October 20 - Wednesday - Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

Kusadasi was a really fun city, and this was a very nice stop on our tour. We arrived somewhere near to sunrise and then we left somewhere around 11:00 in the evening. The weather was the most fantastic we've had, adding to our pleasure.

My only beef was that a Seaborn ship about the same size as ours docked on
our starboard side, meaning that when I sat on our verandah in the evening,
I was probably staring at someone sitting on their verandah across from me.
Yuck!


Seaborn Odyessy

It was a long day, but one we will remember for a long time. It was about a half hour or so to the house of Mary, our first stop. We saw some beautiful
scenes as our bus climbed the hills and navigated the curves.

View as we drove up mountain toward house of John and Mary

The house of Mary and the Apostle John wasn't as much interest to this pair
of Lutherans as it was to those who are Orthodox and Catholic, but it was a
nice stop. It's not large, and the inside seems to have been entirely turned
into a tiny chapel. As we walked through silently, there were many who
bought candles and then lit them and placed them in designated places once
we were through the house.


House of John and Mary

Ephesus was a major city back in its time, although now it is only an archelogical site. The Turkish goverment, in cooperation with archelogical
trusts from various places and, I believe, a group of Australian
archelogists have done a lot of work putting a lot of the pieces back
together. It's pretty amazing.


Celcius Library

What was of interest to this pair of Lutherans, at least to this one, was
thinking about what it might have been like when Paul was there (some of
these ruins are after Paul's time).


Ephesus Amphitheatre

Next, we visited a Museum near Ephesus, and it was very nicely done. The Turkish people have a way of putting together very nice small museums that
don't overwhelm you, yet large enough to hold your interest, and that are
topical to the place you visit. I loved looking at some of the faces of
these pieces found in the rubble - some of them were so beautiful. I don't
know how the ancient Romans were able to create these beautiful figures.


A few of the figures on display at the Ephesus Museum

And then there was the St. John Basilica, perhaps built over one John attended but it certainly wasn't in this state. This basilica has been destroyed, rebuilt,
converted to a mosque, and other things ... it has quite a long history.



Basilica of St. John in Ephesus

On our way back to Kusadasi, we stopped for a very nice four-course lunch at a five-star hotel and had some very good tasting Turkish cusine, accompanied entertainment by a group of dancers.

Dancers in traditional costume

Our bus dropped us off in town, and our guide took us into a carpet shop
where we saw another carpet demonstration. I have learned so much about
Turkish carpets. I had no idea. They are expensive, but if I were in the
market for such a thing, I would have bought one at the drop of a hat. Such
carpets! Such quality! Such beauty!

We walked, gawked, and shopped around in town for a few hours before we
returned to the boat. I bought two really nice back-pack-like bags from a
really funny and sweet young Turkish guy, named Alex, in a Moda Kilim shop.
One of the bags is leather; the other is leather and the same kind of fabric
that results when you make a Turkish carpet. It was actually fun parting
with my money. Alex was such a flirt and this old gal enjoyed it!

As the ship left the dock late night, heading toward Mykonos, Greece, I felt
a twinge of sadness. I never expected to enjoy Turkey so much. I find I will
miss it. Although I know we had a sheltered experience, guided to just the
right places by highly trained people, we were treated courteously
everywhere.

Goodbye, Turkey ... I'm so glad I met you. I would have never guessed how much I liked this country and the people I met.



Leaving Turkey for the last time

Our flikr Kusadasi / Ephesus pictures: Ephesus

October 14 - Thursday - Sochi, Russia

We docked at about 7:30 this morning, and that's about the time we went for breakfast. Our touring groups were meeting in the auditorium about 8:00, so we needed to be ready quickly today.

Sochi will host the 2014 Olympics, so this little city which has had only moderate attention in the past, except by certain Russian dignitaries, such as Stalin, will be the center of the world's attention before long. As we toured, we could see evidence of beginning preparations - new roads and high-rise freeways (there are no high-rise freeways now), new hotels under construction and others to be renovated, and an excitement from our guides.

Lauren and I took separate tours today. I learned from my guide that there had been only something like 8 cruise ships in port this year. The port is fairly small (and the Prisendam is a small ship), and that may account for the small number.

Lauren's tour was more ambitious than mine - its icon shows three persons walking as opposed to two, as mine did. The number of persons in the little icon beside the tour description gives you an idea of what kind of physical shape you should be in to take the tour.

Lauren's tour was called the Ancient Caucasian Trees and involved walking a path to a viewing platform 400 feet above the sea. It meant a lot of stairs and steep climbs. One of the pictures he brought back confirmed the wisdom of my decision not to take that tour.

I think they're struggling up these steps



Wet, leafy ... iffy for me

The scenery, though, was a reward for everyone's efforts. Some of these plants and ancient boxwood and yew trees are believed to be 2000 years old, or more. The area must be a naturalists' dream. On both of our tours, we could see that the growth of green things can overtake the area in a hurry.



This house will soon be swallowed up with vines



Slick rock-steps to climb

 My tour was the Sochi, Seaside, and Spa tour, which took us to one of the more deluxe spas in Sochi (there are many) ...



Spa waters near the natural springs

where we received a lecture by one of the spa doctors, interpreted by our tour guide ...

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The spa doctor (an MD) in the white coat, our tour guide is the blond on the left

We then went to the Bolshoi Akhun Mountain area where some of us, me included, climbed a stone tower - somewhere between 150 and 200 steps ...


The tower ...

and took in the magnificant view ...



The view

 The Olympics will take place about two hours north of Sochi, in the mountains, in a village of about 4000 people. Sochi itself doesn't receive much snow, if any, in the winter.

Sochi has a year-round population of about 400,000. In the summer, that number may triple, quadruple, or grow even greater.

After Istanbul, it was a low-key day, but a wonderful one. These short stops give you just a taste of a place. You get very little local flavor. We could see, though, that Sochi is a beautiful city, located on the north end of the Black Sea, blessed with an almost Mediterranean climate, and loved by the many who can afford to escape bitter winters to soak up sunshine.

Tomorrow is Batumi, Georgia.

Our flickr pictures of Sochi: Sochi