Blogs from Kusadasi, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 4

We left Ankara today heading towards Cappadocia. It is a good thing we were well rested from our stay in Ankara, because these first two days on the road were going to be packed with so many new, unbelievable sights with little time left for sleeping. The first stop we made was at Dead Sea Lake to walk on water. Supposedly, when the water level is just right, it looks like you could be walking on water. The water was too high, but it was still cool to be out there, although it was tough on my feet. Next, we visited the Kaymakli Underground City. This underground city was carved out by the early Christians as a way to hide for months if needed. There are several underground locations around this area of Turkey, and the ... read more

After a good night sleep and a very nice breakfast we set off for a visit to the ancient Roman city of Ephesus. What an incredible place it must have been two thousand years ago. This was the first time we experienced the real tourist crowds. Thankfully it wasn’t the height of summer when it gets very crowded and very hot. This day was pleasantly warm. Like many of these ruins it is still a work in progress uncovering the wonders of the ancient world. The information we are getting from a very passionate tour guide, Tibet, is greatly appreciated. How she remembers all the details of these ancient cities and the names of famous people who lived during the glory days of the Roman Empire we don’t know, but we are full of admiration of ... read more

I wondering if that expression, "he gave me the evil eye" stems from the Turkish Evil Eyes. I know they also have the same eye in Greece since it was all the same culture for centuries. I suppose logically it makes sense. I remembered today I forgot to include some pictures of the Evil Eye. The eye is everywhere, above wall and in jewelery. Also, the former leader Anaturk who really did a lot for this country is everywhere. He is on every street corner. When we leave, I will miss not seeing him. Without ado, here they be. ... read more

We've made it to Turkey and docked at Kusadasi on the Agean Sea. We took a tour bus to the ancient city of Ephesus about 30 minutes away. This was even more impressive than Pompeii and we loved that city. Ephesus, was so advanced they had a 3 story library with 25,000 papyrus books, bathrooms (yes in deedy), shopping areas, theatres (no dolby sound however), this was a huge city of 250,000 people. We could have stayed all day but we were thankful for the 2 hours we did get. This is not to be missed if you get to this part of the world. We next saw a carpet making demonstration. Silk on silk, 600 knots per square inch and it takes a woman (yep, they said only women do this in their homes and ... read more

This was our 4th cruise port stop. We took a 7.5 hour tour for this stop since there was a lot of ground to cover beyond the dock. We put our feet and eyes on some of the oldest and most amazing ancient roman ruins. We had no idea Turkey was so rich with ancient roman history. Our first ancient site was Ephesus. At first glance it looks like a bunch of rubble. Well, all the ancient ruins look like rubble; however it’s the age, detail and massiveness that make these places so remarkable. We spent very little time actually in the town of Kusadasi. The hour we spent was a little uncomfortable, only due to the very pushy and persistant salesmen. We were the last cruise stop for the season and thier last chance to ... read more