October 9, 2016

The ship was docked by 6 a.m. in Kusadasi, Turkey.  The sky was clear when we looked out our window and the sun had not yet arisen.  We met in the theater for today’s excursion to Ephesus, which are Greek and Roman ruins. It was a small group of 16, labeled as a strenuous outing because of the stairs, uneven surfaces and over 2.5 miles of walking. Today, there was a couple not as physically fit as needed for the tour, marked strenuous in the brochure, that the group had to wait for, so they could catch up and then wait again for them to catch their breaths.  The bus left the port before 8 a.m.  As we entered the bus, we were given an audio receiver and earphone and an Ipad. On the seats were a small sealed paper bag and bottle of water. The bag contained a survey form, pencil, Kusadasi map, clay “first century ticket” souvenir and postcard.  Our guide, Auz, explained that Turkey is about 10% the size of the former Ottoman Republic that collapsed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  After World War I, there was a civil war and the leader who emerged was Mr. Ataturk, who united the country and brought it into the 20th century and changed the capital to Ankara, in Asian Turkey.  The population of Turkey is 80 million with 4 million living in Ankara and 15 million living in the former Ottoman capital of Istanbul.  Turkey has a strong agricultural industry.  The main crops grown are peaches, citrus fruit, olives, figs, and pomegranates. Turkish carpets are a well known industry as is tourism.  Over 700 cruise ships a year visit Kusadasi.

As we drove to Ephesus, the bus passed corn fields, mulberry trees, peach orchards, lemon orchards, olive orchards, pomegranate orchards, chickens, horses, Turkish carpet stores and pottery studios.  Mulberry trees are the food for silk worms.  Some Turkish carpets are made from silk.

The Equinox was the only ship in port today.  Perhaps 1,500 passengers from the ship chose excursions to Ephesus.  There were stalls selling souvenirs at the entrance and exit to the Ephesus archeological site, but not within the site.  Ephesus was a port city, however today, due to the river depositing silt and the dredging of the silt 2,000 years ago was not very effective, now the sea is over 8 kilometers away.  The resulting flat lands are used extensively for agriculture.  We proceeded through the entrance turnstile and saw roman baths constructed of blocks cut from marble. The public bath design was Roman with the frigidarium (cold water room), tepidarium (warmish water room) and caldarium (hot water room).  Romans used arches as a structural element of their buildings while the ancient Greek only used arches as a form of decoration.  Ephesus was the capital of the area known, and seen on some of the inscriptions, as Asia Minor.  If a bull head was sculpted on a building it meant that the building was important like the city hall or courts.  Next was the Odeon theater, which originally had a wooden roof, which was where men met to discuss the city’s affairs, the city politicians.  Across the street was the State Agora where people also met in a less formal way.  Agora is a Greek name for a place to gather and shop whereas the term used would be Forum in Roman times.  The street, called the Arcadian Way, was paved with marble stones, since quarries were nearby. Ephesus was rebuilt three times.  There was an earthquake in 270 AD.

There are examples of different kinds of column tops and bases.  Ephesus was abandoned after an earthquake and some of its buildings were dismantled to build squatters houses and new walls so it is sometimes difficult to find the pieces for the buildings.  Ephesus is only 20 % excavated. There were at least a dozen cats wandering around the site.  They are cared for by a veterinarian and fixed when they can be caught.  The cats like to be petted. The distance from the site entrance to the exit going along the main street is about 2 km. Across from the Nymphaeum Traiani fountain rise the Terrace Houses.  Our tour detoured into the protected Terrace Houses site.  The Terrace Houses rise five storeys above the main street.  The excavation started in the 1990s when money had been raised to erect a protective enclosure for the excavation so that it would not decay when open to the weather.  They are the first century BC shops and homes of wealthy Romans built into the slopes of Bulbul Mountain. Within the structure the floors of the 7 units of different sizes show various mosaic tile patterns and lovely painted mural walls.  There was a heated air system to heat the 8 meter by 8 meter dining hall and other rooms in the largest unit.  There was a small kitchen which was only used to plate food, as the wealthy people bought their cooked food from shops and brought it home to eat., early take away food. The total area of the 7 units is 6,000 square feet.  When we exited the Terrace Houses, we were beside pomegranate tree next to the Celcus Library which held the archives of the city.  Nearby, were the public toilets, which was a meeting place where people talked business while doing their “business”.  There was a fountain in the middle which was open to the sky, it drowned the sound of people using the toilets.  There were 70 holes carved in the marble for people to sit.  The group continued into the 110 meter by 110 meter open air Agora (or Forum) where many shops and cafés would have been and made our way to the main theater that held 24,000 people. The apostles Paul visited and preached in Ephesus several times, these visits are noted in the bible in Acts, Corinthians and Revelations. It is also thought that the apostle John lived in the Ephesus area, sheltering the Virgin Mary after the death of Jesus.  The Greek theater had been enlarged by the Romans to hold crowds for the gladiator fights.  This was at the top of the half kilometer  street , known as the Arcadian Way that led to the Ephesus harbour.  Along this avenue Cleopatra of Egypt and Marc Antoni of Rome paraded. In 31 BC, Cleopatra and Marc Antoni gathered their land and water forces at Ephesus harbour, before the Battle of Actium where they lost to Octavian's forces.  We went a part of the way along that street to exit the site and find our bus, to go to the next stop, Cittantica Ephesus Park, near Selcuk.  Here we visited a café and gift shop that had a banquet hall where some of the other tours were having a banquet lunch.  We bought cappuccinos and baklava as well as some Turkish Delight candy.  It also had modern toilets.  We then drove through part of Selcuk to see a partial column from the original Temple of Artemus, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.  When it was built it was near the water, but is about one km away from the sea now. The temple is not intact, since civilizations that came after the temple was built used the marble to build their own buildings. Our guide pointed out large nests on top of electricity poles.  These were the nests of storks, which lived there in the summer.  We returned to Kusadasi and were taken to a demonstration of the art of making Turkish carpets.  We were served a choice of apple tea; Turkish coffee; Rakı, which is an unsweetened, anise-flavored alcoholic drink, like Greece’s Ouzo; red and white wines which were served with a light roll.  Next the staff presented silk carpets and wool carpets of beautiful patterns and colours.  One person liked a beautifully coloured silk rug about 3 meters by 4.5 meters and with the 40% discount was quoted a price of $13,000 US.

After leaving the Carpet presentation we strolled along some of the streets and returned to the ship just after 2 p.m.  The total distance walked was 4.67 miles.  We dropped off our backpack and cameras and went to the Café al Bacio for cappuccinos and cake before returning to the stateroom to organize photos and write the blog.

At dinner we traded stories about the excursions to Ephesus.  Everyone was impressed with the site.

The appetizer selected this evening was Quinoa Salad with raisins and bacon pieces followed by the entrée choice of Moroccan spiced lamb kebab on scented rice.  The dessert choice was coffee mousse.

After dinner we went to the Captain’s Club Senior Officers’ Cocktail Party in the Sky Lounge on Deck 14. There were about 50 passengers and 15 officers present for the 45 minute party.

Tonight’s entertainer is singer, Portia Emare.

Tomorrow’s port will be the Greek island of Mykonos, 102 nautical miles from Kusadasi.  The ship’s predicted speed is supposed to be 9 knots.  Much slower than the 19 to 20 knots speed travelling from Salerno to Santorini.

Total distance today was 5.91 miles.