-May 2006-
Our first hour in Kusadasi was completely frightening to me but it
did make up for it in the end. We met another couple online at
cruisecritic.com and decided to book a private tour with them instead of
doing the whole Princess thing. We met up with our couple and headed to
the dock to meet our guide. After about 30 minutes of confusion and
chaos we located our guide that turns out is handicap (which is fine
except we know we are visiting ancient ruins all day and we are all a
little curious how this is going to go down). So after meeting our
guide, Nejat, he takes us over to the curb and tells us that he won't be
doing the tour. Instead, his friend, John, will be taking us. So I start
internally freaking out...OMG..we are so being sold to the Russian Mob,
omg, they are going to drive us off the cliff, omg..etc etc etc. So John
pulls up and Vinny and I both notice Nejat give John some cash and
basically pawn us off on John whose face showed surprise. Next thing you
know, we hop in John's van (which was top of the line I will add) and
off we go. Our first stop was the Temple of Artemis, the largest
building of the ancient world and one of the Seven Wonders of the World,
of which scarcely a trace remains. It is pictured in the first two
pictures below. Nothing much to see but how often can you say that you
saw one of the Seven Wonders of the World? We then took the van to the
ancient city of Ephesus, passing on our way the last house that the
Virgin Mary lived in. Ephesus bore the title of "the first and greatest
metropolis of Asia". The population of Ephesus has been estimated to be
in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100 AD,
making it the largest city in Roman Asia and one of the largest cities
of the day. Ephesus also had several major bath complexes, built at
various points while the city was under Roman rule. The city had one of
the most advanced aqueduct systems in the ancient world, superior to any
modern system in the region today. It was amazing to see how the
community worked from the remaining ruins. We were able to see how they
laid underground pipes for water, games people played (one resembling
Backgammon!), the theaters where political and entertainment festivities
were held. Needless to say we didn't get sold to the mob, nor did we end
up chopped up in the ocean. The tour was wonderful, John was very
educated and we had a very enjoyable day in Ephesus. The day ended with
a very small amount of time to shop in the area near our ship. Vinny
knew going into Turkey that he wanted a leather coat and we jumped on
the opportunity. He wheeled and dealed and ended up with a BEAUTIFUL
brown leather jacket at about 70% off the ticket price.
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Temple of Artemis - one of the Seven Wonders of the World
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Kitty guarding the temple
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Ephesus and its beautiful red poppies
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Backgammon
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Vinny in the small theater
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Another kitty cat...they were so skinny, it was sad :-(
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Don't go in there....
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Sculpture of Goddess Nik (where the brand name Nike came from)
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awww
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headless woman
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toilets in one of the bath houses
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and my husband demonstrating how to use them
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The Celsus Library, whose facade has been carefully reconstructed from all original pieces.
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The building faces east so that the reading rooms could make best use of the morning light.
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This was a very friendly kitty, though I was a little afraid to pet such a wild cat
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The grand theater
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