Cruise:Kusadasi

Wednesday, Aug 30, 2000

Woke up in Kusadasi. We got up slowly and had a mediocre breakfast in the Horizon Court buffet. We went ashore to Kusadasi, but were disappointed by the touristy nature and all the hassling we received from the store owners. We had a nice walk around town, though. We went back aboard for lunch in the Horizon Court buffet, but it ended up very crowded and pushy (only half was serving lunch). Jill vowed never to eat there again.

The Grand Princess parked at Kusadasi

We then joined the crowds for the tour buses and got on our bus. First stop was the house of Virgin Mary. I t was inspiring to hear the history of the area on the way from the coast to the top of the hill. The actual house/shrine was a very quick and unexciting walk through. We ended up waiting on the tour bus while three clueless women finished buying tourist junk and potato chips.

The Virgin Mary's house

Next stop was Ephesus, an ancient Roman city. Most of it had fallen and was destroyed by earthquakes, but some of it remains or was reconstructed (such as the library and theater). The city had originally been abandoned as the bay filled up with silt and the coast moved to far away for it to remain useful as a port.

Upper Ephesus with a small theater.

The main street of Ephesus

Mosaic floors in one of the shops

A Roman bath, complete with running water (but no privacy)

The library of Ephesus. One of the largest libraries of the time.

The lady with the flag is all powerful

The street running from the theater to the port

In front of the theater. Seats 50000!

Ephesus was neat and educational but it was a long tour and the guide talked a lot. It was also extremely crowded, as there were two cruise ships in town, and almost everyone was at Ephesus. The sun was hot but the temp was still only about 90.

After Ephesus it was St. John's Basilica. The picture models of what it looked like were good. Again, it was a good history lesson, but we could've have gone without standing around with a tour group.

Part of St. John's Basilica. It is being rebuilt with donations from a couple in Ohio.

Jill catnapped on the bus back to Kusadasi, and then we walked around the town in search of a liquor store and spent our last millions on three bottles of Turkish wine and two bottles of Italian Santa Christina red wine. We even looked around at a carpet shop, but the prices were outrageous and the vendors too pushy.

Back on board, we went to the pool but it was crowded. We found a quiet pool in the stern, but it was cold. We read by the pool awhile and watched the sail away from Kusadasi.

Dinner was another casual night. Jill had the crab and corn soup (but not much crab) and veal chop. Keith had the same soup and then the venison steak (great!). We had mascerated strawberries and chocolate bread pudding for dessert (yum).

We went to watch the London pub night show after dinner, but it was basically a pub song sing-a-long and we didn't know any of the songs, so we left after 30 minutes and crashed early (midnight).

After leaving Kusadasi, we could start feeling the sea movement on the ship. Our clothes rocked gently in the closet. It was actually relaxing and added to the "cruise" feel.