After a day at sea, we arrived at Kusadasi, Turkey on Tuesday, April 10th. Kusadasi is a MAJOR shopping port in Turkey, but it's also the port for tours to the ancient city of Ephesus. We had another day of touring with our Virtuoso friends, and another great day it was. Ephesus is considered to be one of the best preserved classical cities of the world and is still very much a work in progress. It was one of the great cities of Asia Minor. I had been there two years ago, but Annie hadn’t gone then, so this was a great opportunity for her. Our first stop was at “The House of Mary” which isn’t really a house at all, but a chapel. Both St. Paul and St. John were in Ephesus after Christ’s death and there is a belief that St. John brought Mary here with him, for her safety. They have no proof of Mary being here, so it is legend, but it’s a lovely little chapel in this very pretty setting. After our visit here, we headed to Ephesus and the ruins themselves. It was about a two hour walking tour through the ancient city, and Annie did exceptionally well! It is a truly amazing place, and our guide was excellent, which makes all the difference in the world. She stopped at certain places so we could sit and rest while she talked. The Ephesians were an amazingly advanced and cultured group of people. There were numerous theaters we passed, one for music, one for theater, one for lectures, etc. The city only flourished up until about 400 AD, but they had running water --- hot and cold!!! It’s hard trying to write and describe some of these places – it’s like walking through a history book!
After our tour, we had lunch at this lovely hotel that had once been a Turkish princess’s palace. We ate outside overlooking the water and a group of local dancers put on a performance. After lunch, it was back to Kusadasi to get in a little shopping before the ship sailed. Actually, we didn’t buy that much here. All beautiful things, but there’s only so much we can take home! Of course, we can always buy another suitcase – or three!
Wednesday April 11 was another port, this time back to Greece and ancient Rhodes. We did a general overview tour of the island and what a beautiful place it was. There are different temples all around the island, the most magnificent being at Lindos. All on the hillside you see the little white houses (we found out that they have such small windows to keep the sun and the heat of the day out – July and August can be well above 100 degrees every day). Towards the end of the tour, we stopped at a seaside resort and had ouzo and a selection of Greek appetizers. It’s very early in the season for this area, so not everything is open, but it was just delightful to sit there in the sun, by the sea.
After our tour, we got off in town at the old part of Rhodes. The town is medieval, built by the Knights Hospitaler in the 1400 and 1500s. The old town is surrounded by walls and guard towers and inside is mostly pedestrian walkways, lined with (of course!) shops of all types – jewelry, shawls, souvenirs, pottery, ceramics – whatever you could imagine. We strolled, we shopped and then we stopped – at this lovely little sidewalk café for wine and crepes. It was so comfortable and easy sitting there and watching everyone walking by. There was another ship in port, but it wasn’t overly crowded. Another bonus day!
This is a port-intensive week and Thursday, April 12 we visited another Greek isle, the island of Navplion. This was once a capital of Greece and again, more ruins and temples. We didn’t do a tour as such today (one of the ruins has 898 steps to climb!!) but we took the tender into port and walked around. A really quaint, delightful small town. A lot of neat little shops and cafes all up and down these narrow cobblestone streets. Greece is really a beautiful country. We had thoroughly enjoyed it 2 years ago when we visited Athens and Santorini and this trip only increases our feelings for it.
Friday the 13th is a sea day (at last!) and tomorrow we visit Tunisia. They say there really isn’t that much to see there, but it’s always nice to visit different and new places.
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