If any of you were on my email list from last year you’d know that Kusadasi was by far one of my favourite ports – nothing changed this time around! Jon had never been to Ephesus (even though he’d been to Kusadasi a ton of times), so I decided that he’d have to go. What is Ephesus you ask? It’s one of the best preserved ancient Greek cities in the world, which is why I’m so gung-ho about it. We left the ship as soon as it was cleared, nicely greeted by the morning sunrise and no guests anywhere in sight. That’s right; we left before any of the shore excursions. We actually arrived ten minutes before the gates to Ephesus opened. Needless to say, we were the first people through the gate (with only a German tour group behind us who doddled along at an extremely slow pace).
Craig’s #1 pet-peave: random people and tourists in his photos.
The amazing news is that all of my pictures have no one in them except for either Jon or me. NO ONE! If you’ve ever been to any archaeological site of interest you’d know that this is not only uncommon, it’s practically unheard of. Just a special mention on two of the pictures: the goddess on a triangular slab of stone is Nike and we were both wearing Nike shoes; and the restroom sign in the one picture reads (and this is quite self-explanatory as to why the picture is on my blog), “Only 50 cent is enough to feel the magic atmosphere.”
We randomly ran into Lori in the bazaar after returning to Kusadasi and decided to get a snack and enjoy a hot cup of Turkish apple tea (the weather now warrants long pants!!!). After ordering what we thought would be a couple small appetizers to share, they brought us each a plate of each appetizer – so much for the snack idea. It was only half way through eating that Lori mentioned she was meeting Christine for lunch in about an hours time (oh Lori). We shopped around the bazaar and I restrained myself, only buying a glass lantern for myself and the lovely Lucy. Why not eat some more? The second restaurant (with Lori, Jon and now Christine) was the main course… I love the food here. Anyway, such a great day; such an incredible time. If you can make your way to Turkey, or more specifically Kusadasi, go!
