Vacation Notes 2015: September 10th: Kusadasi, Turkey

A cruise is not at all like a box of chocolates; it’s more like a lifetime of vacations squeezed into the space of 9 nights and 10 days. A regular vacation comes with built-in (dull) moments where the mind and body can relax and recover. However, with hundreds of things to do and see, with new tastes and smells waiting around every corner, notions such as sleep and relaxation seem out of place when on a cruise.

Today we pulled into the Port of Kusadasi, Turkey.

For many visitors the Port of Kusadasi is primarily the gateway to the ancient port-city of Ephesus. Ephesus, which once flourished under Roman rule and was the third largest city in the region, was founded around 50 BC, plus or minus a few years. Today, all that remains are the ruins of that era. the ruins, however, retain more than enough of their glory to remain nothing less than awe inspiring.

Of greater importance than the amazing architecture to some visitors is that Ephesus' prominence in biblical history. The apostle Paul spent significant time in Ephesus. He taught in Ephesus as well as establishing a school. It it also believed that the Apostle John lived here, and with John, Jesus’s mother Mary. Since the 19th century it has been believed by many that Ephesus is where Mary made her final home.


So, if you ever find yourself in Kusadasi do not miss out on an opportunity to visit Ephesus. We did. In 2007! But in 2015 it was hot—over 90 degrees. And there is very little shade in Ephesus. Actually, I’m not sure that there is any shade in Ephesus. It’s also dry and dusty. And really, the ruins, while magnificent,  are over 2,000 years old. They probably hadn’t changed much since 2007. On our last visit here we virtually ignored Kusadasi. basically seeing only as much as was necessary to get from the ship to a bus to Ephesus.  So, we decided that this time around we would spend the day near the cooling waters, in Kusadasi.

We stepped on land not unreasonably late, a little after 10:00am. There were no tenders to be concerned about at this stop. This was a walk-on, walk-off port.

We were required to go through an unusually—for the cruise circuit—formal customs station. Turkish security personnel take themselves much more seriously than any others that we had encountered on this trip. 

Immediately upon exiting the customs queues, you find yourself in the middle of a shopping mall. It is a genuine Turkish-experience as imagined by entrepreneurs with the cruise-ship tourists in mind. We only made it as far as the first rug merchant before we were snagged.

Snagged is too harsh a word to accurately convey what actually happens. Enticed would be more appropriate. As appears to be customary in Turkey, as well as Greece actually, is that all shops assign someone to stand outside and engage with the passersby in hopes of enticing them to enter. Once inside the prospective customer is set upon, in a good way, by several sales people all working in tandem to close some sort of a deal.

We had no less than three sales people attending to us at any given time. They would roll out carpet after carpet for our perusal. Carpets were not presented to us randomly. they were chose in  direct response to how we reacted to the previous offering.  We were served traditional apple-tea – very hot.
In spite of their best efforts we were not able to bridge the gap between their lowest price and what we wanted to pay.


We continued on our way through the market place. We passed a jeweler, a leather goods store, and voila! Luck of all luck, another rug merchant!

I believe the only job of this store's greeter was ascertaining our primary language. That seemed to be the limit of what his non-Turkish language skills would allow. He ushered us inside to an English-speaking salesman who immediately took over the task of being our best friend. He coordinated, with his associates, the swift unraveling of many carpets for our perusing pleasure. Once again we were served the traditional apple-tea, only this time it was served cold. This time we, or maybe they, had a little more luck as we were able to find a quality carpet that met our budget.

At this point we split up. Rather than carry around a rolled-up carpet for the remainder of our day, L***decided to return the carpet to our cabin. While she was gone M*** and I went to visit what appeared to be an ancient castle--right there at the end of Liman Avenue.

Upon closer inspection the castle walls appeared to be genuine, but I could not ascertain whether they had built centuries ago or simply in the last century. the castle had been restored to  some semblance of a Turkish compound, that had then been converted to a shopping bizarre. Somehow the name on the outside wall—Grand Bazaar—had failed to give me a clue. Oh well.

