First of all my aplologies for the weird format of some of the blog, and the many EMPTY spaces between photos and text....it is almost impossible to edit posts on ship internet, without running upt atrocious bills. Ergo - a lot of empty space makes it into the blog.
Here a few images from real life around Kusadaki and Sirince
Walking along main street in Kusadasi I saw a Muslim funeral procession: only males are carrying the coffin. A constant change over during the walk gave everyone of the deceased friends an opportunity to have the honour of touching the coffin. A few women followed, deeply hidden under their veils, ready to enter the mosque
Sea Side Promenade in Kusadaki
Fresh squid on the market ready to be turned into fried calamari...
And enough carpet and eager carpet sellers to cover entire Turkey
A view of the local fishing harbour and the pleasure yacht basin
Fisherman returning home...
Sirince - a village on a mountain top nearby...most women still walk heavily veiled
Cats do not want for food even in the remotest place, here a feast of kibble for the village cats
Shoe shine anyone?
A model of the temple of Artemis, showing the alignment of the more than a hundred columns which made it one of the most elegant and impressive edifices of the Antique.
Sirince, built on the slope of a high mountain...
Walking away from the main village street in Sirince, where tented vending stalls offer lace, knitwear, local wine, olives and the usual souvenir trinkets, one enters the real village. Most tourist do not venture beyond the 'shopping' alley and do not see the somewhat dilapidated houses and yards of Historically Protected Sirince....which in fact means 'beautiful place'.
Fake Icons of the Virgin Mary which had lived her last years in the vicinity (she is said to have reached a ripe old age) are on sale everywhere. Her last home is located on a hill beside Ephesus, and it was found through a 'vision' by a German nun, who saw Mary's house on top of a hill, from which one could see the Sea and the walls of Ephesus at the same time. Faithful went off to discover the relic, and promptly found an ancient stone abode buried under forest and earth on top of a hill with the prescribed view. The shrine has been visited by various Popes, and by hundreds and thousands of Pilgrims, Religious Tourism crowds, and hordes of regular travellers. A good place to sell a few icons of the Sacred Lady.
And a little more history and a few more travel trivia tidbits...
Kusadaki, the actual port of call for us, is a lively little city, where better-off Turkish people and sunseeking Europeans spend summers on sandy beaches or exploring the many antique treasures. By the way, Kusadaki is in the Asian part of Turkey, Anatolia. The European part is located north of the Bosphorus and is called Thrace.There is a covered bazaar with everything and everything on sale from precious jewellery to tourist trash, a plethora of restaurants and bars of all stripes. There is a busy fishing harbour and yacht basin, carpet stores to tempt aficionados of Oriental designs, shoe shine stands, fish market and so on and so forth. Veiled and unveiled women mingle freely with their male counterparts.
A long promenade along the harbourfront is dotted with cafes, which fill up late afternoon when the sun sets behind the outlying island off the Turkish shore and the further away Greek Islands.
A group of us wandered to one of the many strand cafes to enjoy some afternoon refreshments of the 'Western kind', but - no alcohol of any kind was offeren on the menu. This did not prove to be much of a problem for our waiter. He pointed out that he would serve beer in a coffe mug (officially called capuccino because of the foam) and wine is a water glass (officially called cherry juice for red wine) - if we did not mind. We did not mind, neither did he. Everybody happy, the 'cappuccino and cherry juice' arrived to accompany a spectacular sunset over the harbor.
As Turkish cuisine is renown for its variety, taste and freshness we set off in search of a 'typical' venue, preferable with some live music. Well, there was more than enough typical or otherwise around, but we settled on a restaurant called the 'Golden Boys', not exactly a very Turkish moniker.
But, the fare was typical and - not surprisingly - delicious. So was the (legal) wine. There must be some kind of licensing - just like home - to be allowed to serve wine in a Muslim country.
The post dinner live entertainment consisted of all the waiters, bar men, and restaurant owners clearing a few tables and giving a noisy and spirited delivery of a circular folk-dance with a lot of yelling and stomping of boots.
Pretty happy finale to a visit full of cultural experiences and almost overwhelming wealth of ancient treasure.
