The Easternmost point of the Adventure

Saturday April 25, 2009
6:30 PM

We are in Turkey and it has been a very busy day because we had our first shore excursion this afternoon.

The good thing is we did go to bed early we skipped the main dining room last night and partook of the Greek Barbeque by the pool….think I will stick with the main dining room. Up at 7 AM we were already at a dock in Kusadasi, one of Turkey’s main holiday resorts. It is a city of 50,000 that swells in the summer and gets 900,000 cruise ship passengers each year so the tourist industry is vibrant. It was 66 F today and sunny as it is 300 days each year, so I broke out the shorts for the first time and got a bit of sun on my face the last couple of days.

After breakfast at about 9:30 the four of us got off the ship to go shopping because we had an afternoon excursion starting at 12:15PM the shopping was well organized and there is a bazaar. Since we were the first people of the ship and since it is very early in the season the hookers (men in black suits as Charlotte calls them) were very aggressive trying to sell jewelry, leather, and other things. Very early I stopped to talk with Boris, a man standing in the center of the street who owned 3 leather shops. Anyway we became friends and he invited me into his shop, showed me wedding pictures from Greensboro NC, I also got shown a number of coats of fine lamb’s leather. I barely resisted a genuine Harley Davidson leather vest. Alas back on the street I had lost the other three. Two quick trips around the block and I realized I was abandoned. (Later I was informed by my wife that I abandoned her….and it was almost inexcusable to leave her to fiend off the aggressive merchants). On my own I found an internet café an hour for 1$ thanks Judy for the e-mail and I also caught up on some curling news. I also checked my fantasy baseball teams. I could not figure how to check the blog as it was a Turkish menu.

The next highlight was a Turkish haircut for 5 Euros. Lots of trimming include eyebrows and nose hairs and singeing with flame of ear hair all the while sipping hot apple flavored hot tea. I got back to the ship just before 11:30. We had a quick lunch and headed for the bus and our tour of Ephesus.

The ruins of Ephesus are about 30% excavated and were very interesting. Ephesus was really built 4 times the ruins ore of the third city from about 500 BC it was Hellenic, Roman, and then Ottoman Empire. It was finally abandoned when the river connecting it to the seas silted up. The key highlights were official part of town the baths the library, and the theater which seated 25,000 and was were Paul spoke to the crowds three times I think. He was eventually arrested and jailed as he was cutting into the local business of selling the statutes of Armetis.

The bus dropped us at a high class rug merchant near the port where we saw some weaving and heard about the art…….and were shown a number of beautiful rugs of wool cotton and silk while sipping tea and wine. Again we resisted bring home a carpet... Lyle went back to the ship and Marlene, Charlotte, and I went shopping…..I was able to save them from the men in the black suits. It was a lovely sunny day a lot of fun.

Charlotte and I had our two for one special up in the Crow’s nest. It is now time for the Vegas Show in the lounge (I want to set those lifts in action) and then to dinner. Tomorrow we have a full day excursion in Athens.

It is now nearly 10 PM the Vegas show was fine and the lifts were used extensively. Dinner was also fine I had salmon, Charlotte weiner schnitzel, Marlene, sea bass and Lyle another NY Strip steak. I stopped by the internet place and the manager reset my password as I had trouble yesterday when I wanted to send a picture of Charlotte on a donkey. Anyway patience for pictures may be rewarded. As we are over 300 and a few are good.

Tomorrow is Athens here is a quick fact as a teaser The Academy (est 387 BC by Plato in the grove of Academos) was the world’s first university. Bye from Turkey……