Pine Bay Marina Hotel Kusadasi

... they've found at Efes. Authentic, but the museum doesn't want them - they have too many already. Good price.

Water pipes are 1/2 price - just for you! And include free carrying case and tobacco.

Every restaurateur calls to you in the street while you pass by, and all of the menus are in English.

Walk up to a ruin and you're mobbed by people trying to sell you guides and postcards.

"Tip Boxes" are ...

... the feral dogs, not quite as nice as the ones in Greece. But then I heard a meow, and we started to see the feral cats. They were very handsome, with sweet faces. But is is so sad to see these animals begging for food. We wondered how they survived out there as there is nothing around.
As we got down to the main temple, a three story wonder, something stirred the crowd. Many men in dark suits, earpieces, Ray bans, staring at the crowd. I've seen this before. We ...

... as we swerved
and sped through a neon blur of urban sprawl. With the help of the barely bilingual couple next to me I deduced the driver was going to drop me on a street corner in the middle of the night with the hope that a taxi would take me the rest of the way. After I hastily informed him I would do no such thing, he pointed directly at two taxi cabs with the drivers outside smoking. Oh well, why the hell not.
I approached ...

... created, even a little fake, rather than sort of rising up from its grave, like Aphrodisias, the Forum or Ostia Antica.

One surprise in Ephesus was the Terrace Houses. These are in an enclosed building and are built into the side of a cliff. There are glass floors for you to walk over, so you can see side to side, up and down. Throughout this area, restoration work is also being done by artisans. The Terrace houses have some of the best frescoes I ...

... being laid down on a marble table and being scrubbed clean. The attendant used a coarse mitt to remove layers of dead skin, then came the soap. The man used a lacy cloth, like an icing bag, then blew through it to create bubbles. We were covered from head to toe with white frothy bubbles and we were massaged in which we were pummeled me, quite roughly but it felt good. After the massage we were handed towels and then taken ...

... the 'free' transfer to and from Ephesus and finished up the afternoon with a tour of the Selcuk and the museum, which actually had a kickass gladiators display. That movie wasn't far off the mark. The next day I took a one-day tour, three hours each way, up to Pamakalle. A pretty decent smorg lunch was included and the guide was fantastic. She spoke openly and knowledgeably about current affairs in Turkey and how some things work, like the ...

Well, I made it some of the way back to Istanbul from my last "report" (is anyone reading these? Really?!). So following on from before, I checked out the scuba but apparently it's low season now (someone please tell this to the hotel managers, the room prices are a tad harsh still). So up early the next morning to Do Yet More Walking. This time was over a hill and seemed in fact to be part of this really old Lycian Way that I was blathering on about earlier. Very old ...

... rinse and then sat there for another 20 minutes in the steam room and sweated it all out. Got changed and returned back to the hotel in Kusadasi. Got back to Kusadasi at 5pm looked around the shops and got hounded by the local males to buy products from there shops. Then Jules, Janine and I walked down to the beach to get some photos of Kusadasi and the amazing sunset before returning to dinner with everyone on the tour. Returned back to the hotel room at 11pm.

... Harbour) hotel and who were hungry. Enter Ryan and Charles. We went back to the above establishment and ate, and then on the advice of a certain Mr. Happy (for real - his name is Hassan), we went to the marina bar where I proceeded to fall off of my Trolley. There was even a musician at the bar who sang all North American rock tunes for a few hours. Such talent over here. Beneath the din of the music I learned much information: Charles and particularly Ryan are very ...

... great luck or great karma. ) Ahmed is expansive, bigger than his body, and, as I once heard in a comedy routine during the late 60's ( David somebody? ) ' the glory of his manhood fills the room.' ( I will come to understand that this is a common attitude and demeanor for rich Turkish men. ) Tonight, Ahmed is to be is our host, and he does this like he does everything else: full on, no holding back. The wine flows, first drinks are poured, and after another hour or so spent ...