot of imitations

4-7 Ephesus

8 – Shows their drainage system (This is 2500 years old)

9 – Missing our cats

10-12 Ephesus

13 – Small amphitheater

14-16 Ephesus

17 – God Mercury

18 – Goddess Niki – they say that Nike took their swoosh from this; note the swoosh in the lower bottom part

19-20 Library

21 – Hercules on top of both columns; they say if you touch both columns at the same time you will get the strength of Hercules; it did not appear to work

22 – Mosaic floor

23-24 Men’s bathroom – they were cheek to cheek

25 – Large family room in one of the terrace houses; tables are filled with the pieces that the archeologists are trying to put together

26 – Marble wall in terrace houses

27 – Dining room in terrace houses

28-32 Parts of the terrace houses

33-34 Large amphitheater where our concert was held

35 – Tunnel that the performers come through to the amphitheater

36 – Tombs

37-40 Village of Sirince

41 – Where we ate lunch

42 – Cocoons where they get the silk thread from