I have finally made time to write. Our ship, the Silver Wind, is docked at Rhodes and Michael and I have spent the morning walking the medieval streets of the Old Town. This is Friday; we left Boulder Monday. Much has happened in between but somehow it feels as if I've lost a day.
We calculated that between getting up at 3:00 a.m. Monday, central time (GMT -6) and landing in Greece around 9:00 am Tuesday, Greek time (GMT +3) we had been awake more than 24 hours. We both tried to sleep on the airplane but it wasn't particularly successful. After we checked in to our hotel, showered and rested for half an hour we started our hectic day in Athens by climbing the Acropolis. We put in a full day of sightseeing including a pleasant dinner in the Plaka before falling, exhausted into bed about 9:00 p.m.
Michael's description of our Athens experience in his blog:cbu-med1106.blogspot.com tells the story well. I'm glad that the demonstrations in Athens took place Wednesday. We had a wonderful day. I took a mere 199 pictures. We managed to spend a relaxing day on the ship Wednesday while nothing much moved in the Piraeus harbor due to the "general strike." We had hoped to see a total eclipse of the full moon that evening just after sunset but it was cloudy and drizzled off and on that evening.
Yesterday, Thursday, we spent at the Turkish port of Kushadasi. I took a morning tour of Ephesus, a marvelous Greco Roman ruin. Michael walked to the Ottoman era fort in Kushadasi. We both walked about Kushadasi in the afternoon. It would seem that the sole business of the town is to sell souvenirs to the tourists. Our little ship added about 200 visitors to the town. Three other cruise ships of 700, 2000 and 3500 passengers were also there. There were thousands of people at the Ephesus site. There were so many that I got separated from my small tour group of nine when a larger group of about a hundred pushed through us. Fortunately, I found my group and/or they found me after about 20 minutes. In the meantime, hundreds and hundreds of tourists swarmed past me. The archeological site was great; the crowds were not. On balance, Ephesus is a not to be missed sight.
Michael and I walked about half a mile inland from the port before we were able to see the "real" Kushadasi. Shops and hawkers of every imaginable tourist gewgaw filled the streets. I especially liked the sign that said "Real Fake Watches." Kushadasi was one vast bazaar until we finally got to streets inhabited by locals. We found food shops, a printer and even a liquor store near a mosque far more interesting than the activity near the shore. We concluded our day of adventure with a wonderful dinner followed by watching the almost full moon rise over the waves as we sailed toward our next port, Rhodes.
No comments:
Post a Comment