Ephesus and Kusadasi, Turkey July 25

All I can say is hot, hot, hot. We are told it will be 40 degrees in the town of Kusadasi (where we dock) and that it is even hotter in-land at Ephesus where we have a tour. I have not idea how hot it actually was, but WOW is it hot. I remember thinking when we were in Chichen Itza the ruins in Mexico that that must have been the hottest place on earth, but this is equally hot.

Our ship doesn’t get in until the afternoon, so we are at the Ephesus ruins for the tour in the heat of the afternoon, but this lets us sleep in. Ephesus is the site where John the Baptist spent time preaching and near one of the places the Virgin Mary is said to have lived after Jesus died. The ruins are described as Greco-Roman – only about 10% has been excavated. There is a theatre here that has been uncovered where big acts perform that holds 25 000 spectators.

The tour ends with a stop at a carpet shop where we are offered wine, raki, Turkish coffee, tea etc. We have raki which to me is exactly like ouzo. Being in a carpet shop with a tour like this lets us into the shop and we get to hear about the carpets without the pressure of having to buy because we just came along with the tour. While one guy with excellent English told us about the carpets, silk, etc about 4 or 5 others jump around to his commands in Turkish to bring out carpets one after the other. They are stunning, but we don’t buy. There is also a silk worm demo which is quite interesting.

After the carpet shop we wander around the town a bit trying to spend the last of our Turkish money (which we don’t). I buy a bracelet and we have a last iskender and Turkish beer Efes (see picture.)