Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkiye

 March 2

Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore!  Or Greece!  We are no longer in Europe, actually.  We are in Asia for one day.

Today the ship was docked in Kusadasi Turkey.  But in 2022 the country formally requested the UN that its name be changed to Türkiye.  Too many bird jokes, apparently.  The city name Kusadasi means "bird island".  The city population is around 69,000. However, the population grows to between 500,000 to 2 million during peak tourist season.  Thank goodness that is not now!  

imagecredit https://monterey.gov/your_community/community_engagement/sister_cities/kusadasi,_turkiye.php

Today we had booked 2 excursions but cancelled the 2nd one because it seems it was a repeat.  The excursion we kept was Homes of the Ancient Roman Elite in the ruins of ancient Ephesus, a half hour drive from Kusadasi.  On our drive, we saw peach trees in blossom.  The peaches will be ready in May.

 

imagecredit https://ephesiantourism.com/kusadasi-cruise-port-to-ephesus/

Ephesus was at its height during Roman occupation in the 1st and 2nd century AD.  It was the fourth largest city in the ancient Roman world.  More than 250,000 people lived here, but only Roman citizens could live in the city center.  

imagecredit https://www.ephesus.co/ephesus-map.html

imagecredit https://www.bestephesustours.com/blog/detailed-history-of-ephesus-rise-and-fall.html

We started the tour at the Magnesia Gate which is the upper gate, and we walked through the remains to the lower gate.  This is the usual path because it is slightly downhill the whole way.

imagecredit https://www.bestephesustours.com/blog/ephesus-map.html

Temple of Hadrian, 2nd century:

The remains of the homes we saw today were the homes of rich Roman merchants and prominent city leaders.  The remains have been protected by a modern roof which helps to protect the colourful mosaics and frescoes on the walls.  They began excavations in 1970 and opened it to the public in 2006.

The homes were constructed on terraces.  The homes had advanced engineering such as private indoor plumbing, bathtubs, toilets, and underfloor heating using clay pipes to carry hot air.  They were multi-story homes built around open courtyards with rows of columns to support roofs and let in natural light and ventilation.

The Library of Celsus was commissioned in 110 AD by a Roman consul as a funerary monument for his father Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus.  Celsus was a prominent Roman senator and governor of the province of Asia, and his sarcophagus is interred in a crypt beneath the main chamber.  

The library was designed to hold between 12,000 to 16,000 scrolls in niches along the walls.  It was the third largest library in the Greco-Roman world.  The library was destroyed either by fire or invasion in 262 AD but reconstructed in the 1970s by German archaeologists using the original fragments.

The Great Theater was built in the 3rd century BC and accommodated 25,000 spectators.  It is being restored and will be open for visitors probably in September.

Ephesus is another city with connections to the Apostle Paul.  He visited the city twice:  the first time briefly, and then returning for about 3 years from 52-55 AD.  He first preached in the Jewish temple for 3 months but faced opposition and moved to the lecture hall of Greek philosopher/teacher Tyrannus (the Library of Celsus was not yet built at this time).  This is where the lecture hall was.

He taught there daily (for 5 hours a day!) for 2 years, preaching to both Jews and Greeks.   At the time, many people worshipped the goddess Artemis, called Diana by the Romans. A silversmith named Demetrius had a booming business making idols.  

imagecredit https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney1/11-pauls-journey-to-ephesus-philippi-corinth16291/the-silversmiths-riot-in-ephesus/

While there, God used Paul to perform miracles such as healings.  Many people converted to Christianity and no longer worshipped Artemis.  Demetrius was losing business!  He incited a riot in the Great Theater, and eventually Paul had to leave the city.  He then travelled through Macedonia and Greece.  After Paul left, Timothy took over as leader of the Ephesian church.

Paul wrote several of the Biblical books while he was in Ephesus, such as 1 Corinthians and possibly Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians.  Later while he was imprisoned in Rome he wrote the Biblical book of Ephesians to the people here.  The first 3 chapters focus on Christian theology, and the final 3 chapters focus on how we should practice our faith:

For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We only saw about 15% of the remains.  Ancient Ephesus is one of the largest and most extensively preserved Roman archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, second only to Rome.  

At the end of the tour, we were taken back into Kusadasi for a carpet making demonstration.  The seller's claim to fame is that he sold a carpet to Queen Elizabeth.  This was a surprisingly fun demonstration.  They gave us apple tea and Turkish tea.

They showed how their carpets are special because they are hand-made, double knotted with 2500 knots per square inch.  Some are silk and some are a combination of silk and cotton.

They must have rolled out hundreds of rugs for us to look at and walk on (shoes off).  The pile of rugs must have been a foot tall by the end.  

