The Day in Ruins

After today, I think we are getting ruined out. As much as we enjoyed it, I guess we have had enough of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Turkish ruins. Michael and I have covered so many ruins that they are starting to look alike, although my excursion today to Ephesus was pretty darn spectacular. Back-to-back port days can be very exhausting. On this 7-day segment, we only have one sea day. Sorry to be so long in the description of what we did today, but it was really a packed day. With no TV to watch, and having seen all the evening entertainment shows, we are both into the blog as something to do in the evenings. I still miss TV, but not as much as when we first started this trip.

The ship docked this morning in Kusadasi, Turkey, a very affluent seaside resort city on the Aegean Sea and is considered part of the Turkish Riviera. The ship terminal is right at the foot of several bazaars and chic bistros, not far from the city center. The city used to be a sleepy village with mud huts; now everything is new – office buildings, condos, apartments, shops, and is a destination frequented by European snowbirds or on vacation. Speaking of Europeans, did you know that Turkey is part of Europe and part of Asia Minor? They have applied to the European Union, but still have a long way to go before being accepted. Last interesting facts are that unleaded gasoline goes for $11 a gallon; 90% of the population is Muslim; and Kusadasi is the same latitude as Los Angeles, so the weather is very similar.

Kusadasi is the gateway city to Ephesus, the largest open air public archeological park in the world. I escorted a tour to Epheses III (there are four sections) and was amazed at the beautiful marble streets.


Much of Epheses is over 7,000 years old; they have only excavated 25% above ground, leaving 75% untouched underground. I had my trusty umbrella (which is starting to rot from the sun) because the temperature was around 90* at 10 am and the sun was hot. I am getting used to sweating and have my clothes stick to me (Janet, I feel for you). My hair is a mess, especially with sweat and wearing a hat all day; plus I really need that haircut. Looks like it’s time to do laundry again.

Lucky me, I got to come back to the boat and drop off the ship’s backback and my report, have a quick bite to eat, get a little a/c, and pick up the gear for the next excursion. I had a two-fer today. It was market day today, and my next excursion took us to the Pazar (the market is called Pazar, a word from which the word bazaar is derived). OMG, we walked and walked and walked, through the crowds and vendor stands and saw the most beautiful fruits and vegetables (some I had never seen before).

This was a real farmers market, with the peasants (that’s what the guide called them) coming to town to sell their crops. Spices, cheeses, teas, grape leaves, nuts, candies and some sundries were available as well. The market went on for about ½ to ¾ of a mile and there were two aisles. It was very hot, and we walked up one side and down the other.

We then drove into the countryside to visit the village of Kirazli. This is as rural as you can get. We walked through the entire village. The children were very friendly and loved having their picture taken.

I would then show them how they looked and they were so excited.

 

We stopped by an old woman’s house and sampled cherries right from her tree. Then we walked to a small restaurant and had a typical refreshment of gozleme (a crepe) and a yogurt drink called ayran. The drink was sour and the crepes were filled with cheese and I think spinach.

Michael headed off to escort a full-day tour of three notable cities from the Ionian period. The first was Priene, particularly notable as being the first city that was actually a planned community. That is, the architects (and we are talking 500 B.C. here) designed a community that could be copied and recreated all over the country. The theater/stadium, the governors’ chambers and the agora (market) were well preserved; the houses less so. Priene is located in the Meander valley, which is bisected by the Meandrous River which turns wildly, hence the English and French word Meander.

As he proceeded to the next location, Michael got to schmooze a bit with the tour guide who turned out to be (I could not make this up) a championship-level bridge player who made it through the quarter finals at the most recent ACBL International tournament held in Istanbul. He has played with and against some of the biggest names in the bridge world, and managed to give Michael a very valuable lesson on multiple squeezes. He plays online bridge in his spare time, as does Michael, and they made plans to meet online when we return home.

His tour only had four other people on it. He was the only person in the van who was neither Japanese nor Taiwanese. Someone asked the tour guide what the difference is between Greeks and Turks. Without missing a beat, he said “Turks are circumcised.” Could I make this stuff up?

His next stop was Miletus, another ancient city, but much larger – maybe 150,000. One high point was a remarkably well preserved theater which sat 15,000 and you could still walk through it and even see where they sold the refreshments. You could see the carvings in the marble seats that were owned by various team supporters, such as TROY. Miletus was home to some of the world’s greatest philosophers and mathematicians of the time. Equally impressive was the well preserved roman baths.

He proceeded next to Didyma for lunch and then the final tour. Lunch was at a very nice seafood restaurant. The food must have been good as the place was overrun with cats waiting for someone to drop something. Michael thought Didyma was actually the best of the three stops. They viewed a 2,500 year old temple dedicated to Apollo, and is considered to be one of the ancient world’s most sacred sites. Unbelievably, several of the marble columns, 62 feet high, were undisturbed by nature and still standing proudly.