We realized pretty quickly that traveling alone in Greece was not a wise move, so Rachel and I signed up for a bunch of the cruise’s excursions. I had done some research, and found the prices on the cruise were more than reasonable, and they took us to some great sites, so I think it was a good move. The cruise was only 5 days long, but it covered a lot of ground! On Tuesday, the first full day of the cruise, we went started the day (insanely early!) in Kusadasi, Turkey.
I was shocked by how incredible Turkey is! It is really beautiful, which I was not expecting. We drove up the mountains, taking in the view until we got to The House of the Virgin Mary, which is believed to be where the Virgin Mary spent the last years of life. It is now a holy site for both Muslims and Christians, so on August 15th every year a service is performed there and both Christian and Muslim pilgrims venture up there. It is one of the only (if not the only) times Christians and Muslims gather to worship together, so even if it is not the actual house of the Virgin Mary, it is still pretty cool. There is also a spring that runs under Mary’s bedroom and she is believed to have drunk from, and now the Spring is believed to have healing powers. Beyond the religious significance of the site, it is also just really beautiful.
The House of The Virgin Mary- the different colored stones on the bottom are the ones from the original house (it was reconstructed after a German nun's visions led archaeologists to the site). This is the only picture I could get that didn't have a bunch of tourists in it.
The front of the house
Prayers on the gates lining the walls by the house
Washing my hands in the water from the holy spring
After leaving the House of the Virgin Mary, we went to the ancient city of Ephesus. Turkey actually has the most ruins from ancient Greece, and the most well preserved ruins, of anywhere in the world, including Greece. Surprising, no?
Greek Ruins
Kittie hanging out on the Gate of Hercules
Ruins of a Greek Library
Ruins from the marketplace. The ugly siding on the right is actually protecting these 7 homes of really wealthy Greek families that were found remarkably well preserved (with tables set in the kitchens, etc). We didn't get to go in, but it was cool nonetheless
Public bathrooms from the marketplace/forum. Rachel and I thought it was picture-worthy, until we realized how weird it would be if in a hundred years or so people took pictures of the toilets we use now
The Octagon, the tomb of Princess Arsinoe, sister of Cleopatra, whose husband Marc Anthony executed Arsinoe by poisoning her, as he saw her a threat to his power. This is where the poison Arsenic gets its name. I hope if one of my siblings or their spouses ever murdered me they would at least have the decency to name the murder weapon after me.
The Great Amphitheater, where Saint Paul preached to the Ephesians. Elton John has also been featured there, which I found delightfully ironic.
After we left Ephesus the tour took us to a traditional Turkish rug maker. Naturally, we assumed it was just going to be a boring demonstration where they tried to get us to buy a rug, but we were pleasantly surprised. We watched a woman who is working on weaving a beautiful silk rug (that will take her a year and a half to complete!), which was very impressive. Then they rolled out a bunch of finished rugs and we were just amazed at how gorgeous they were! They are really works of art. I, being naïve, asked how much one cost. It was about as much as a year of room & board at Smith, so I just laughed, whereupon the nice salesman brought Rachel and me into a private room where he rolled out rug after rug, trying to convince us to buy one. We had a hard time trying to make them understand that we were not going to buy a rug (gorgeous though they were, I need a new computer far more than a Turkish rug, and the cheapest one they had was as much as a top of the line laptop).
When we finally got out of there and said goodbye to the pretty rugs we wandered around the market near the ship. Rachel and I received a strange number of comments about our hair (she has curly hair as me), and heard many calls of “Hey, Curly, come over here!” It was very weird! Poor Rachel got ripped off at one of the shops, which we only learned when we got back to the ship. It was pretty upsetting, but she was a good sport about it (much more so than I would have been!).
Rachel, being very happy in Kusadasi (prior to realizing she had been ripped off).
That afternoon/evening we went to Patmos. It beautiful, but not as cool as Kusadasi. First we went to the Grotto of Saint John where it is believed that he received the visions of the apocalypse recorded in the Book of Revelations. We could not take pictures inside (an angry-looking Greek Orthodox priest was there to make sure) but they had the rock he used as a pillow, the groove in the wall he used for support when he stood up from the rock-bed, and the fissure in the wall representing the trinity.
We also saw more windmills, and took a scenic drive around the island, before stopping at a little Greek café, where Rachel and I got to try Greek orange juice. My friend had told me a while ago that the orange juice in Greece is different from anywhere else, and very special. She was right! It was delicious, and I don’t usually even like orange juice!
Wandering around Patmos was lovely. They had a bunch of cute shops and the scenery was gorgeous. There were a lot of beautiful houses on the island, and our tour informed us that they range from €2,000-€3,000/square meter. So, my new mission in life is to find a rich husband who will buy me a house in Patmost (I already picked it out!) that I can fill with pretty Turkish rugs.
Anyway, here are some pictures from Patmos:
We kept seeing this fat little dog around the beaches; he even wandered in the cafe where we were eating! I named him "Fatty". He was really sweet and funny! The security guys stationed outside our ship got bored and gave him some food, which he is happily eating in the picture.
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