Turkey anybody? Gobble Gobble

This morning, bright and early we left the boat and set foot in Kusadasi, Turkey. We had a shore excursion to visit the home of Virgin Mary- this is the home that she lived in after Jesus’ death and where she spent the last days of her life. I had no clue that was in Turkey to be honest, or the fact that we’d be given the option of going to visit it. Oddly we were the only people that were interested in our tour group in going so we had to go with another group for this part, which was fine. At this point we had gotten real good at meeting new people and sharing our story with everybody- you know that typical- “what’s your name, where are you from, what do you do?” I love answering the question, “what do you do for a living” because I haven’t an answer for anybody but hope that changes soon after we get back (with any luck).

The home of Virgin Mary was as you can imagine quite small and obviously no pictures were allowed inside, but we got a few outside and around the home. I think that what was most impressive was how high into the mountains it was and to imagine them going up there without a nice air conditioned motor coach, but rather a donkey…that would have taken days. Talk about a place out in the suburbs! But it was absolutely beautiful around the home, very green and in the woods almost.

We spent about 30-45 mins there before we loaded on the bus again to travel down the mountain to Ancient Ephesus, one of the Ancient wonders of the world- in fact we believe this is like the 4th one we have seen on this trip and have to Google what all of them are to make sure we check them all off in our lifetime. Ephesus was ruins of an old city which they claim to only be partially uncovered and that the majority is underground and not discovered yet. Which is amazing to think of because we had walked down the hill a little over a mile and that was just the length down- not even all the side roads and side areas of the “town”. We ended up ditching our local guide of the area because we started to feel like zombies following him around when he was spouting out names, dates, and figures to us. Quite honestly, these are really interesting facts and numbers and I am sure are very significant…However, after 2.5 weeks of this, it all blurs together. We took our pictures and left the gate and did a little shopping. In Turkey you have to negotiate the price of anything you buy, similar to Egypt EXCEPT they do not harass you and follow you around OR send their children after you crying and begging for money- I prefer this method over the Egypt style. We got on the bus and they took us to a carpet making demonstration- evidently all cruise ships that dock are required to go through this. It was fine, interesting and quick. They gave us a glass of Turkish Apple tea and we both loved it so much we purchased a box at a local store to bring home. The carpets were very expensive and the environment was a high pressure sales thing which I am not fond of. So we shopped our way back to the cruise ship in time for lunch.

After lunch we took a nap and woke up in time for our next port, Patmos Greece. This is a very small island that has only a few thousand people living year round on it. It was nice to visit it for a few reasons, #1 you truly got a feel of life on a Greek Island. You get to see the small winding roads up the mountain and the little towns that are not full of gift shops and tour groups, although we were one there- but it was not a popular island and it was a nice change. #2. This was where St. John wrote the book of Revelations and we got to visit the grotto where that took place- which is pretty significant in most major religions- especially Christianity.
This island reminded me of the island of Burano in Venice- a little of the path of major tourism and a real life snapshot of life there. Patmos provided us with many very artistic photography opportunities and I have to admit- I finally got the National Geographic shot of the day…I will show you all when I get back.
When we were done touring the island, we were provided a free drink and cookies at a little bar seaside. It was nice to sip a drink while the sun was starting to set and just relax a little bit.
When we finished our drink, we went back to the ship and got ready for our Greek themed dinner night. We were told to dress in Blue and White- the colors of the flag. Then we had a huge menu of Greek food options- and Brad and I ordered almost one of everything! Yum! As dessert was being served, a bunch of the waiters came over to Brad and I as well as another couple at our table that were celebrating their Honeymoon, tied our hands together and sang Elvis to us, “Can’t help falling in love with you”- The WHOLE dining room was staring at us and snapping pictures. I was so surprised and embarrassed- I was so red…they then presented us with a cake for the table- it was delicious.

After dinner, we went to the lounge to watch the Greek dancing show for awhile. But knowing that we had another early morning we left halfway though to get ready for the next day in Rhodes.