Month: May 2022

It should be shocking that we slept basically all day yesterday (off and on of course) and all night last night, AND STILL struggled to get up this morning.. But that’s what happened. We had to get up an hour earlier than the last 2 mornings because our tour meeting time was at 7:45 instead of 8:45.

We managed. We got to our breakfast spot to find out they open at 7:30.. soooo, we went to the 10th floor to eat the buffet breakfast instead. They had biscuits and gravy! I was SOOOO happy! Until I ate a bite-whew. Those were some hard ass biscuits. We ate them anyway, but my hopes got way too high.

We met our tour group and went to the bus. Today was a biblical Ephesus tour. The first stop: the home of the Virgin Mary. Our tour guide, Volkan (real name) was incredible.. so knowledgeable and informative without being loud or irritating so early in the morning. We went through the house but weren’t allowed to take pictures. It was a small 2 room house and therefore very quick. But it’s neat to say you stepped in the same places the mother of Jesus did.

Once out of the home, Volkan took us into a church on the property and we got to have a catholic mass-thankfully the 20 minute version. Mom and I got the giggles and had to hush each other when we saw the people’s eyes from our group get wide and worried when the priest was breaking the body of Christ bread things for their communion.. that was actually for him-he had small ones for them that didn’t require all the extra touching and breaking, although he did touch each one with bare hands. In the land of covid, it’s crazy how different things have already gotten.

After our service, we got water from the fountains of Health, Love, and Wealth.. three things I don’t mind having in abundance. And then we loaded back up on the bus to drive down the mountainside to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. These ruins have been much more preserved than those we saw in Olympia. Archeologists are still uncovering so so much of the city, everything we saw today is only 20% of the ancient city!

There was a marble road from the beginning of the city that went all the way from the deep valley we were in to the sea at one point.. mosaic sidewalks on each side of that, with such detail I can’t even begin to imagine how long it must have taken them to create.. Roman bath houses at the entrance to the city (Volkan said that was to ensure you were “clean” before coming into the city). The sidewalks used to be lined with shops from merchants all the way down to the huge library. Across from the library was a gentleman’s club and there was a tunnel that led from the inside of the library to the club-so basically men have been up to their shenanigans since the beginning of time.. good to know 🤣

He said Ephesus was abandoned after a lot of people died from Malaria.. the ocean started receding causing swampy lands and mosquitos started running rampant. But the people didn’t realize it was the mosquitos making them sick, they called it malaria meaning “bad air” thinking they air was tainted. So after tons of people died, the rest moved up and out of the valley and into the hillsides.

We got lessons on the different types of architecture and the reasonings behind having certain styles in certain places. Emperors passing through Ephesus had money, so the people would build statues and monuments to inflate their ego, so in turn they’d spend their money in the city.

The Vatican confirmed the religious happenings in Ephesus in the mid 1900s by matching the details from the Bible to the things archeologists found there. Once one of the popes came to visit Ephesus, it became a biblical tourist destination, to where before the town of Kusadasi was more of a fisherman town and rather poor. Our guide said if it wasn’t for that pope (he knew his name of course) in 1965, he’d be fishing and struggling to feed his family today, instead he was leading us around showing us what he loves most about his home town. Beautiful, really.

We were going to watch a play out on by the people that run the ruins, but one of the Roman characters busted his head and was being wheeled out in a wheelchair holding a bandage to his head. Yikes! And another Roman character tried to take pictures (for a charge of course) with everyone that passed him, myself included. Dude, we already snapped those pics! Haha He came over and slinked his arm through mine and so I asked him to lead me to the bathroom.. lol

From there we went to a restaurant at an old train station that now has a rose garden too. It was beautifully set up on a gorgeous terrace. The food just kept coming and coming until I thought I’d pop. My friend from the AT, Poptart, would have been so proud.. I ate the fish that had the bones still in it! I mean, I didn’t enjoy it and after the first crunch when I though I had picked them out and I missed one, I was done-but hey! I gave it my best shot!

The other foods included a garlic cream cheese dip on top of cucumbers, bread and bread and bread, some hummus, goat cheese and pretzels, some type of insanely good soup (didn’t ask what was in it just in case it would freak me out), and then the fish-oh and a salad too! Entirely too much food! There was other random stuff too, like cakes and green beans.. literally so much food I can’t remember it all. Plus wine. There’s always wine.

