Our First Cruise - Tuesday 11/05/2010 Kusadasi and Ephesus

Kusadasi was to be our first, and on this trip, only touch on Turkey. We had nothing booked in advance but we decided on board the ship to try and book the Ancient Ephesus tour which I had done before leaving the ship on Monday morning. On our return there was a printed slip on our bed saying that our chosen trip was sold out and we should look at others while we had been placed on the reserve list in case anyone cancelled. I had gone down to the help desk in the Village Square and was told that they were now running another bus on our chosen tour as it had been so popular.
With this in mind it was no surprise to see several coaches parked alongside the curb just outside the port buildings as we emerged with our coach number on our shirts. We were on one of the early buses and our guide was excellent, he claimed to have come second in all of Turkey in the guides competition based on travellers’ reviews, the winner must have been truly excellent to have beaten him.
We left the port of Kusadasi and drove up into the hills, our first stop was at the home of the Virgin Mary in her later years, this is disputed by some Christian scholars but the claim is based on the idea that Saint John took responsibility for looking after Mary as she grew older and it is documented that he travelled to what is now modern Turkey.
According to Wickapedia:
The supporters of the belief that the Virgin Mary lived her last years and died in her hut near Ephesus base their theory on two main points:
1. The presence of the Tomb of St. John and the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus: Jesus Christ, before dying on the cross, entrusted to St. John his mother (19:26-27). It is believed that after the crucifixion of Jesus, St. John left Jerusalem and came to Ephesus in order to convert its people to Christianity, as it was one of the biggest and safest non-Christian cities of its time (capital of the Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire). He then built a small hut to care for Mary just outside Ephesus in order to protect her from the largely Artemis worshipping community of the region. (see Temple of Artemis)
2. The presence of the Church of Mary, the first basilica in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus: In the early centuries of Christianity, places of worship were dedicated only to persons who lived or died in the area.
Without being able to form an opinion about the reality of the claim we can certainly say that the site was moving in its tranquility and made an excellent start to the Ephesus experience. We spent about half an hour on this site and then returned to the bus. At this point our guide explained that we would be dropped off at the top of the Ephesus site and work our way down through it as trying to tackle the site uphill would lead us to hate him! He reminded us that we were not Japanese tourists so we should not feel obliged to photograph everything we saw, he assured us that there was nothing warranting our efforts where the coach dropped us off.
We were met on the site by a student photographer who joined our party only after our guide had asked if we were happy with that. He took several photos as we passed through and in due course we would be able to buy them at the bus.
Obviously I knew better than our guide because we had barely entered the site when we came upon an amphitheatre which I expended a few shots on, we then crossed some fairly unremarkable fields with some ruins and I was complimenting myself on my better judgment. However he was right, we breasted a small hill and below us was an incredible sight, there was a Roman street, paved with flagstones and flanked by ruined houses which had been equipped with running water in Roman times. Many of these houses had mosaic floors which looked quite dull until he poured water on them to remove the dust to show the vivid original colours. He knew the uses of most of the buildings and as we ventured further down the street, we came to the large public library which had survived better than most of the surrounding buildings; he told us that the experts were in conflict over the purpose of the buildings immediately opposite the library but consensus was now that one was a casino and the other a brothel, I suppose you don’t always fancy reading.
Below the library we came upon the huge Grand Theatre where St Paul preached (and is still used for performances today) and this really did warrant photography it was awesome. The whole Ephesus experience was similar and not dwarfed by our tour of ancient Rome; we would urge anyone who can to visit.
Looking back it is strange to think we had known so little about Ephesus that we had not even been sure that we wanted to see it and perhaps we would never have realised what we missed.
True to their word the photos were ready at the coach and we bought two out of the three featuring us, being the world’s worst hagglers we were unable to negotiate an improved price for all three together so he has the remaining one framed on his wall I imagine.
On our way back to the ship we stopped at a vantage point to photograph the town from above and also at a carpet factory where we were given a drink, apple tea, and a gentle sales pitch to buy a carpet. The carpets were impressive and I can recall quite a lot about them but I stick with this, the best carpets are silk on silk, they are priced by the number of knots per inch, only women can make them as men’s fingers are too big and these women only have about a twelve year working life before their eyes are so damaged by the close work. These carpets last effectively for ever but cost thousands of pounds and generally go up in value as they age.
Unlike in Egypt we felt under no pressure to buy so after admiring the process and the products we were offered a doormat in wool on wool at £95 but we declined.
Leaving the carpet shop we were within easy walking distance of the ship but we enjoyed a wander round the town before heading back.
Julia bought a Turkish pashmina in rich blues and black at a good price and afterwards sensibly avoided anywhere else that sold them. We sat for a drink at the top of the town and enjoyed the active street theatre before strolling back to the ship.
As we took afternoon tea I also took some good shots of the port and again later during the “sail away”.
Julia wore her pashmina to dinner and we then went to the Marquee to see Steve Larkins and his tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen, I never knew that Freddie Mercury came from New Zealand but otherwise it was an entertaining act and it sent us to bed on a high having had a most memorable day.