Some of the rugs changed colour depending on the direction you were walking.  And they did some cool twirling as well.

A keen eyed seller saw Frankie admire the Tree of Life small silk carpet.  Absolutely beautiful.  Only $22,000.  Okay, this one part silk we give you for only $4600.  Hard pass.  But we do know a couple who did buy a carpet!  This is the one we liked.

The tour buses are allowed in to pick up passengers for tours, but they are not allowed to drop them off by the ship.  All passengers are required to walk through the gift shops to get to the ship.

We went back onto the ship for gluten-free pizza for lunch.  A woman at our table choked and asked for help.  About 20 crew members tried to give her the Heimlich maneuver.  But because Dr Heimlich released some controversial reports, the American Red Cross has renamed it Abdominal Thrust.

After lunch we walked along the waterfront promenade for a bit.

Then we wandered around the maze of shops and slightly aggressive shop keepers.  Anton's favourite shop was the turkish delight shop because he gave us a dozen free samples of different flavours of turkish delight.  Anton was talking abut maybe getting the halva, it was 7 euros.  The guy threw it in the bag and said yes, you buy for 5 euros.  

Frankie's favourite shop was a little souvenir shop, we spent lots of time there.  We spent more money here than we have the whole trip combined so far.  Notice how we were in light sweaters and they were in heavy coats (with a vest underneath!).  It was 17C.

Tonight for a change we ate at the specialty restaurant called The Chef's Table.  They made our reservation for 8 pm but told us to go ahead and show up at 6 pm.  Apparently the system can't show more than a certain number of tables???

The meal was 5 courses, preset.  There was a different wine pairing for each course.  Anton did not partake.  Frankie did, and there was a notice in our stateroom when we got back that water would be shut off between midnight and 3 am.  Oh oh......

In the evening, we went to the theatre for a recorded orchestral concert.  Very nice.

Tonight we roll back the clocks again.

At Sea

 March 1

Today the ship was at sea, sailing from Thessaloniki in the north to Kusadasi on the western coast of Turkey.  This is the Aegean Sea.

Last night we changed time zones by an hour.  I think in 2 days we will have to change back.

We thought it would be fun to try room service for breakfast.  We got woken up by the doorbell on our stateroom (yes - doorbell) at 8 am.  Is it 8 am?  7 am???  Oh, it's 8 am!

While we were having breakfast, we sailed past Mount Athos.  You can see from the sailing map that the ship didn't go straight south from Thessaloniki, but we travelled north into an inlet to see Mount Athos.  Mount Athos is also called "Holy Mountain".  It is an autonomous monastic state in northern Greece with 20 monasteries and 2000 monks.  Women not allowed!  Not even to visit.  Even men need special permits to visit.  

Frankie had a lovely massage booked in the morning, while Anton did another load of laundry.  Frankie got the better deal.  Sorry, no picture!

We got a phone call from Guest Services - our suitcase was fixed!  That was fast.  All they did was put a screw into the handle.  It does not retract all the way now, but it's usable.

At lunch we talked to a couple who had the same tour as us yesterday but left half an hour later.  We got back to the ship at noon, they got back at 5 pm.  Apparently the bus driver couldn't find a way around the protestors.  

Frankie basked in the sun on our balcony and read a book for the afternoon.

In the port talk, we discovered that tomorrow (in Turkey) there would be a lot of people trying to sell us carpets.  Price range between $900 to $50000.  Apparently the sellers can be aggressive.  And all the excursions include a carpet making demonstration LOL.

We also discovered that we really didn't need to book 2 excursions for tomorrow.  We asked and were told that they are pretty identical.  So we cancelled the afternoon excursion and kept the longer morning one.

Thessaloniki

 February 28

Anton took this Find Frankie shot of the ship:

Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece, population 815,000.  It is part of Macedonian Greece (not to be confused with North Macedonia LOL) and has a history of over 2300 years.  It was founded in 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedon who named the city after his wife Thessalonike (half sister of Alexander the Great).  This was after he had killed Alexander the Great's mother and children.

imagecredit https://www.britannica.com/place/Thessaloniki

There is a subway in this city that took 20 years to build because every time they started to dig, they found more archaeological ruins.  The streets are narrow and windy, and parking is a nightmare.  So many times we saw cars that were double parked.  They just leave their name and number on the car they are blocking so they can come move when needed.

