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After 4 days and 3 nights enjoying Mykonos island it was time to say our goodbyes... it was good times and mixed with a few bad ones... but in total it was an amazing experience... I did told my friend Arlene it's just impossible for me to live there for the whole summer because I know I'm going to die early... with their crazy partying and insane drinking... not only my health will start to deplete but also my wallet... so I would say it was a bitter sweet goodbye... although it's one of the places I'd definetely go back to....

Off we go to our cruise ship... it's my first time in a internaional cruise tour and so far I'm liking it. The boat itself are curently hosting 1000+ people... it's not the biggest but it was big for sure... after settling down and sailing over night... our first stop was Kusidasi, Turkey...

I must admit, I don't know much about Turkey other than my dad constantly nagging me to go to Istanbul instead to see the beauty and the vast history that city has to offer... Nevertheless I didn't listen and of course went to Greece instead :) but I was thankful enough that our cruise ship is stopping over a few hours to Turkey.. and for me that's as excited as I can get since again... I don't know anything about Turkey...

My friend and I decided to do some excursions to actually see the country in our comfort zone... with a lot of people... yes it's very expensive and hectic... we have to wake up at 5 to be able to get ready for our morning breakfast before our payed excursion tours leave us behind for 7 in the morning... but that's another story...

As soon as we went by land in Kusidasi palm trees welcomed us and the Turkish flag... I felt a sudden foreign welcome... I knew right there that I'm no longer in Mykonos... since it's a totally different scene and definetely a somewhat big difference in weather... it was really hot... right away I was feeling the trinkle of sweat on my forehead.... just before we got on the bus...


Our first stop was the acclaimed last house of the Virgin Mary... I understand that there was another claim that she lived in Paris and so up to this date it remains a history but going there and actually physically experiencing the place I thought was amazing...

a little background abput myself is that I'm not really religious... I don't even pray everyday nor I don't remember the last time I've been to church but being Catholic... I do believe that the Virgin Mary existed and she gave birth to Jesus... so for the sake of history and my beliefs... I have to go and visit the place...

On the way to the Virgin Mary's place, we went through this vast mountain route where we get to see amazing sites such as their rice field, some homes, amusement park... and so on... Our tour guide did claimed that Turkey is one of the hottest countries... and to where we'll be visiting that day it's good that other people (such as myself) came prepared by bringing our hats...

The place of the Virgin Mary is called Virgin Mary of Ephesus... it said that she lived there with St. paul in her last years after the death of Christ... there she lived peacefully praying everyday... there were orthodox priests who takes care of her place.... In fact, in Turkey it's a place where any religion is accepted.... where they coincide in peace... amazingly where Christians and Muslims are living together in peace and pretty much very open with anything... I thought it was amazing to know that a place like that still exists from this day on....

As we entered the Virgin Mary's house, taking pictures were strictly forbidden.... so Ill try to describe the place as good as I can... It was made of bricks... and a statue of the virgin mary was placed right at the center of her living room.... they have some peaceful hymn going on in the background with a few windows lighting the inside... but what's different is what I felt... it was weird.... I felt very peaceful... almost dizzy or weird I can't even describe it... there was a feeling of peace inside... and right away... I knelt down and started praying... this for me is a miracle... again like I've said I dont even pray.... but it felt so real and so different...

Before we left the place, there was a wall of papers rolled in small bits and tied by the wall.... these are wishes from people all over the world... who knows if they had come true... but there were probably thousands even millions of wishes! I didn't have a paper with me so I have to quickly come up with one... so I know it's embarassing but I do know well and hope that the Virgin Mary don't mind me writting my wish on a piece of paper coming from my cigarette pack...

Next stop was the ruins of Ephesus... we heard from some people that they heard from their friens its a must see place since it's way better than Pompei... well that's good news for us cuz we haven't even been to Pompei...

Anyways to make it short it was beautiful... how they preserved the place gives you the feeling that you're living during the Roman times... It gave us the feeling of how it was to live during the time with our tour guides informations... it's almost you can imagine the people walking in the iles of the city and into the library... it was amazing...

To top our visit in Turkey... we visited this carpet company where we learned different kinds of carpets...

Turkey was an amazing place and I can't wait to go to Istanbul one day... I want to see the whole country at least before the culture dissapears...

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