Contiki Day 10: Med Cruise 5 (Part 2.)

Contiki Day 10: Med Cruise 5, Patmos (AM) and Kusadasi (PM) Tuesday September 13th, 2011.

Part 2. Kusadasi, The House of Virgin Mary and The Ephesus.

So, after a nice shower and a change of clothes, I headed back to the poolside for some buffet lunch (I did not have the patience to wait for the special) and a nice iced coffee. I was way too excited to stand still for too long. A few hours later, it was time to meet again for the arrival at Kusadasi. (We had boarded back this morning at 1030 and we were getting off at 230pm.)

There had been 2 different tours offered to us, The Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary and The Ephesus. There wasn't a big time difference to have both, and it was 3 or 5 euros more to do the combined tour. I'm not a very religious person, but I figured that for the price, I'd go. I was very surprised to see that quite a few people skipped the tour entirely (OK it was all optionals, as you had to pay extra, but, wow.) and even the ones that did go, picked The Ephesus on it's own. There was only a few of us on the combined tour again. But it was OK, we were once again mixed with the people from, the morning. We hopped on a bus, picked a nice guide up and went on our way the the House of the Virgin Mary. Of course, it was sitting at the top of a mountain, with a breathtaking view.

At first, I wasn't really touched by the story (That John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary had come here into hiding) but then I saw a lot of emotional people and it kinda got to me. Once again, we had to line up, in silence, this was Holy Ground, cannot talk inside the House, no pictures. Lots of people crying, I got caught up in the moment and teared up a little too. I bought, well put money in a wooden box, to take a candle, which I brought outside where they had a beautiful display with a lot of candles all lit up, for prayers and loved ones. That's where I cried a tiny bit, when I lit my candle and took a picture of it. (It was for both my Grandmas, my Grandpa and my aunt.) I also ended up buying a few Virgin Mary medallions. I was very glad I chose to go, it ended up being a very lovely moment.

Next stop, The Ephesus! I was SO excited! I'm pretty sure I annoyed a lot of people on the way over, but I honestly didn't care. For over 10 years I had wanted to go to this site, I was going to enjoy every second of it. *Now, it was a very amazing visit, although the site is way too massive to get to see everything in such a short time, so we missed on a lot of stuff. Especially MY favorite, the only standing column from the Temple of Artemis. We didn't go there and it was really sad.*

For one of the first times ever, I barely paid any attention to the guide. From what I overheard, he was very interesting, but I wanted to see everything and walk everywhere, I didn't have time to stand around, listening. It just made it perfect for Lewis and I to take a million pictures back and forth. It was great! We would run all over, look it everything, pose, click then switch places and cameras and then it all over again. I was so giddy. And we were so lucky, we were experiencing something that almost never happens; a near sandstorm. The wind was so crazy, it was impossible to keep your hat on. So it felt like it wasn't quite 42 degrees out!

There was so much to see and take in. Lots of the original structures were still there, and even everywhere on the ground, the rocks, you could find treasures. It was very slippery to walk down the slopes, with the original "roads" rocks and marbles. As clumsy as I am, I had to be careful. Thankfully, my foot barely hurt anymore, so I took the opportunity to go back and forth everywhere. There were stray cats everywhere. You could hear them meow, it was a bit sad. I wanted to feed them all, and give them water and pet them. I got to pet a few kitties, they were so used to people they were very friendly. I even gave some water to one of them, from a nook in a big rock.

Soon after that we started seeing the big library in the background and better preserved structures. It is really, really something to be standing next to and touching stone buildings that have been there for close to 3,000 years. And that library was absolutely huge. It was so incredible to be standing there and getting all this history. I will never ever forget that day. And I had such a good time with Lewis, exploring everywhere and coming up with pictures ideas.

After the Library, I walked by myself a bit further up, and sat on the side of what looked like a main street and on each side used to be hundreds of pillars/columns. Not much was left, of course, but I just sat there, under the sun, imagining what it was like back then. I didn't even realize I had tears running down my face. I just felt like I was home, I was feeling so privileged to be there.

Eventually, the visit was over, way quicker than I expected, we slowly went back to the bus, stopping at all the shops on the way. The vendors were very aggressive and intimidating. We were given a short time to shop. I took advantage of it, as I wanted a lot of souvenirs. I was now an expert at haggling, so I got a lot of stuff for way cheaper than the asking price. Then we went back to town, close to port where a lot of my Contiki group had met to go to a Turkish bath. Now, I understand that this is a really awesome experience, very relaxing and whatnot, but it's not something I'd be comfortable doing. I can barely tolerate a massage, don't like saunas, so I knew this wasn't for me. I walked around the shops with a few girls instead, getting some more souvenirs, as this was our last stop in Turkey.

Back to the ship at close to 8pm, we realized we were missing on the Captain's Cocktail. I had been originally interested in attending, wearing a fancy dress and all, but there just wasn't enough time. I was so dusty, all I wanted was a shower. Most of us still decided to wear fancy clothes and go to the last seating at the restaurant. Lots of wine, lots of fun, lots of stories. It was another great night. And as usual, went to to disco for a bit, had a few drinks, then back to the Sports Bar, more drinks and some casino. My regular little vacation routine, it rocked.

Next stop, Santorini!