This is another city with ties to the Apostle Paul.  He established a church here around 50 AD during his second missionary journey.  He faced intense opposition which led to riots and he was forced to leave after only 3 weeks.  The first Biblical letters that he ever wrote were to the Thessalonians, dated around that time.  He wrote it while in Corinth.  The letter focused on hope and endurance during hard times:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

In 1917 the Great Thessaloniki Fire broke out when refugees were frying eggplant.  Dry conditions and a strong wind fanned the flames for 72 hours, and it didn't help that Allied forces had taken over the city's water supply for their nearby military camps.  The fire destroyed a third of the city and permanently altered its identity.  There were no fatalities, but 70,000 people were left homeless.  A large proportion of them were Jewish, and this led to a mass migration of the Jewish population to France, Palestine, and the US.

imagecredit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Thessaloniki_Fire_of_1917#/media/File:Aftermath_of_the_Thessaloniki_Fire_of_1917.jpg

Today we decided to stick to the included tour called Scenic Thessaloniki.  Basically a 4 hour bus tour.  We booked the earliest one so we could have the afternoon free.

We started at the Church of St. Demetrios, a 5th century Byzantine church built over the ruins of a Roman bathhouse.  A Roman soldier named Demetrius was said to have been imprisoned here because of his faith, and martyred by spearing in 306 AD.  Much of the church was destroyed in a fire in 1917 but rebuilt using plans from the 7th century.  We arrived during the service (Liturgy), there were a surprising number of locals there.  We couldn't wait until it was done because their Liturgy can take 3 hours.  We heard a lot of chanting, and watched as they took Communion.  The priest dunks the bread in the wine, and then uses the same spoon to place communion directly into the mouths of the parishioners.  Ugh!

There are some mosaics and frescoes that survived the fire.

Demetrius' relics are in the main nave of the church.  He is known as Demetrius the Myrobelite because 

his tomb exuded fragrant myrrh in the 10th and 11th centuries.  Well, not all his remains are here.  His remains were stolen by the Ottomans and later found (labelled) in Italy.  Italy returned most of him, but kept some for themselves.

Beneath the main church is the Crypt where you can see the Roman bathhouse ruins and other artifacts.

 Next, the group went to the White Tower of Thessaloniki:  an Ottoman fortress and former prison about 500 years old.  It has been called The Tower of Blood due to it being an execution site.

This is the statue of Alexander the Great, even though he never technically visited here.  But there is no statue of King Cassander who founded the city.

These are life-sized spears:

We spent time at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki which has artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods.  It has the largest collection of golden crowns (wreaths) in the world.

Next to the Acropolis which is the highest point of the city, for Panoramic views of the city and the Thermaic Gulf.  The old city walls are from the 5th century.

We got back to the ship at 12:30 and had a quick lunch at the buffet.  Since we were the early ones back, Frankie was able to have a gluten free pizza made for her.

In our room, we had a surprise message on our phone.  They noticed that our handle is broken on our luggage and offered to fix it for us.  We think it got broken somewhere at the Athens hotel, because it worked at the airport.  Not sure why they waited 3 days after boarding to contact us about it, but impressed that they did.

After dropping off the broken luggage, we made our own way into the city for a walkabout.  Oops, Frankie had to use the washroom.  Can she go in that Starbucks?  Oh oh a keypad directing us to punch in the 4 digit code on our receipt.  Hey, that guy at that table has his receipt beside him.... We're in!

We walked along Nikis Avenue, a seaside promenade along the waterfront.

This was the Palace of Galerius, Roman emperor from 305 - 311.  Well, really just his summer home.

Next we found the Arch of Galerius (the locals call it Kamara).  It was built in 305 AD to celebrate Emperor Galerius's victory over the Persians.

Near the Arch of Galerius is the Rotunda, built in 306 AD to be Galerius's mausoleum, although he ended up being buried somewhere else.  It was converted first into a Christian church, then into a mosque during the Ottoman period, which is why there is a minaret on it.

Unfortunately the Rotunda was closed, possibly due to the huge crowds of demonstrators that we inadvertently found ourselves amongst.  Oops!  There were thousands and thousands of demonstrators marching down the main roads, carrying signs and chanting.  They were almost all young people.

At one point we heard several loud bangs.  Firecrackers?  All of a sudden the white-helmeted police came running.

Anton was quite nervous but Frankie was fascinated to watch what was going on.  For the most part the demonstration was peaceful.  The worst we saw were some large garbage bins toppled into the street.

We stopped and asked some young people what the chanting was saying.  It was all Greek to us!  Yes, we've been waiting to say that tee hee.  The girls told us that the chanting was protesting the lack of transparency by the government regarding the train crash.  They were offended by the crash being called an "accident" and no one has been taken into account for it.

imagecredit https://abc7ny.com/post/larissa-greece-train-crash-derailment-two-trains-collide/12895540/

e sunseth

The sunset was at 6 pm as we were eating dinner.