As I sit here awaiting the arrival of Irene... I'm taking some extra moments of my life away from the overwhelming news about the storm to re-visit an outstanding trip. And for those of you who are wondering... the way reporters respond to hurricanes in NY is just as bad as it is in Florida with the exception that some of them have no idea what they're talking about. I heard a weatherman discussing how amazing the waves would be and that the real professionals should take advantage. Moron.
I digress...
Our next visit was to Ephesus and what a coooool place to go too! The history, the beauty and detail of it all was simply outstanding. Our tour guide was pretty great too. Very well informed and had a nice presence about him. We were one of the first groups to arrive to this ancient city. For those of you who don't know, only about 15% of the city has been excavated and it was all underneath a parking lot for buses. I'm hoping to go back one day and see what else they manage to dig up in the coming years.
The most memorable parts of it were the theatre, library, and the toilets. I have to start with the toilets. They were basically holes lined up very close to each other on what looked like a very uncomfortable slab of marble. I imagine that the people were very thin and that during the winter that marble was quite chilly. I wonder if there were bets going on about people sticking to the seats some how? Also, there is no privacy with these things. You could be sitting there doing your business and reading your neighbors newspaper with him. Not that they had news papers but you get the idea.
The library was very big with impressive columns. It seems like there may be more then what we saw as the depth of the building wasn't too extensive. Regardless, it was very cool to look at.
The theatre is an interesting place. It's said that that's where Paul spoke to the Ephesians. Makes sense being Ephesus and all and that the theatre hasn't been used much since except most recently for an Elton John concert. Another cool aspect of Ephesus is that portions of the floor were made up on mosaics. Very pretty!
Along our tour there was this mini performance, not in the theatre but behind the library. It was... um... pretty awful. 15 minutes of this mini-play put on by the locals which I thought was sweet. They're out there every half hour performing no matter the temperature (did I mention how hot it was that day?). But worthy of a Tony nomination? I think not.
After our tour we headed back to the port of Kusadasi where we were given a carpet demonstration and sent on our way to shop. This is basically where it all went down hill. Though we were promised to be given space in a pressure free zone of buying, the promises were not kept. Sharks is the best way to describe them. They made you feel like you had to buy something and would continually pull things out until you bought something. Pretty bad customer service if you ask me. So we decided to leave and hit up the local areas. Bad choice on our part because it was far worse than the carpet shop. If you looked at all at their merchandise they tried to get you to come into their store... and if you made eye contact... forget it. They would follow you down the street begging you to look at what they had. Good price, good price. Each new little shop we walked by the men outside would say "hello" followed by a plead to come inside their shop. It was so annoying that I honestly got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. They would say "hello" and I would respond "No" and put my hand up to stop them. Though funny to look back on now... at the time it was frustrating. Would've spent a lot more money there had they not been so pushy.
Back to the ship to have dinner with our dinner buddies and a night of fun! :-)
~H-less
PS-favorite moment in Turkey was seeing this store.
PPS- Meet the richest camel in all of Turkey. One Euro and you can take your picture with him.
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