July 18 - Day 9

Today we have a tour scheduled with Get Your Guide. We only paid $16 dollars each for this tour and we are very unsure what to expect.

Got up at 6 a.m. and Matt said he hadn’t slept since about 2 am. I did better than him but not a great night for me either. We got dressed and started mainlining coffee upstairs. I had my yogurt and bran muffin. My body is finally starting to digest, thank God.

We got off the ship about 7:15 am and met our tour director with no problem at all. There was one other woman on our tour so it was very small. Our tour director was great although difficult to understand.

We headed first to Ephesus, the ancient city. What an incredibly preserved city. We walked through with Tay explaining things to us as we went. Our tour included a digital show of how Ephesus might have been. In the ancient days, the sea went all the way to the edge of the city and Ephesus was a great port city. Due to silt, the water is now about nine miles away. Wow.

After Ephesus, we drove to Sirince Village. What an interesting little place with very narrow streets winding every which way. Very easy to get lost. It is a pretty little town, for sure. We tasted some wines from the region there including four different sweet wines made from local fruits. I really enjoyed those. We had about an hour of free time there. Matt and I wandered around and found a place to try Turkish coffee. Very interesting. Not sure I need to drink it again but glad I got a chance to try it. It is made with cold water but then brought to a boil with hot sand around it. The grounds remain in the coffee. Reminded me a little bit of what we used to call sheepherder coffee. 

We left Ephesus and headed back towards the downtown area of Kusadasi. We stopped at a place where we watched a rug making demonstration including how silk is harvested from silk worms. The silk rugs are so beautiful and intricate. They take your breath away but I don’t need to spend $15,000 for one. Not today anyway. After the demonstration, we had a Turkish lunch with local specialties. It was very good. 

After lunch, we headed back to the port and the bus dropped us off. The tour was really a special experience for us.

Matt and I walked out to the end of a promontory to explore the old structure there but discovered it was a Maritime museum that cost 10 euros. We weren’t sure we needed to do that. We headed into the downtown area and wandered the streets a bit. I am so hot that I am wilting and running out of steam. We decided we’d seen enough and we headed back.

We relaxed a bit and then showered and headed down to dinner. We were seated with a couple from Illinois celebrating their 44th anniversary and a couple of women traveling together. All of them had been on many cruises. We are definitely the virgin cruisers in almost all the groups we’ve been in.

After dinner, we went upstairs to an event called Cake Me Away. Cakes of every flavor, color and style are on display for you to eat as you choose. We each got a couple and shared a few bites. I am done eating!! 

We walked the promenade a bit and then headed in to bed. Athens tomorrow. Another day of busy sightseeing.