It was a glorious day in Kusadasi. There was a bright blue sky, with a stiff breeze off the water that kept the temperature just right, around 72°. My conundrum today was do I go shopping or do I rest the knees and save myself for the evening outing. The urge to shop in the bazaar was strong, but self preservation won out. Besides, I have bought all the gifts I was planning to and I don't need anymore stuff.
Michael, on the other hand, needed to go ashore so he could do more watch shopping. I got set-up on deck 7 aft where I had a great view of the city and harbor. Just me and my iPad knocking out the previous day's blog. But the itch to go and shop was still there, damn! While I was pondering what to do, Michael shows up saying he felt so guilty going to shore without me. Ah, isn't that sweet?! I assured him that he was free to go guilt-free. And he went back out and I stayed onboard. Ah, aren't I sweet?!
Kusadasi is a lovely resort and vacation town on the Aegean Sea. The population is 65,000 people rising to over half a million during the summer when the large resort fills with tourists, mostly from Turkey itself, and Europe and the Balkans. 70% of the local population works in tourism. The harbor area has a beautiful promenade with many cafés, restaurants, and hotels. Once outside the city, there are fertile agricultural areas filled with acres and acres of rolling hills covered with olive trees and other fruit producing trees.
Tonight, the ship served an early buffet dinner because we were going to a concert at Ephesus. Ephesus was founded some 3,000 years ago at the mouth of the Cayster River, on the sea. By the third century AD, the harbor had silted up and the city went into decline. Its ruins now lay some ten miles inland. At its height, it was home to 200,000 people, and what a history it had. Greek gods came in from the west. Anthony and Cleopatra rode along the Arcadian Way. The Virgin Mary died in a house just outside the city. The tomb of St. John the Divine is here and St. Paul preached in the great theater, which holds 25,000 people. This site is believed to have only been 10 to 15% excavated, with many more decades of work to reveal the rest of the ruins.
The world cruisers went to explore the ruins earlier in the afternoon, and then had a lovely dinner in front of the library building. We were not invited even though we are on the world cruise. Below is a picture of the library that we took last year (it was dusk when we arrived this year). The library, which in its day was the third largest library in the world, has been 65% restored.
The concert was held in front of the coliseum. Ephesus is a site quite unlike any other. It has been painstakingly restored to some of its original splendor. The coliseum, where the Romans really did feed slaves to the lions, is in incredible shape and still holds almost 25,000 people. They hold a number of events here every week, but loud rock music has been banned because the last concert they had did damage to the site. So now only classical music is allowed.
As you can see from the picture above, cloth covered tables with lighted flower centerpieces filled the courtyard. Wine and soft drinks were served and there were some local nuts and olives on the table. As the sun set and it got darker, the temperature started to drop. This is the first time on this entire cruise that we were actually wearing sweaters and jackets, and even felt a bit chilly. The program tonight was classical music performed by a Chamber Orchestra, including a flautist. A beautifully printed program with gold bossing and a shiny black ribbon was our souvenir. What was extraordinary about the evening, besides listening to fantastic music, was sitting in centuries old ruins in Turkey. Wow!
No comments:
Post a Comment