Sama Pithagórion

After a beautiful, restful evening, we were up early to eat out on deck and watch our entrance into the port of Izmir, Turkey. Izmir is the third largest port in Turkey and has four million people. The port seems huge, once again all sorts of sea vessels, and cargo ships. The weather was a cool 53f but clear and no wind. At 0800 we boarded our tour buses. We were required to pick up tourist passes for the port and return them when we came back to the port. (Turkish ...

... 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 ...

... 1.5 hours when I realised that I couldn't find what supposed to be so beautiful, wonderful, magnificent and mindblowing. Either I just have seen too many other ruined sites to be more approaching or I am just realistic by saying that I was simply disappointed about the helpless appearing heaps of stones beside the theatre and very few remaining facades. <br>But the nearby village of Selcuk was a good place to be anyway - just to find an excuse!<br>

... on them or carried drinks over some of these incredible pieces that took years to make. Once the presentation was over, our host called in his 'associates' and we were effectively cornered by 10 or so Turks trying to engage us in conversation in the hopes that we would buy as many carpets as possible (starting at around $2000 US for the small ones and $6000 US for the big ones). It was quite amusing - they didn't bother us as much as other ...

IRAIO &#8211;FISHING VILLAGE<br><br>We are here at Iraio the 4th day of our trip, coming for the first time.<br><br>I don't regret it because both the hotel Angeliki where we booked is nice,<br><br>but also this beautiful fishing village.<br><br>We have ...

... you, etc.<br><br>When we got to the ruins of Ephesus it was a zoo of tour groups. Our tour guide didn't do a good job of showing us the sights, instead he occupied a lot of the time with talks that seemed less relevant. My mom, who had been there before with me, found the luxurious ancient Roman bathroom ruins in a side alley. She tried to get our group to go see ...

... Ephesus we visited a popular leather outlet store (mainly to take an air-conditioned break from the 100-degree heat) and then had our own carpet demonstration. Turkey is world famous for their oriental carpets, and our demonstration was at a sort of village that offers room and board for women to weave carpets by hand. Everything is done without machines; the women even spin and dye their own yarn. The village gives 75% of the proceeds ...

... of St. John.  Times changed. Today, things have changed even more, although the streets of Ephesus are equally busy, only with tourists enjoying the ruins.  The harbor is long gone, as the river silt has created five more kilometers of land.  The siltation of the harbor was a major cause of decline, as the loss of a port meant that trade was hindered. In Selchuk, the newer, much smaller town, I took a Turkish bath, which included a scrapedown with a woolen ...

Khios Marina. We left the beautiful Oinoussos on Friday 9th and sailed down to Khios where we berthed in the "new" marina. Most Greek marinas go through a very strange life cycle in which they are conceived as a good idea which will bring in loadsa dosh to the local economy, a large chunk of the capital is obtained from the EU, the rest promised from various sources. The project is started and rapidly some walls and pontoons appear. Suddenly - nothing more happens ...

... such clear water - you can easily see the fishes swimming around, even in the deeper water! So on to the first beach and out for a paddle. Then Tina lets out a yelp - one of the cute little fishes has had a nibble of her ankles - then another! Chris doesn't believe her so comes out to stand knee deep in the water...and gets nibbled too!! Not enough to draw blood, but enough for an unpleasant surprise. The trick is to keep swimming or moving - as soon ...