FIRST FULL DAY ON CRUISE SHIP
Breakfast was in the buffet dining
room. This time we got lucky and found seats just as someone was leaving.
Our first excursion was to Kusadasi,
Turkey. We missed the bus by about 30 minutes to our first tour choice of the
House of Virgin Mary & Ancient Ephesius and instead took the tour of
Ancient Ephesus through the Ages.
At ancient Ephesus
you find immortal relics of the Hellenistic, Roman and Early Christian era. At
the archeological site you will be given a guided tour among the Agora, the
Odeon, the Library of Celsus, the marble-paved main street of Kouretes, the
Baths of Scholastica, Trajan’s Fountain, the Public Latrines, the Residences of
the Patricians, the Prytaneum, the Temple of Hadrian. The Great Theatre, built
in the 4th century B.C., could accommodate 24,000 spectators and it
is famous even nowadays for its acoustics. The finds from the excavations,
which have yet brought to light only 13% of ancient Ephesus, reside in the
Archaeological Museum of Ephesus, in the city of Selcuk. The excursion includes
a visit to a carpet-weaving center or a leather shop, where you have the
opportunity to do some shopping and get in touch with the Turkish culture.
Ancient ruins:
This is the house of a rich person:
Terrace House:
Dwelling Units 3 & 5:
This is the outdoor theater, you'll have to zoom in to see it in the background:
A few days ago, a part of my belt broke where the buckle
screws into the leather. Today it broke completely and I threw it in the trash
thereafter keeping my eyes open for a replacement.
After the regular tour they took us to a factory where they make carpets. They had us sit down and gave us some tea and a woman made a couple lines of a carpet on a homemade loom. Then they proceeded to unroll carpet after carpet. They were all very beautiful and cost thousands of dollars each however, the price includes free delivery. 😊
They also had numerous ones that were wall hangings:
Outside they had a little buffet lunch set up (right next to the jewelry shop)
for us which was nice.
We got back on the minivan and were taken downtown
where the
ladies spent some time going through a few shops including this large one that
was mainly all purses:
For the evening excursion on the island of Patmos (Greece)
we signed up for the Patmos Countryside tour with Hora and Grotto of
Apocalypse.
This time we took tenders to and from the ship and the port:
The evening excursion was a visit to the Greek island Patmos.
Thanks to its religious value but
also for its particularities, in 1999 Patmos was proclaimed a “World Heritage
Monument” by UNESCO. The panoramic excursion begins at the port of Scala
heading towards the center of the island, to Chora. At the main town you will
visit the Grotto of the Apocalypse and at the top of the “castle” behind the
walls, you will see the Monastery of St. John the Evangelist, of Byzantine
architecture. The silent windmills in Chora have witnesses important events on
the island which attracts thousands of tourists for religious, and also
recreational, tourism. The tour of the island towards more desolate landscapes,
which are the trademark of the Dodecanese. Rocky hills, barren, dry soil,
promontories which, like earthly tongues, delve into the sea, dozens of bays
and coves, and an intricate coastline. After this enlightening excursion,
through the island, the tour will conclude at Scala, the port, where the
atmospheric café “Arion”, the oldest and most picturesque of the area, will be
waiting for you for coffee, refreshments or juice.
This included a tour of this small Greek Orthodox church:
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