Kusadasi, Turkey

Kusadasi, Turkey. If you recall, we only went here because the crazy colonel Gadafi of Tripoli, Libya went off on a nut spell for a change and decided no one can visit there anymore. So we didn’t really expect much from this second choice. Boy oh boy, were we wrong.

We had rented a private van with a driver and guide just for the four of us. We left the ship at about 9:15 AM for a 9:30 AM tour. It was a pretty long walk, maybe a couple of blocks, to the end of the pier. At the end of the pier was a very nice, new building, with some shops, they make you walk through to get out. Just outside is a parking lot for buses and vans to pick up cruise ship passengers doing tours. Ours was a VW mini bus for just the four of us and the driver and guide. There is nothing like it in the US. Our names were plastered on a large sign attached to the windshield. It would have been pretty hard for us to miss it.

Our guide was nice enough and did try hard but I found him hard to understand due to his accent.

The parts of the city we went through were very clean and modern looking. There were a few resorts lining the Sea and no poor or rundown area in sight. The roads were two lane but not overly crowded and they were in very good shape and well made. The driving was far less crazy then in Egypt and most of the other places we have visited.

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world is the Temple of Diana. All that is left now is a lone column which we stopped to take pictures of.

The main attraction here is the Ancient city of Ephesus. It took about 20 minutes to get there. We keep visiting unbelievable sights and then thinking, after seeing each, we can never be as amazed again. I am not sure, anymore, which has been the most amazing, but this one is surely different and in the running.

This city was started by the Greeks sometime BCE. It was originally on the sea shore but over the years, the river it was also on, silted up, filled in to make some land, and changed course. It is now about five to ten miles inland.

Over several centuries it was taken over by different peoples and governments. One good part is, the walking is all down hill. You start at one end and the van goes around to pick you up at the bottom.

The city lies in a valley between two mountainous areas. In around the sixth century there was an earth quake that caused the mountains to come tumbling down and bury the city. For about the last 124 years, they have been excavating and restoring whatever and wherever possible.

It starts out as Greek then the construction goes to Roman style and on and on. You would never think they had the technology to build the intricate buildings let alone the infrastructure. Running under the main road was a vast sewer system well constructed and still able to work today. There were viaducts, with fresh water from the mountains, leading to the city, and then connected to clay tile pipes that ran to every building.

The buildings had central heating. There were a series of clay pipes under the stone floors that could heat and circulate hot water. There is a huge public bath. There are several fountains.

There is a large men’s bathroom with rows of toilet seating, cut key shape, in slabs of stone. There is a huge library with a menorah sign carved on a marble step that points to the synagogue. There is an amphitheater that had been increased in size by different peoples over the years to finally seat 24,000 people. There is even a brothel. Along the street there are signs showing the way to it from the original harbor. Most could not read so the signs were in picture form. This was a picture of a woman’s foot carved into the marble walks. There was an arrow next to it and another small picture saying, no money – no honey.

A very nice thing we found was they must be good to the animals and the people must not be too poor. We came across a dog lying on the main walk or road through the old city. He was very well fed, friendly, and not at all afraid or timid when people approached and pet him. Further along the way a cat walked to the same road and sat and let people pet her. She too was well fed and both were clean and not bug infested.

Again, trying to describe this place, as with the others, cannot do it justice. Pictures help a little but not much. We walked through about two miles of the old city and could have spent a month and not seen nearly all that is dug up so far.

Next it was my biggest bargain of the day. It was time for a rest stop . It said there was a 50 cent charge but the guide got the two girls in for free.

Naturally there were shops at the ends of the city and naturally Bobbi and Muriel had to buy more junk. Then it was back to the van.

We then drove back toward the city. We drove just past the dock area where the ship was and to a carpet factory. Shortly before entering the city, our guide got a cell phone call. His attitude changed some after that. Now he was telling us that we had to take all of our belongings with us as the tour was over and we would have to walk back.

It had been about 58 degrees out when we left. It had warmed up quite a bit and was hot in the sun. We were all carrying jackets not to mention the bags of junk the girls bought on top of which I did not want to see or buy any carpets. I said we would have to return to the ship. About then a woman came up and motioned our driver to move the bus and pull up to a parking area. She then boarded and started tearing our name signs off the inside of the windshield. Obviously they had gotten another job and they thought they would cheat us out of an hour of our tour. I had no desire to see anything more as there wasn’t anything worthwhile left to see anyhow. So we went back to the dock where there were still people from the ship’s tour desk. I made a complaint of being ordered out of the bus an hour early and later I met the tour director on the ship. He said they claimed we voluntarily gave up the bus and noted my earlier complaint and returned one quarter of our tour costs.

Just past the dock parking lot there were tons of nice stores. Maybe a hundred or more of various types. After returning to the ship for lunch, Bobbi and Muriel needed a further shopping fix. I do not have that affliction and had no desire to see any more either. We already have more junk then will fit in all our luggage and the two large new pieces I bought. That fact does not slow them down for even a split second and off they went.

Several hours later, carrying more bags of junk, they were late getting back to the ship. They said they were not worried about the ship leaving without them because the captain was with them. Then to add insult to injury, Bobbi shows me the 7 boys leather jackets she bought. Upon which I asked who they were for. She says her grandchildren of course. All the boys. My next question was, did someone have one you forgot to tell me about? First I get a blank expression then she is mumbling something while counting on her fingers. Finally she says, oh yeah. I guess I got one too many.

This is getting serious. Shopping is like a drug for them. If they get too much they blow their minds. I can now see it is far too late for Bobbi. I am not sure if it is better to take them off it cold turkey or to wean them off it gradually. I decided cold turkey was best so we just left Turkey. Ha, ha. Okay. That was terrible.

Terrible Sherm Out