There was the cutest doggie there, walking around laying under tables and feet.. I went to pet him after he sniffed my hand and came in for a rub-but then he snarled and so I just kept my hands to myself after that Lolol the girl sitting beside mom screamed. She told me later that she was planning to pet him after I did and she screamed so loud because she thought he was going to bite her since her hand was near him, too. I didn’t see her hand down there, but good thing she moved quick, just in case.

After eating and being unable to breathe anymore, we waddled back to the bus to go to our next stop: the ruins of the church built to honor St John the Baptist or the evangelist, I have no clue if those two names are for the same guy or not, but I will say whoever they built this church for was very well loved. It was HUGE! There wasn’t a whole lot of ruins left, but from what was there, it used to be incredible.

His tomb was also there, which was pretty cool. Volkan told us that when they excavated the tomb no remains were there, and that the same thing happened way back when-so his grave site was robbed way before our time. I enjoyed listening to Volkan and his excitement over the history of this area. He spit out facts so quickly but was able to tell everything like a story instead of just fact after fact.

Volkan also showed us an old Mosque from where we were standing at the ruins. He went on to tell us the name of it translates to “the Mosque of Jesus Christ” which is probably the first and only Muslim mosque with Jesus Christ in the name-but it was named after a Muslim leader named Jesus.. but apparently not the same as the Jesus Christ Christians know as the savior-HOWEVER-I say, who’s to say it’s not one in the same? I wish I could retell the story he told us with all the correct details. But alas, my brain can only recall so much. Maybe I need to get put on some Namenda.. haha

After we left the church ruins, Volkan took us to a carpet weaving center. They showed us how they hand spin silk and then dye it. How the “ladies” as they kept calling them, hand wove their carpets and that some take 6-8 months and others are so fine that they take 2-3 years to create. The one girl doing this demonstration looked miserable.. to the point that I wanted to ask her if she was being treated properly. It may sound silly, but I swear that girl was not happy to be there and I don’t know that she really had a choice.

From the demonstration area they took us to a showroom, gave us wine, and then put on a production of having men throw out the rugs for us to see. The second someone whispered to their partner, “oh! That one is pretty!” A salesman was right by her side ready to sell it or “there are many others in different shapes and sizes!” Lolol I enjoyed watching them work and didn’t even get annoyed with their salesmen tactics-I don’t need a rug, let alone a 6 thousand dollar one, so I wasn’t worried that I’d feel pressured in any way.

The way out of the showroom was through a jewelry store.. smooooooth! These guys had a game plan! I personally didn’t think that this would sell or appeal to anyone, mom said they put on the show with the ladies hand weaving then make the rest in the back on machines.. BUT people from our group bought some rugs and some jewelry, too! That night on the boat a lady proudly displayed her 6k one karat ring and told us she got a rug too.. 6k seems to be the going price of all their goodies there! And I’m here to tell you, I have plenty of other things I’d rather spend that kind of money on..

From the carpet weaving place we were taken back to the dock and mom and I went to get an iced coffee from the place by the water from last night. It’s just so beautiful there, I never want to leave! A trip dedicated to Turkey is definitely in my future. We had to be back on the boat by 5:30 for a 6pm leave time. It seemed to come way too fast. We ate in the “fancy” restaurant and the manager, Amor sat us at a pretty window table again. I really like him, I really like that mom spoke up and asked to not sit sandwiched between people.. hahaha

We walked around a bit and sat on the back deck to watch the boat sail through the water at sunset. Then I changed into running clothes and did almost 2 miles around the upper deck of the ship.. there’s a placard that says 6 laps is 1 kilometer.. so 30 laps would be a 5k, which is 3.1 miles.. so I just guessed that 10 ish laps is at least one mile. What I didn’t think about when I started was that my garmin’s GPS would pick up the ship’s speed and not mine-so I wasn’t counting at first (only like 2 minutes had passed).. when it buzzed saying I had a 2:35 minute mile I about died laughing! And then realized i better keep count! It was much more enjoyable than the dread mill.

