Dolphin Sámos

... one mile of thread in the cocoon and we saw the teasing out of this thread and its spinning into multi-strand threads used for carpet making. The owner had his employees lay out many carpets on the floor for us and we were impressed with the variety of colours and different materials used in their weaving. One type of silk carpet had 650 knots per square inch! We demurred at spending anything on the admittedly splendid carpets so they lost interest in us and we went back to the boat.

... as impressive as Istanbul's minus the agressive shopkeepers. The carpets are a work of art..there were lots of fake knock off shops too...watches, pocketbooks. Some people were going crazy buying that stuff!! Now we are exhausted and our new friends, Kathleen and her husband have just called to say we have an early go tomorrow in Athens. This should be another long day. We're loving every minute of it!!!

(Steve)

Turkey was an interesting place. Friendly but quite pushy, the merchants literally stood in the street and tried to herd us into their stores, acting as if you were rude for not looking at their wares. We had pre-booked an excursion to see the ancient ruins at Ephesus that was well worth it considering the out of the way location and the commentary of our guide. Once built near a bay and an important trade route, silting turned ...

... sunsets before we go down to get dressed for dinner. Today we are just going to sit at the pool as we steam towards Eygpt. Tomorrow will be our longest excursion to Cayro and then onto Giza. I included a photo for CC and Sidy to show them the boat that grammy and kookie are on. Miss all of you.We have heard from Rach and Doni, but no message from Liv, Joe and Keith are you guys a live?
Love to all
Davo and Janet

So up early again and wait for the bus greek style as it should have been there an hour before it actually turned up but managed to get into samos town again with no accomodation booked I was slightly worried as everywhere that we had seen on the internet had been really expensive so after a little row with Ian he left me in the coffee shop and went off on his own and top marks to him he was back five minutes ...

... to watch the match in glorious sunshine this is the life its great here and so pretty I could stay forever and chill out.

After we popped back to get changed and then went for some meze it was amazing first meze of the trip and we ate loads after a walk along the beach off we went to bed again we are moving on tomorrow into the town as we need to get up for the 7am ferry so need to be closer to the harbour.

Our cruise ship stopped at the island of Patmos. The island isn't as attractive as some of the others, but it's interesting because of it's content and claimed history. Its main attractions are the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastary of St. John. We walked up the road to the Cave of the Apocalypse, but didn't have time to see the ...

... lot more we didn't get to cover on this trip. All the more reason for us to come back again in the future sometime. Turkey has a lot to offer the traveller on all fronts and I would love to be able to return sooner vs later. I'm also glad I did this particular trip itin. with Intrepid as well to get to know a completely new country - 3 weeks is not a long time after all especially when "touring" is as open and flexible as this vs a typical guided ...

... silly senile old twit would stumble in front of me and then yell something at his/her spouse like, "I don't see what the big deal is? All of this stuff is broken." We tried to make the best of it. At one point Kelly and I just climbed a wall and watched these geriatric spawning salmon jockey for the best position from which to photograph their vericlose veined third wife standing in front of an old pillar or something. We tried to make a game of it, What do you ...

... a really friendly run hotel, with a lady who cooked amazing local food. Selcuk was unique because it had ancient pillars in the town centre (from ruined buildings) that storks nested on, so we watched these big birds come back at night while enjoying a drink in the town square.