Derici Kusadasi

... very nice.<br> As we drove back to the ship, many dozed as it had been a long day in the sun. The driver did something I'd never seen. He took a freeway exit and said yikes! There was too much traffic for him at this exit. And even though we were halfway down, he threw the bus in reverse and backed onto the freeway! It was terrifying, but no accidents. Whew!<br> So we loved Turkey and it's people. This would be a place to return to for sure.<br> Tomorrow, a sea day.<br>

... We walked up to 2 kilometres in the complex and passed several temples, the treasury and a couple of amphitheatres. <br><br>Finally we ran the gauntlet of the souvenir shops at the exit to get to the bus which took us back to Kusadasi which has a population of 60,000 which swells to one million in summer. Remind us never to venture here then! There we were tempted to go to see a demonstration of silk winding and carpet weaving at a carpet shop. It's hard to cedit that a silk worm ...

... actually living there. Our guide was great- she told us about many of the leaders that had come to the city and the influence they had had and she had heaps of funny stories and pointed out many details that we would have missed on our own. The theatre could hold up to 24,000 people and we walked through the entrance that the gladiators would have come through. Apparently, despite what movies portray, one gladiator did not always have to die ...

A day at sea and some time to catch up a little. We were in Kusadasi, Turkey yesterday. As we have been steadyly moving east, the age of the cities and the sites we visit keep getting older. . In Rome we were looking at buildings constructed anywhere from 200 BC to the second century. As we traveled through the Greek islands some sites like the Acropolis at Lindos (Rhodes) were originally built around 800 BC. Turkey and Iran it ...

... and the townsfolk enjoy getting their photos taken. i had a decently long conversation with a grandmother, her daughter and granddaughter, even though they spoke no english and my turkish consists of hi, thank you, six, five, and how much. but they want me to send them a copy of the photo i took of them, and i think i will. afterall, i need to put a good word out for canada so we can get that entrance visa fee ...

This afternoon we docked in Kusadasai for an excusion with a local guide up to Ephesus and the ruins up there. Amazing remains. Saw all the water pipes and pillars. Also saw the ruins of the temple to Apollo which was the temple St John refused to worship at and so was exiled to the prison at Patmos. Was amazing to see ...

... offering cheap rates so I'll be sure to note this on my comment card at the end of the tour. To make matters worse, on the day we left the water shut off right in the middle of my shower! I don't mean low water pressure either; I mean NO water. I waited and waited thinking it might come on but it never did. It would drip on occasion but I joined my fellow semi-stinky travelers as we left Kusadasi not a moment too soon.

... and had lunch at the fresh bread place and ordered manti -- it wasn't anywhere as good as the stuff we had at the home stay but i did end up cleaning the dish... Definitely full as we drove back down the hill to Selcuk (we passed the entrance to Ephesus and the crowds were unbelievable... get there on opening!) where EG had organised a hamman for us -- unfortunately the other group ran late and our booking then coincided with them being there - it was way too ...

... in the morning. Well, not so much. It's not as if I can smell them. In fact, it's not even as if I've been in the immediate vicinity of them. But there's nothing like a few, and a pledge by a terrorist group to make 'hell' in the country that you are travelling in, to effect just a little increase in your paranoia settings. I sat on the minibus to Ephesus and had a look around, trying to identify possible perpetrators of terrorism, those that ...

We arrived at 7 am from our overnight bus (12 am - 7 am)...we don't want to do that again. We got the last row in the bus. The seats were really uncomfortable, and we could barely recline them. Naty and I got these inflatable pillows that were supposed to help...but they just made the process really complicated. Plus the bus attendant kept passing by giving refreshments...we just wanted to sleep. He also gave us that cologne...they call it KOLONYA and everybody used it in the bus ...