Anywho-I showered and now I’m happily in bed. We get to Thessaloniki tomorrow 🙂 We have a shorter tour that will take us over the city’s highlights. Which means we don’t have to be ready to go meet for the tour until 1:15.. HELLO SLEEPING IN!! Goodnight 🙂

We woke up close to ten am, got dressed and went to breakfast. Just those couple extra hours of sleep made me feel so much better! We were sad that the pancakes were no longer being offered, so I guess there’s some perks to being up early.
We hung around in the shade of the pool deck. I worked on this blog, since I finally had good enough WiFi to upload some pictures. We didn’t have enough time to swim or anything, since our tour today would be more historical.

We got off the ship into the port of Thessaloniki, Greece. Our guide, Panos, pronounced it like “the” (not thee) “salon” “Nikki” and it took me a few times of hearing him say to realize he wasn’t saying “Salon Nikki” and that the “the” was connected. Panos took us from the port to the White Tower. It’s a huge white block tower that used to be the lookout for the harbor back in the day. Thessaloniki has only been a city since the early 1900s-it used to be occupied by Turkey. Panos calls the Turkish “the turkeys” which made me giggle because I pictured a gaggle of the birds every time he said something like, “and then the turkeys captured the city and…”

Anyway. It was beautiful to see. And then we walked along the promenade to see the monument to Alexander the Great on a horse, some 16ft spears and shields with “scary” things carved on them, like Medusa.. It was starting to get really hot, and it was at this point that I thought I wish we had done this tour this morning and I was parked in the pool right now, especially since we were walking beside the harbor, that water was so teasing! Even still, I sweated and walked along listening to Panos throw out fact after fact about his city. He was born and raised here and had so much information!

We got back to the bus and he took us up the brick like roads to the top of the mountainside to see views of the entire city. This area was the original inside of the city surrounded by the huge stone walls and sentry towers. We were able to take some great pictures of the city below all the way to the sea. We were also able to do a little souvenir shopping too.

We were then taken to a museum smack full with artifacts found in Thessaloniki.. everything from marble statues and monuments, to clay pots and bowls, to golden head wreaths and warrior helmets. This is where Panos shined. He showed us the tiniest of details of things I’d have never even noticed. He also told us a lot of Greek mythology.. like the story of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders and trying to make Hercules hold it for him for eternity-but he got tricked into taking it back.

Honestly, all of this history and ancient lands fascinates me. It makes me want to read all of these stories again and really get a better understanding of it all. Like how the Romans and Greeks have different names for the same ancient Gods, ie Athena and Minerva, and Aphrodite and Venus.. I don’t know why I want to know these details, but I do. Something to add to my never ending to do list 😉

From the museum, we were taken to a Greek Orthodox Church. It was absolutely beautiful, as all of these European churches of any kind tend to be. I took my time exploring and taking in the decorations. I wandered and snapped pictures. When I started to get hungry, I walked back to the bus and ate some snacks with Mom while we waited on the others to wander back, too. We definitely should have eaten something on the ship before leaving, but it felt like we had just eaten breakfast.. now, at 4pm.. we were hungry!

We got back to the ship around 5:15.. Mom and I, still not satisfied after our snacks, went to get burgers on the upper deck of the ship. After eating, we went to the theater to watch a lady perform. She sang beautifully, but it was a lot of show tunes and opera songs-so not Mom’s thing, and while I don’t mind sitting to appreciate her talent, it’s not really mine either. We lasted a good 30 minutes before mom whispered, “ok, enough of that.. let’s go..” and we ended up heading to the back of the ship to sit and watch the boat pull away from the port of Thessaloniki.

We stayed until sunset before going to change into our workout clothes. Mom actually came to the gym with me and got in a workout, too! I ran my 2 miles on the dreaded treadmill (it was too windy on the upper deck to run outside again, sad times). Maybe I will actually hit that 50 miles this month!

Once again, we showered and got ready for bed. I thought about going to the some of the entertainment stuff that the ship has for us.. but I’m seriously too tired to get dressed again and go mingle with folks I don’t know.. so, bed sounds like the best thing for me. Tomorrow is a boat cruise to some Mykonos beaches, and I cannot wait!

We woke up in Mykonos! Ok, that’s it! Post over!
Just kidding. We got up about the same time as yesterday, but today was more exciting. The views of Mykonos from the ship were much different than what I had expected.. the island from this distance looked like brown dirt dotted with white adobe looking houses. Very pretty yes, but not bustling and exciting as I had imagined. We put on our bathing suits and dresses, then went to breakfast.

