A Taste of Turkey
I am quickly concluding that it is entirely unfair to judge a place by what you see in a few hours ashore. You walk off the ship with SUCKER written on your forehead and there is no end to the people who try to sell you something.Today we docked at Kusadasi, Turkey, where we spent the day on a bus tour to the final home of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus, and a Turkish carpet demonstration and shopping in this small port town.
Having studied Ephesians in my former religious life, it was extremely interesting to see the remains of ancient Ephesus, a town whose hayday was in the early centuries CE.
We had a really knowledgeable guide who made the heat bearable, but I can truly say the highlights of my day were buying a pair of clip-on sunglasses for 7 Euros (bargained down from 10) and a Turkish coffee for 1.50 Euros.
I passed up a beautiful $1,800 rug and a wall full of D&G and Prada leather purses. I passed up pashminas of every possible color. I passed up so many other shopping opportunities by people who were hungry to sell something to Americans.
I am safely BOB (back on the boat) ready to move on to Santorini tomorrow. This whole cruise thing is a little surreal.
posted by Barbara at 9:41 AM
4 Comments:
Did you make it to Maryemana or into Selçuk for the basilica of Saint John? It seems like you've got quite the whirlwind tour.
I bet the cruise experience is weird. Great pics, though.
And Turkish coffee? Yum!
Too bad about the tour bus. That's not ever a great way to travel.
Can you imagine how amazing it would have been to go to Ephesus back when Western tourists were just beginning to travel widely -- maybe in the Victorian era? It must have been incredible to see the world before it became attuned to tourism as an industry.
"This whole cruise thing is a little surreal."
I can imagine!!
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