Here is Katherine exiting the port in Kusadasi, Turkey.
After a brief bus ride, we arrived at the "House of the Virgin Mary." Really, we can prove this? Some nun had a vision about this in the 1950's so it must be true. No matter what, it is a beautiful place in the hills just outside of Ephesus. Atilla's Getaway (the hostel we stayed at in 2011) was very close and visible from the road at the top of the hill.
It was interesting to watch the people arrive at the house.
This is a little prayer wall where people write messages.
After the Virgin Mary House, our tour continued back down the mountain to the site of Ephesus. It was kind of like we remember, but looked even better. There has been a lot of excavated done in the last three years. Very nice.
One of my favorite columns and tops. Oh, the Ionic design.
Below is a picture of our guide. She was amazing and full of info. We did not have a guide on our first trip here in 2011, so it was neat to fill in some gaps in our knowledge of the place.
Our view of the library.
A recently unearthed mosaic in front of the apartment style houses. None of this was viewable when we were here before.
My dad had to take a picture of the urination station from 2100 years ago.
More library action. We took this shot from the brothel. Funny thing... the library has a secret tunnel leading here. How convenient!
My mom and dad enjoying the site.
The marvelous theater. A giant crane loomed over the place in 2011, but now we had a better view.
Glad to see the genuine fake watch shop is still there.
Here we are at the site of St. John's Basilica. It is built at the site of the first and second Ephesus towns. Rumor has it that St. John was buried here back in the day, but has been removed. Now, three places claim to have parts of his body. Wow.
After an intense sightseeing tour we took a break for lunch. The place we stopped was really interesting. In this area of turkey, they have giant roadside entertainment and restaurant buffets that cater to the tour busses and cruise ship people. We saw them back in 2011 while walking the road to Atilla's Getaway, but of course did not go in since we were not on a tour. The experience started off with a brief show, and then we went inside to eat from an elaborate buffet display of food. The property is essentially a mini theme park. It is built to look like you are in the ancient city during it's heyday. The staff were wearing period costumes and there were screens playing computer animated depictions of what it looked like in Ephesus during ancient times. The buffet contained a good assortment of quasi traditional Turkish food. None of the people on our bus, except for Katherine and I, had been to Turkey before so this was their one chance to get a little sample of the cuisine. They all seemed to like it, considering how high their plates were piled with food.
After eating, we discovered that our departure from this roadside oasis was in jeopardy since we were waiting for a new bus. The driver backed up with the bus door open and smacked the door into a rock at the basilica. He forced the door shut to take us to the lunch place. While we were eating, the driver decided to "fix" the door, and now it would not close at all. Now we were off schedule and our guide did not find this humorous at all. Disney cruise port adventures run on time, every time. She kept her cool by vacuuming down the cigarettes.
Our new bus finally arrived, and we were on our way. On the way back to the port, we stopped by a Turkish rug wholesaler. They set up an informational session for the us about the rugs, their history, and of course a sales pitch. The company is called Matis, and is the real deal. No Chinese machine-made fakes here.
Katherine and I ended up getting a small carpet after everyone else from our tour left. We had a few things going for us.... The guide recommended this place, Disney Cruise Line guarantees them, and we like cool looking rugs. So, why not get one? We did, and worked a little Turkish bargaining for the sale. Later I read more about this process with the rugs and typical prices, and found out we got a smoking deal, partially since we agreed to hand-carry it. It's small at 59cm x 84cm, but quite nice. Yay for us.
Now happy with our rug in hand, we headed back to the ship. And look who pulled up next to us: a Princess Cruise Line behemoth.
The Disney Magic.
Time to rest and chill by the pool.
Leaving the port, the tugs watch carefully. You don't want to bump you cruise ship into anything. It might leave a mark.
We briefly saw a Beatles cover band, called the Beatle Maniacs, playing on the deck by one of the pools. They were actually pretty good.
Mom and Dad made a friend in the "Key's" lounge, Tim from the Philippines. The Canadian dude playing the piano is also named Tim. Hanging with the Tims was great.
My mom with a professional Bacardi cocktail, her favorite.
For dinner we headed to Lumiere's. The mediterranean menu had some nice choices. Katherine and I both started with soup. She had Egyptian green soup, which was spinach soup with garlic and coriander. I had the spicy andalusian tomato soup, which was not spicy but yummy all the same. I next had the herb-crusted monkfish with braised fennel on a polenta cake. It was Katherine's turn to try some lamb tonight. She ordered preserved lemon and rosemary rubbed lamb sirloin served with eggplant caviar, toasted Israeli couscous, lamb jus and red bell pepper drizzle. It was really good. Neither of us had room for dessert, but we did have espressos. As we were finishing up our satisfying meal, we realized that the movie Saving Mr. Banks was about to begin. Katherine and I rushed down to the theater and sat down just as the first scene was beginning. It was a long eventful day.
Tomorrow we head back to Greece, but to visit the small island of Mykonos.
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Cool rug! What a treasure!
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