Blogs from Kusadasi, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

Most of you know we’re snobs about certain things and food is one of them. It was lovely to have lots of food available on the ship and to be able to make up your own plate for any meal you want. It’s just too bad that cruise food (at least on our cruise) is not that great. Now I know a few of you have cruised before and probably love the food, but to us, after our last 8 weeks in Australia & Italy eating AMAZING food (not to mention the last 5 years eating European-style food and portions), we found the American food here on the ship to be a real struggle. Let’s just say we were ever grateful for the salad bar. And since we’re trying to lose our Aussie pounds (which we’ve ... read more

A very solid nights sleep had us feeling ready for the bus ride down the Aegean coast to Kusadasi. Some of our fellow travellers had found enough in reserve to play some two up last night but many of them slept on the bus as travelled south today to catch up on lost sleep. Our stay at the Grand Milano Hotel in this very quiet town was a good one and the breakfast a tasty Turkish one which set us up for the day. We wandered down to the beach before it was time to join the bus and set off.Clearly the summer season was still a way off and the hotel we stayed in would have been empty but for the two Fez buses which bought in the 60 odd guests for the night. The ... read more

Dag 222 og 223. I lopet av natten var det endelig kommet litt lunk i rommet - Eirik sov til kl. 09. Han satte seg ned i resepsjonen en stund og drakk te, og Ali laget automatisk klar frokosten. Da Jane ikke kom for kl. 10, spurte han Eirik om hun var syk (neida, bare sov litt lenger og hadde en deilig varm dusj). Etter frokosten gikk vi til minibuss-"stasjonen", ca. 15 minutter fra hotellet. Der gikk det karer og skrek ut destinasjoner for de forskjellige bussene, saa det var ikke vanskelig aa finne. Vi satt oss inn i minibussen, som tok ca. 20 minutter til Efes - og vi betalte da vi gikk av (8 YTL for begge). Efes ligger 1 km fra veien, og det sto en drosje klar til aa kjore oss opp ... read more

I had pre-arranged a tour with EKOL tours of Turkey to take us to the archaeological site of Ephesus. While chatting with people online I met up with someone who wanted to join us to help keep costs down. We met Lianda, Joe, Alice and Alice’s husband at Cova Café and we headed off the ship as soon as the gangway opened, even before it was announced that we could leave the ship. We met our guide Yelda and our driver and headed to Ephesus. It was great being part of such a small tour group. Yelda was a licensed guide from Turkey, having studied Turkish history to get this job. She is from a city to the south of where we were, Izmir. She was very knowledgeable and personable and told us a lot about ... read more

The Unseen Legislators of the World Aspawa Pension, Pamukkale - September 16th, Evening Roaring down the coastline from Seferihisar on yet another glorious day, we passed a minute sign for a turn-off to a village called Alpaslan. This hamlet, tucked away some ten miles inland, is named after the Selçuk bey who first bore the brunt of the First Crusade, thus earning his title, for - and I am shocked at C.S. Lewis' heathen sensibilities - "aslan" is the Turkish for lion. There is a greater significance to this peaceful village, however: once upon a time, it was the site of one of the most powerful cities of the Ionian decapolis, Colophon. Literally translating as "summit," Colophon commanded a formidable position over a fertile landscape, which even today is rich in vines and corn. This is ... read more