Paul & Libby’s World of Travel

Today we toured the Castle of the Knights of St. Peter, also known as the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. We did this–unfortunately–as our final organized shore excursion from the ship. Whereas yesterday simply wasn’t required, today’s shore excursion was a net negative relative to doing it on our own. Why pay a premium to be stuck in a crowd moving at a glacial pace in order to listen to a rambling guide? Bah… just bores us and (worse) the kid, which in turn only makes us more frustrated. 

  
Bodrum, the Aegean gateway to Turkey’s Turquoise Coast, feels like the Turkish Riviera. It’s clearly a yachting center and a popular spot for Turkish and European holidaymakers. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore the town extensively. From here, it’s a short hope to the Dodecanese, especially the Greek Island of Kos.

The Castle was modestly interesting with nice vistas of the inner harbor and expansive bay. The treasures and partial hulls from various ancient shipwrecks were modestly interesting. As I noted above, it probably would have been better solo — we could have taken our time and had the space to really look at the artifacts. 

Oh well. 

I feel like we sort of shortchanged Bodrum. It actually makes me want to come back here more, as I tend to think it has much more to offer than we experienced on this visit. 

Tomorrow we arrive in Rhodes, Greece, which Libby and I last visited in March 2009. 

In other news, I’ll probably share photos more selectively (or not at all) as the WordPress app simply uses too much data on a per photo basis over cellular connections. I’ll try to post some highlights / updates from WiFi connections when I can find them on land. 

We docked in Kusadasi around 9am and assembled for our shore excursion (an iPod-guided tour of Ephesus) a little after 10am. We opted for the ship’s tour at the suggestion of Rick Steves guidebook. In hindsight, taxis and our time in port were plentiful, and the distance from Kusadasi to Ephesus wasn’t great. We could have just done it independently, thereby giving us more time at the magnificent ruins. In any case, the tour was hassle free and ultimately enjoyable. 

As archeological sites go, Ephesus sits among the top tier in my experience. It’s a bit more evocative than some as you meander (like the nearby river of the same name) downhill on ancient streets through the city. The famous Library of Celsus is certainly swoon-worthy:

  
But, I personally found the Terrace Houses (extra 15 TL admission, about $5) to be the most extraordinary part of the site:

  
These homes offered a unique glimpse into the homes of wealthy Roman citizens living in Ephesus. The glass walkways and staircases make them especially spectacular, as you feel like you’re levitating above these well-preserved structures. 

After our visit to Ephesus, the tour stopped at a gift shop / cafe / WC center, which also put on this short (and cheesy) recreation involving (I think) Anthony and Cleopatra. We also visited a carpet shop in Kusadasi. This was actually more interesting and informative than annoying. It almost made me want to buy a Turkish carpet. Almost…

In the evening, we went to the main dining room for dinner. The food and service were remarkably good; indeed, it was so much so that we requested to have the same waiters (Princeley and Reynaldo) again. They were an absolute model of efficiency and good humor… perhaps the best we’ve ever had on our numerous cruises. 

Today’s box score: +1 country (Turkey in Asia)

Another slow day… 

I recall a few years back being a bit annoyed on our last Eastern Med cruise by its seemingly slow-ish start. This year? Perfectly happy despite not doing a lot for the past couple of days. 

After breakfast, Emerson visited the kid’s club while we attended a so-so port talk. We then spent the afternoon playing with Emerson. The highlight of the day was skipping formal night and heading to Izumi for dinner. Libby and Mom did the “hot rock” cooking thing again, and I, of course, had sushi. Most exciting: Emerson tried sushi and sashimi for the first time (admittedly to varying degrees of success) and enjoyed the BBQ eel the most! Indeed, she liked the experience enough that we’re now scheduled to go to a sushi-making class together next Wednesday! 

Tomorrow we dock in the port city of Kusadasi for a visit the ancient city of Ephesus. 

Today we board the Rhapsody of the Seas for our cruise. Here’s a photo of it from yesterday at Topkapi Palace:

Travel-wise, today was kind of a waste as we didn’t really have time this morning to do too much before heading to the ship. 

I tried–again unsuccessfully–to replace my Cannon S100 that developed some sort of artifact inside the lens or on its sensor while en route to Turkey. It’s alright wide open at 24mm, but a noticeable spot appears once I start to zoom. Thankfully, Mom has her S90… thus it’s only midly annoying vs. a more significant problem (in which case I would have just replaced it with whatever overpriced piece of crap that I could find). 

Libby once again struggled in the night with the sore throat. Thankfully, a pharmacy across the street was open today and provided us with some “soothing throat spray” and antibiotics (despite our lack of a Rx, which they said was generally required but they wanted to help us out as visiting Americans). She feels fine otherwise, but we’ll have her checked out by the ship’s doctor if it doesn’t improve.

Rhapsody seems like a decent enough ship. She’s older–built in the late 1990s. But, she looks to be in good shape having been refurbished fairly recently by RCI. 

As usual, we sorted out our dining reservations, booked a couple of excursions, and got Emerson registered for the kid’s club. 

Tomorrow is a day at sea (don’t expect a blog post until Wednesday); it’ll be a chance to relax before we hit seven ports of call in a row.

Despite the 7 hour time difference and late-ish bed time, we awoke early and feeling well rested. Well, Emerson and I felt well rested… Libby was up part of the night with a sore throat (that thankfully was and has remained otherwise asymptomatic). In any case, we had a nice breakfast in the executive lounge before collecting Mom and heading to the older section of town.

We began the day touring the Hagia Sofia:

  
It’s truly an amazing space–a sort of pre-modern mash-up, though about a quarter of the interior was covered in scaffolding. The interior light was especially magnificent:
     
After this, we had lunch in the park, eating simit, a sort of seasame bagel-meets-pretzel. The other really popular street food offering was grilled corn ears like you’d find in Mexico. It’s interesting to see how often similar food concepts are expressed across different cultures. 

Following lunch, we visited the spectacular Blue Mosque:

   
    
We then walked around the Hippodrome, a former chariot race course turned center of town action. It was setup for the evening Ramadan festivities:

  
Next, we visited Topaki Palace, primarily seeing the Harem (home of the sultan and his family) and grounds. The design and architecture here were, as I find most Ottoman architecture, simply splendid. I think the non-figurative, geometric patterns appeal to me especially:

  
By late afternoon, Emerson was fading fast, having walked all over the city. We took a taxi back to the hotel, ran a few errands (looking–unsuccessfully–for a new camera for me and throat lozenges for Libby), and then had dinner. In the way back to the hotel, I bought a big box of cherries for a few dollars, which were utterly delicious.