Our wake up call for this morning came at 5:30 a.m. After breakfast at the hotel, we departed for the Istanbul airport, and took a 30 minute flight on Pegasus Air to Izmir, Turkey. We boarded a bus and headed to Ephesus. We began our walk through the ruins at the top of the ancient city and explored this amazing city. It was larger than we’d expected and archeologists were onsite excavating the terraced houses. The outdoor amphitheatre was very impressive. Although not quite as large as the one in Rome, it was pretty impressive.
After that we visited St. John’s basilica by the Temple of Artemis. This is where they claim that St. John is buried.
Due to manufacturing technology, the art of making handmade Turkish carpets is becoming a lost art. We were taken to a carpet cooperative where young girls sit in front of wooden looms and make exquisite rugs. We were shown how the silk for the rugs is gathered from the cocoons and how natural herbs are used to dye the wool. Naturally, they would have loved for us to purchase a rug, which they would gladly ship home for us. One of our fellow travelers (Renata) had her eye on one that cost $14,000.
Next we headed to Kusadasi to board our 50-passenger ship, the ARETHUSA. After a quick briefing by the crew we enjoyed dinner aboard our new home for the next 7 days.
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