Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Day Six-Ephesus & Kusadasi, Turkey

This is a picture of a picture, so not good quality...but this is our dinner night with our special guest, Officer Adam Hill.
Ancient temple in Ephesus

Virgin Mary's home


Statue leading to the Virgin Mary's home


Kusadasi, Turkey taken from the ship when we arrived in port.


I have to start my entry today by saying WOW! What an interesting and informative day! Today we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey. This is the town where the port is. The weather began cool and a little rainy, but soon became a beautiful blue sky and very, very hot (about 90 degrees)! Our tour began here by motor coach where we made our way to Ephesus, an ancient city which still stands in ruins. Our tour guide today was Khan. Khan was a very nice man who had been a teacher. He said teachers are the lowest paid workers in Turkey, which is why he became a tour guide.

To begin our time here, the motor coach took us to the top of a high mountain where the Apostle John built a house for the Virgin Mary. She lived here in her elderly days, eventually dying in this place. It was very emotional for me to enter this Holy place. Upon entering Virgin Mary’s home, I was given a shawl to cover my shoulders. Very quiet music was playing and no one was talking. Just hoards of people were lined up kind of like a pilgrimage to enter the home of the blessed virgin who gave birth to Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our tour guide (who is Muslim, like 95% of the country) told us all wishes you wish in this place come true. I interpreted that in my Christian beliefs that all prayers come true, so I prayed. I prayed to my God, in the name of Jesus for safety, good health and a long happy life for Caitlin and Ashleigh. I also prayed for Andy and me to live long healthy lives, not so much for ourselves, but more so that we can enjoy the blessings of God on our children. As you can imagine, this was very moving, unlike any experience I have had in any church or chapel thus far on our trip!

After leaving the house of Virgin Mary, we went back down the mountain to visit the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus has roots all the way back to 700 BC! It was on an important trade route with roads leading out of the city to the Aegean Sea. At one time Ephesus was the 3rd largest city in the Mediterranean. In its most glorious days, Ephesus had a large market place, a hospital, a library, public baths and toilets, a church, temples, theatres, a brothel, and a stadium. An earthquake finally destroyed the city after many times of rise and fall throughout hundreds of years. Even now, we saw archaeologists digging to uncover more remains as the city is only one-third revealed. It is just mind-boggling to think that we were walking the same streets where Jesus once preached, John the Baptist continued to spread Christianity and even Marc Antony and Cleopatra visited! This was an experience of a lifetime!

After the tour, things got a little more dicey…shopping in Kusadasi! We had been forewarned that the Turkish merchants are very aggressive. And we saw this first hand when our tour ended in a carpet gallery. At first it was great…the gave use demonstrations on how silk is obtained from the silkworm and made into thread, and also how their handmade carpets are painstakingly woven by only women. They even gave us nice cheese sandwiches and drinks. Then the carpets started rolling out! Some of the most amazing rugs you can imagine…there were wools, wools on cotton, silk on cotton and silk on silk. Once the presentation was over, the men came out of nowhere to “help” us make our purchases. So in my little pea brain, I am thinking…well we could use a new rug for the den…so I ask ‘”what room size carpets do you have for under $1000?” I think he thought I was joking…but once he realized I was serious, he told me no such carpet exists! The cheapest rugs he had in this size begin at $3500! One of the silk on silk rugs they showed to our tour group was $38,000!!! Here is what I think about that…for that price, it had better be a magic flying carpet because this is more than we paid for the cars we own! It took quite a while and much persistence on our parts to make it down 4 flights of stairs to the bottom of their gallery to get out of this place. We were dumped out into a shopping bazaar, and I can only liken it to our cruise stop in Jamaica last summer. These people are relentless! I was very happy to find a quiet little restaurant overlooking the city of Kusadasi called “The Windjammer CafĂ©”! And best of all…it was free food! Yes, I do mean we went back to the ship for lunch and to spend the remainder of our time in this tourist trap aboard our ship.
In the afternoon, Renee, Jackie and I met in the computer lounge to work on blog stuff. Then it was off to the jacuzzi to relax and have a few drinks. I was behind on getting pictures downloaded and writing my journal, so I got somewhat caught up and I am completing today’s journal now late in the evening after a wonderful, very exciting dinner with a special guest!

Did you read from yesterday about the guy who Andy met that works on the ship who is from Jacksonville? And the part about how he wanted to know our stateroom number? Well….Adam Hill, officer and facilities manager, dined with us this evening! He said the captain wanted some of his officers to go into the dining room and have dinner with some guests this week, so Adam chose our table! He ordered wine for our table, and the photographer came for a special picture. Each of us received a free copy of this photograph! Adam was very interesting and everyone had many questions for him. He gave us some good information about Santorini…the donkeys!!! What a nice guy he was!! And he gave us a wonderful surprise during dessert…he has arranged a tour of the bridge for us on Friday!!! The bridge is the place where they “drive” the ship. This is a behind the scenes place that we are so lucky to see! He said an official invitation would be delivered to our staterooms later in the week with details on the time and meeting location. Stay tuned for my blog on Friday…should be very interesting!

Thus ended our evening. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting for our tour at 7:00 AM! I am looking forward to our time here, as I have heard such wonderful things about Santorini. And I just cannot wait to write this blog tomorrow evening to tell about the donkeys….until then…good night and love to all!
Cindy :o)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Cindy & Andy!!! I am living vicariously through you and your travels! Your descripton of our Blessed Mother's home brought tears to my eyes - I just can't imagine how awesome it must have been to be there! Thank you so much for doing the blog - stay safe in your travels and hope to see you in August!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Andy and CIndy
    Hope you are having a great trip. I spent the evening with Caitlin and Ashleigh and the Welsh crew lastnight at the pool. It was so good to see them. I miss you guys somuch. Just thought I would let you know that baby #2 is on the way for us. I will give you details when you get back in town.
    love ya
    Brandy McConnell(THomason)

    ReplyDelete

Andy and Cindy are "Crewsin'"!

Welcome to our blog! We will try to add daily updates about our trip of a lifetime. Check back here to read highlights from our travels.

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus, Turkey

Santorini, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Corfu, Greece

Corfu, Greece

Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy

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