Phil's birthday and the seaside at Kusadasi

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Phil's birthday sat within a broad penumbra this year, starting with our roof terrace dinner in Istanbul (maybe starting with the entire Turkish holiday) and continuing on through our time in Kusadasi on the Aegean coast.

On the actual night of the 23rd, tired as we were from scrambling over ruins all day, we set out to do something special and had a long, long walk around the hills and coastline of Kusadasi. I managed to relocate a lovely courtyard cafe/hotel I'd spotted the day before, so we sat amidst the flowers and the long view down to the town, and enjoyed a large bottle of Efes beer each, celebrating Phil at 73.

We later found out that the Turkish beer is called Efes because it comes from Ephesus and has done so for centuries.

Eventually we had a fish dinner at a waterside cafe near the entrance to Pigeon Island--it was so waterside that we were outdoors with the water lapping the seawall just two feet away from our feet. I should have taken pictures then, too, but my batteries were dead.

So I can't truthfully say that I'd embraced Sky's advice: "Live, don't blog". I try to do both because part of the enjoyment for me is in sharing the adventure.

And here I want to wish our friend Claire Beach a happy birthday, too, because she was having a bang-up 60th party in Seattle on this very night, and we were unable to make it. I hope it all went well, Claire.

Here are some other pictures from Kusadasi for you. The fish ones are especially for my Lord nephews and nieces--do these fish look any different from your catches in Maine?

Kusadasi used to be a village, but with its good harbor it has become the stopping-off spot for cruise ships doing their routes in the Mediterranean/Aegean. It's the closest functional big harbor to Ephesus. Our guide told us that during the summer there were usually 2-4 cruise ships each day and there could be up to 80 buses taking tourists out hither and yon. Quite a logisitics nightmare for the travel organizers and quite a crowd in the streets, restaurants and bars of Kusadasi!

Actually, Kusadasi is the home base for one of the schools training tourism guides and it occurred to me that such a school might be just the place for me to teach ESL because I would be working with adults in a field I love: travel. Time will tell. Stay tuned to this station.

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Photos

Happy birthday Phil!
We've spent more than half our lives together.

Cruise ships
In the peak travel months, there are 1-4 ships a day in Kusadisi.

Phil walks the hill to our hotel
You might think this narrow, steep hill was just for walking, but think again. Motorbikes, cars and even buses squeezed through.

Kusadasi
The little town that could -- grow, that is, and welcome the multitudes.

Daily dockers
A king tide of tourists come and go, without reference to the moon.

Extravagant morning tea
We took this photo of self-indulgence partly because the vegetation behind me looked so Australian--palms, oleander, gum...

Pigeon Island Fort
This fortified island is now a pleasant and free public park with benches and good views.

View south from Pigeon Island
I think that's "Ladies Beach" over there, traditionally just for the women, but now anyone can swim there. It gets very crowded.

Anti-mosquito plan
We were told that the belief is that mosquitos don't like white, so they won't live on white trees. Gullible as I am, l I find this explanation hard to accept, but clearly there was SOME reason for painting the trees white and I didn't see the Queen of Hearts anywhere.

Comments

[Joe]

Same birthday ! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.
I did not know that Phil and I had the same Birthday . Many happy returns. Your trip sounds great. We are going to Spain and Morocco in OCT.

[Michelle Cavanagh]

White trees!!
Should we, or should we not, paint all the trees in our garden white so that we have no mozzies around the house? Did it seem to work? M xx

[fadia]

wonderful pic
wonderful pictures I like this Nature so much I feel very happy when I see this picture Good luck