Last night we were hanging on the top deck of the ship and saw some really bright red coloring on the horizon. We could not figure out what it was. At first we half-thought a volcano erupted, then jokingly thought maybe it was a really bright parachute heading our way. Finally as it became clearer, we realized it was the blood moon. It was huge and red and actually really awesome to see. We knew it had happened last night, but didn’t see it then. However, tonight, it was pretty spectacular to see.
Anywho, today was the last official day of this cruise and onto our second country of the trip, Turkey. And surprisingly enough, our second continent of the trip also, Asia. I had no idea that Turkey was a part of Asia until I looked at the map this morning and then our tour guy confirmed this as well; it’s Asia Minor. We are only here for the day and to the town of Kusadasi, to the site of Ephesus. My parents have been here before and told me it’s a pretty incredible site to see so I was excited.
We had an excursion today for a tour of Ephesus and were one of the first groups at the site which is always a beneficial to beat the heat and crowds as best as possible. Our guide was super knowledgeable and interesting and I learned so much there. I was blown away by this site and I’m not a history person. Even though only 10% of this site has been excavated, it was huge amount. A lot of it was pretty well maintained including the hospital, the library, and the brothel. The architecture and physicality of it was just so cool. We’ve seen a lot of ruins on this trip and Ephesus, along with the Acropolis, are definitely at the top of the list.
We spent about an hour and half at the site and then went to a Turkish carpet demonstration, followed by a delicious authentic Turkish meal. I already knew I liked Turkish food because my favorite restaurant in NYC is Turkish. (What up Beyoglu!) I was hoping our meal here would have some of that good stuff too and luckily it did. It had my favorite cacik (like the Turkish version of tzatziki), some meatballs, roasted eggplant, and fried cheese pastry things. I even tried baklava for the first time and it was actually pretty good. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had so far while on this trip.
Our final stop in Kusadasi was back in town. J and I decided to walk around off the beaten path a little and down to the beach away from everyone else. It was very obvious we were the only Americans around and this was not a typical tourist town. Our guide had told us that prior to three years ago, there would be like seven cruise ships docking there a day in the high season and now there’s only a couple a week. This town seems kind of small, but must be more of a resort town for residents of Turkey. Turkey definitely wasn’t how I had pictured it; it was much prettier. In my head, I had stereotyped it as more middle eastern with like dirt roads and sand, but it was more beach with bright colored homes along the mountains and the sea. I was pleasantly surprised.
Anyway, we walked over to the beach then around the marketplace aka the bazaar. There was a lot of the same old tourist crap you see everywhere along with a lot of bootleg goods. However, they were parading them as originals. The signs in the stores even said “genuine fake” watches and “genuine fake” handbags. That’s more than I can say for stores in Chinatown. It was funny to see though. There were some really cool colored outside stairways and paths, but J and I didn’t want to veer off too far here. Time was limited and we stuck out like sore thumbs there. We also tried some Turkish delights that everyone said to try, but I did not like them. It’s like their version of gummies, but I wasn’t a fan. I had originally wanted to buy some dried Turkish apricots because I love them from Trader Joe’s so I figured if I got them in Turkey they’d be legit. The guy at the store said they were out of season so few places would have them. Bummer. I’ll save my money I guess. Soon enough it was time to get back on the ship and make the long journey back to Athens.
Back on the ship we got invited to see the captain’s bridge. We weren’t sure why we got this invite, but it may have something to do with the fact we complained about this ship on the first day. As I said before, it was not what we expected as far as accommodations, especially for the price we paid. This didn’t make up for that, but it sure was cool to see. J and I kept quoting stuff from “Below Deck” while on the bridge. Most of the knowledge we have about boating comes from that show, so we joked we’d finally meet Captain Lee. Alas, we did meet the captain but kept our jokes to ourselves. We grilled the girl giving us the little tour about the social lives of the crew and who hooks up with who. She was entertained by us, naturally.
We planned for an early night again so had dinner on the ship and a relaxing night in. Tomorrow morning, we dock back in Athens for one more day and since we’ve seen all of the touristy stuff there, we are still figuring out our game plan.
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