I’ll insert a moment of truth here—not that everything else isn’t also true. I do not enjoy haggling. I had hoped to find a suitable t-shirt. What could be more American than going to Turkey and coming home with a T-shirt? It’s not as though I wanted something elaborate, but I did want something that would not be mistaken for a genuine Fruit-of-the-Loom. the price of a T-shirt began at 20 Euros, the Bazaar being one of the few places in Kusadasi that was accepting Euros. I just didn't feel that the time spent haggling towards getting the price down to a respectably overpriced 7 to 9 Euros was worth the effort.

L*** eventually rejoined us and we continued on our way.

We passed by—almost—a local jeweler who flagged us with offers of gold and earrings and such. L*** took the bait. We were taken inside, given comfortable seats and once again, we were served apple-tea. It was served hot. Our merchant showed us a box of precious stones and swore they could be set in earrings before our ship departed. Sadly for the merchant the gap between his final price and an amount we were comfortable paying proved to be too wide to overcome.

I think it’s worth mentioning that as much as I may dislike haggling, all of the merchants we encountered, whether or not they made the sale, were extremely gracious even as we were leaving. Good manners or just good business? What difference does it make?

We entered a small tobacco shop to make what we thought would be one final fast purchase before returning to the ship. M*** had wanted to pick up some souvenirs for her friends. 

It was easily the least amount of money we'd spent anyplace. This should have been fast. But, it was in the tobacco shop that our credit card was denied. We went to a local Starbucks - yes, they have an emergency Starbucks in Turkey—in case a misplaced Seattle-ite suddenly needs a latte, or free Wi-Fi. However, the Starbucks Wi-Fi proved to be unusable. Luckily, there was a small Turkish lunch counter with more useful Wi-Fi service nearby.

After the bank assured us that there was no problem with the card, we went back to the tobacco shop. The card was denied again. We tried again with a different card. That was denied, also. Finally, we tried with a different card from a different bank. It worked! There’s no moral to this story but just be aware that when you’re bank tells you, “all is well” they’re only referring to how things are working at their branch office in Delaware, not whether or not they are accepted 8,000 miles from home.

Slightly tired and with final purchases in hand we headed back to the ship, deciding to call it a day in Kusadasi.

A significant line entering the customs building separated us from the ship. They run everyone through a mini security gate complete with an X-ray machine for baggage and a metal detector to catch any Turkish-Swiss army knives.

Once through the security gate you’re compelled to walk through a duty-free shop, most likely in hopes that you’ll feel compelled to make one last purchase. However, no matter how intimidating the armed guards may attempt to be, you are not actually required to make a purchase. We returned to our ship with little more than the normal badge-waving that that requires.

On board I settled down to business; a nap before dinner. L****, feeling a little bit of ship-cabin fever, went back out for one last stroll through Kusadasi.

After nap-time. i was rejoined by L**** and M**** and  we once again dined with Jims and F****.

After diner M**** scooted off to her on-board teenage activity room. This is the place where the on-board teenagers gather together to mope about like teenagers and complain about their parents.  L**** donned a bathing suit for some pool-side reading and a swim, but not before accompanying me on a walk around the upper deck.

While L**** reposed by the pool I visited the forward ballroom for a few moments of the evening's entertainment: a family-friendly comedian and singer. She wasn't bad on either count but I soon left to visit the Schooner Lounge and listen to their featured piano player. Blond, beautiful, and Australian, she could really play the piano. And the songs she sung weren’t bad either, if you ever feel the need to get yourself in the mood to kill yourself. I might have stayed longer but the only drink they were serving—that I could handle—was Sprite Zero, not a favorite of mine.

I went back to the upper decks and hooked up again with L****. We took another stroll or two around the upper-most deck. It may seem as though we did a lot of pointless strolling but I was attempting to maintain a minimum walk count of 10,000 steps a day. My average was actually over 13,800 by this time.

We added a few more extra steps in search of some hot chocolate and a cookie, no cookie for me, before deciding to call it a night. Tomorrow we will rise somewhat early as we hope to be among the first to step foot on Santorini, Greece.

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