July 25, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

                We arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey early this morning and as per normal Shawn and I raced off the ship in attempt to beat the crowds to the main site, Ephesus.  It was

a typical cruise port with hundreds of locals attempting to sell you the best taxi price and the cheapest carpets and jewelry – all offering the “best price”.  The one info point we stopped at said there was no local bus to get to Ephesus, which was ridiculous, because I know I had researched somewhere that there was a good public bus.  In any case, we browsed the local shops for a while before the local tourist info opened.

                We asked at the local tourist info for the bus and she gave us precise directions on how to find the stop and the bus.  It was more challenging than anticipated finding the bus, however, because it was hard to trust anyone when they said they were not a taxi after all of the local taxi harassment! I finally started asking women about where to go to get the bus – and all of them were very helpful and encouraging.  Outside of the main tourist area, everyone did seem quite nice and helpful.  We did find the bus – and it was only 2.5 Euros for each of us to go to Ephesus. 

                The bus was awesome – a nice 10 passenger van with good AC.  We sat beside a nice Irish guy whose family refused to go see more ruins!  The scenery en route to Ephesus from Kusadasi was beautiful.  The roads were impeccable and there were many beach resorts along the way.  It would be great to come back here and do some more touring around – the one day here was definitely not enough.

                All three of us walked up to Ephesus from the bus stop – a mere 10 minute walk to the site before we split up with the Irish guy.  Shawn and I read all of the sign posts in the archaeological site.  I thought it was interesting how it has been rebuilt on top of old ruins with each new generation/religion/ruler.  The Library of Celsius and the Grand Theatre were definitely the best.  Because we did the site in reverse of the tour groups, we managed to see both of these popular sites before the crowds got there, which was great.  The men’s toilets were also really interesting.  It is amazing to believe they had “running water” and an underground sewer system back in those days.  As well, in the toilets, there was a band/orchestra playing all day long – and the slaves used to sit on the seats before their masters in order to warm up the seats, which I thought was interesting. 

                We caught the bus back to Kusadasi without any problem and decided to try some Turkish food for lunch.  We had kebabs for one person and the meat and wraps arrived on a portable little barbeque.  It was really interesting.

                After that we were headed off to the Grand Bazaar to do a little shopping and bargaining, because I love that – but we got caught in a leather store at the entrance to the Bazaar and didn’t make it any further!   I had kind of had it in my head that it would be nice to find a leather coat…and that I did!  It was just like the Indian Carpet experience.  We became the sales man best friends as he served us diet coke and Fanta.  We were his best friends and turned on the AC and demanded that Shawn look at me while I tried on the millionth jacket!  It was fun – thankfully – and we were in the store for a good 2 hours!  I had decided between a red one, a blue one, and a black one…but definitely could not make up my mind.  I kept telling the owner that I was only, maybe buying one jacket…and then Shawn piped up saying he too would like to try some jackets!  So off we went to the guy’s side of the store and he tried on half a dozen jackets.  Every time Shawn would decide he didn’t like a coat, the owner would try it on and strut around a bit.  It was kind of amusing.  Finally, we both found a jacket we liked and the owner sat us down on the red leather chairs and made a total of 8 of the jackets we tried on!  Because don’t you know that the girl yesterday, who was younger than me, bought 10 leather coats!!  Anyway – I was rather stern and told him we were buying only 2 jackets.  Only 2.  And we negotiated a bit for both of them (although I think I could have maybe done better…so I was a tad annoyed!) and were on our way. 

                Overall it was a pricy day because of the jackets, but considering we did Ephesus after all of the taxis telling us it was 120 Euros to get there, it ended up being a rather good deal!

                I definitely want to go back to Turkey – there is so much to see and the tiny bit I saw was amazing! 

Later,

 

-Allison