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Published: October 30th 2013
Ephesus by Mike We had an early start as we had booked a boat excursion and there was a lot to see today.
First stop was the House of the Virgin Mary. This is where she is settled after the death of Christ. She settled here with John the Baptist nearby as he had sworn to look after her. Pretty spiritual place – this was turning into quite a religious journey for me. I lit two candles there – one for Mum and one for Jo, and we then filled some bottles with spring water to keep.
Off to Ephesus. These ruins are bloody spectacular. The Council/ Town Hall, to The Temple of Hadrian all impressive. 250,000 population, one public toilet…the amphitheatre was grand. All the time thinking what it would be like to live there and we are only seeing a quarter of what once stood. There are excavations of some terraced housing taking place – then we turn the corner to the Library of Celsius – WOW! The condition and scale of everything is awesome…running out of superlatives.
After a couple of hours there we went to St John the Baptist house and view his
resting place.
After lunch we were taken to a shop for a rug ‘demonstration’ which is basically hospitality and selling you some rugs. We had already bought one so got out quick but I was treated to some Ragi – a local drink – tasted like Ouzo with some goat’s milk and on ice. They call it Lions Milk because after one you roar like a lion and after two you wake up the next morning with one roaring in your head but they don’t know Kiwi’s – it was nice but didn’t put me on my ear.
Bodrum by Jacob The Bodrum castle is really close to the beach. After searching around for a little bit we finally made our way to the castle. We decided to purchase tickets and then we went inside. We climbed our way to the top. It took a while but the views were much worth it. You could see all around from atop the castle. You could see through the crystal clear water from the beaches surrounding the castle. Inside were many artefacts that were involved with the castle like many pots and such. It was a very
nice castle.
Ps. Castles are old.
Marmaris by Michelle Oct 24
th 2013 – the day of our 21
st wedding anniversary. Mike has flowers delivered to the room, lovely start! We have an early breaky and then we’re off on a day trip!
The trip we are on today is to Cleopatra’s Island. According to legend, Cleopatra refused to step foot on any land other than Egypt so as a token of Mark Anthony’s love he imported Egyptian sands to Turkey so she could visit. As a result the island was named Cleopatra’s Island. How romantic is that!
Half an hour of bus ride followed by half hour scenic long boat trip and we were there! Beautiful! The water was so clear that when swimming in it the ripples on the surface cast mosaic like shadows on the sand bed below. We swam, we ate, we walked around and explored the ruins of the island. After an amazing day it was time to return to the ‘big boat’. We dropped Jake back on board then went exploring the waterfront of Marmaris. A lovely, leisurely wander followed by a cold drink and late lunch.
Later we ate in the downstairs restaurant which is fixed seating times. Jenna our lovely ‘Kiwi’ staff member had organised for us to occupy the penthouse suites table (she was aware they weren’t booked in that night) which, is right in front of the Captains table. After a superb dinner there came our next surprise! Jenna had also organised a special ‘happy anniversary’ cake dessert for us. She followed this up by bring Cyrel (a cool waiter dude) over who then amazed us with his ‘special’ napkin folding talents! He managed to fold our napkins into amazing peacock designs which he then inserted electric tea-lights into to make their tails glow! Sounds naff but was actually super cool!
We were having a fantastic day until I said to Mike “so how are you going to top this next year?”…..
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mike maher
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islands of Turkey
How would they compare with the Greek Isles?