From there we hung out at the pool in the sunshine. Our tour wasn’t until 1:15 and we had to have a time slot to be able to get off the boat for the water bus shuttles since the ship is too big to get close to the harbor. So, instead of trying to get off early and get back to the meeting spot on time, we swam and got some sun at the pool. Unlike yesterday, we decided to eat something right before leaving.

We took the shuttle boat to the pier, and man oh man-I was starting to see the beauty of Mykonos up close! Beautiful little shops and restaurants lined the street along the waterfront, the walls were all white washed with gorgeous flowering vines draped from one building to the next and up around windows.. the churches with their blue domes and a cross on top. Wow. I was just stunned!

We walked around for about 15 minutes until it was time to meet our excursion group. We got onto a small boat that looked a bit rugged. There was maybe 25-30 people total in our group. For the first 45 minutes, we sat and stared into the Aegean Sea and at the islands popping out of the water all over the place. Eventually our captain stopped and our guide Mara, told us that we could jump in and swim here if we wanted-but if no one wanted to we’d just take pictures and go to the next beach where we would dock the boat and go ashore to swim from the beach.

I always want to jump in. But-I wasn’t going to hold up the whole boat by myself.. so I waited, and a guy close to my age, probably a little younger jumped in.. I was about to go until I realized the ENTIRE boat of people was just staring at him floating in the water! Sheesh! I started to contemplate. Another man my age-ish jumped in, and then a woman.. the woman popped up and came right back out.. she said it was cold but worth saying she did it. I got up to the ladder to jump, but waited for mom to come back from the restroom on board, so she could take my dress and sunglasses for me.

I jumped in and immediately the shock of the water took my breath away. Once I came up for air though, I was fine! Yes it was chilly, but I was floating in the Aegean Sea! How can you be HERE and not jump in? And the water just seemed to hold you up, I hardly had to swim at all to keep afloat (probably that bread-but hey-I’m blaming the salt content in the water 😳). Once I was in, several more men joined.. but no more women. Before I knew it, it was just the first 2 guys and me out there, chatting about Utah, Lake Tahoe, and the Appalachian Trail. I tried to talk Mara into tossing us some beers from the boat, but she wasn’t having any of our shenanigans.

After 30 ish minutes of pure floating bliss, we were told to get on board. Dangit. I could have floated all day. So, we climbed the ladder and I got a glass of white wine for what I assumed was a decent boat ride to the next beach destination. It was less than 10 minutes.. like, I had to really drink that wine! We got off the boat on a rock they called a pier and then walked down to the beachy area where people had their towels laid out. Mom and I claimed our spot and all but ran for the water.

This shallow water felt much warmer than the cold deep water from a few minutes ago.. but it was all still way too cold for mom to get in. Actually no one from our group that was near me would get in.. my one new friend from Salt Lake City was down at the bar drinking margaritas. Dammit. So, I swam around a bit, got bored, and laid out on my towel next to mom to soak in some rays. Which I enjoy almost as much as swimming anyway.

A good 30 minutes later, Mom thought she worked up her nerve to get all the way in. We went back into the water, she got in up to her knee caps! Hahaha-I swam again, went out to what I hoped was a sandbar-to find out it was a huge piece of rock with moss on it and very scrape-y, so I swam back and laid out again until it was time to board our boat.

On the ride back the captain took us by “little venice” and some windmills along the shoreline. So so pretty! Then they let us off with about 2 hours to explore Mykonos before we had to get back on our cruise ship. We shopped and explored and ate dinner at a cute waterfront restaurant. Then explored some more! Of course in the last 15 minutes we found all the really cute squares and had to quickly navigate back before missing the last ferry boat back to the ship! I HAVE to come back to Mykonos. It’s a requirement now.

Once back on board, we sat out on “our” back deck for awhile, watched the sun set, and then close to 9:30 I went to change into running clothes. I ran my 2 miles on the upper deck and finished just as the band was starting at the pool stage area for the “moonlight dance party.” I stuck around for a little while, danced a minute or two to a song I liked, then headed “home” to shower. I originally thought I’d go back to the party, but once I got out of the shower, I all but collapsed on the bed.

I was asleep pretty quick (I assume because I can’t remember-I’m writing this from the bus I’m on in Athens hahahaha). So, I guess that’s that. I’ll tell you all about Athens on the next post 😉