Kusadasi

 Today was an exciting day - we were off to the Ephesus archaeological  site. 

It is maybe the 2nd to only Pompei in ruins.  It was also mentioned in the Bible.  Saint Paul also preached here in the Great Theatre.  It was a major Ancient Greek and Roman city.  It declined due to silting and the harbour there went away. 

This is the library remains

Here are some terrace houses photos.  They had running water and some had bathrooms.  They are covered by a huge tent for protection. 

Here is the Grand Theatre.  It is undergoing some restoration.  

After this we went back to town and visited a Carpet store and were provided with some sort of bread thing.  Shan and I both tried it, but didn’t like it.  

They showed us how they get silk from silkworms and spin to to use for carpets.  Only the Turkish use the 2 thread technique - everyone else just does 1 loop with the thread.

Each rug is handmade.  A 8x10 rug can take about 3 years to finish.  Prices depend on the material - silk, wool, cotton.  There was a beautiful silk one that was $38,000 or so.  It felt sooo good!

Then Shan and I stopped and grabbed lunch - we both got Turkish food and we liked it!

We have tons more photos but won’t post them all 

Are you twins?  6 but there one person that was sizing us up and she couldn’t decide and didn’t ask. :)

Rhodes

Another beautiful day for an ass kicking!  

The day began early with a bus ride with our new found torture companions.  The first destination was to the ancient temple of Athena Polias located on the site of the Monastery of Filerimose where upon arriving, we were greeted by the residential peacocks.  We knew it was gonna be a rough day as soon as we saw the stairs….ours...specifically MY arch nemesis.

Up the stairs we go to the melodious serenade of the peacocks.  We made it to the top without holding up the line, I might add.  

This is still a functioning chapel but the monastery is no longer occupied.  The entire site has been rebuilt numerous time since the 3rd century bc with the tradition of reusing the existing stone. 

Here’s a picture looking down on the city.

After a short break, we loaded back on the bus to go down the hill.  Along the way, we got to see an ancient stadium where games were held.  If you look close, you can see the field and the stone seating.  I think the tour guide said it could hold 40k people and 12 games were held during the year. 

Next stop, the Palace of the Grand Master of the Kights of Rhodes. This is a medieval castle in the city of Rhodes built during the Byzantine Empire and is a UNESCO world heritage site. There are 3 waterless moats surrounding the castle.

Damn, more stairs

The castle houses beautiful mosaics which are not painted, each tile is a natural stone.

After viewing the castle we proceeded down this street where each building housed the knights from a specific country. 

At the bottom of the hill, our guide turned us loose in Old Town.  We found a local restaurant for some lunch and had pot roast on a bed of mashed potatoes.

We strolled through old town admiring all of the shops then headed back to the ship.  On the way we stopped to admire the view which I found to be a testament to human advancement. 

 A modern yacht docked by a portion of the medieval port. 

Santorini

 Today’s port was Santorini.  The city is perched high above the water.  There were 3 other cruise ships in at the same time - so Shan and I and quite a few others chose to stay on the ship. 

To get to the top of the bluff - either you walk, ride a donkey, or taking a cable car ride.  

Here is what that looks like

We were able to see some of the iconic blue domes

Several people shared that it was crazy packed and they had come back early to the ship. 

Athens

 Apologies for being behind in our blogging.  We have visited the Acropolis and Parthenon. 

It was a slog to get up there.  The tour description said 78 stairs and yes there were 78 stairs, but there was also long uphill path that was kicking the entire tour’s butt.  Happy to report my hip did really well and we weren’t the last to make it up the hill. 

Something interesting we learned this is not the only Acropolis - every city had one, but this one is the most well known.

This is the remains of the Temple of Athena

After this visit was over, we were again Forced Marched to a restaurant.  Shan and I made it, about 5 others got left in the dust.  Our guide had to go back and find them. 

It was a nice lunch - various Greek types of food.  Outside of it was a lovely small square

Doing the blog on the ship has been difficult as it takes FOREVER to upload photos.  So I am going to pause until we get to our hotel in Istanbul to catch up

1. The rest of Athens

2. Santorini

3. Rhodes

4. Kusadasi

After lunch we went to the Archeological Museum. We only had about 1/2 hour - so didn’t get to take it all in.  But this statue was amazing

We then made our way back to the port - but did pass this

It is the Panathenaic Stadium.  The world’s only stadium built entirely of marble.  It is where the 1st modern Olympics were held in 1896 and remains the location where the Olympic flame starts and ends. 

The original structure was built around 330 BC, but during the Roman rule of Athens it was renovated and rebuilt with white marble.  

Are you twins?  6

Montenegro and Sea Day

 Today our port was Bar, Montenegro.  

This was a change in ports - initially we were suppose to go somewhere else and this was substituted. This port area was on the smaller side without much to see.  We didn’t book any excursions so we were left to explore the port area. 

We promenaded along the shore, looked at some vendors, and sat in a cafe watching all the locals out on the beach with their children playing. 

These folks greeted us. 

Below the castle is now an admin building

We also saw this interesting statue.  It is of an artist called Uris Tochkowitch.  He was a vagabond on and off through his life.  He went to art school, lived in Paris and is included amongst Picasso and Dali.  He often rejected the commercial aspect of his work.  He was born in Montenegro and died in Bar.

After Montenegro we had a sea day.  There was a lot of things going on and we participated in the lot - mostly trivia games.  We did the “behind the scenes” tour of the boat.  Shannon has done one before, but I hadn’t .  We were able to look and learn about the Kitchens, the provisioning, the gigantic freezers, the laundry, the engine room, and ended with a nice chunk of time on the bridge. 

I had found this video game while walking around the ship, but couldn’t figure out how to get it to play.  Finally Shannon helped figure it out and I got to play my favorite video game….GALAGA