Kusadasi (Turkey) - Tuesday 1 October

Last night I finished the book I've been reading on my Kindle app on the iPad - Dan Brown's 'Inferno'. I mention this because it was great timing to be reading this book which is set in Florence (places we visited in 2009), Venice (still very fresh in our mind from a week ago) and the key sites we have only just visited in Istanbul - fantastic! Others on our tour in Istanbul had finished the book recently, and were careful not to give any spoilers.

The forecast for our day in Kusadasi, Turkey, was for it to be cloudy with rain and a high of 24C. This was accurate, with the rain starting around 1 pm. We headed off the ship at around 9:45 am, and it was very pleasant with the light overcast sky.

We went to a Princess-recommended shop, and looked at some leather bags, eventually Skyping directly with Michelle to determine her preferred colours. That was cool! With purchases in hand, we wandered around the other shops in the bazaar area for a couple of hours. In the end it's just a repetition of identical shops, one after the other. But it was pleasant walking around before it got any more crowded.

We got back on board at 11:50 am, and took the opportunity to have a swim before the crowds returned. Everyone else would have been touring and seeing the sights at the wonderful Ephesus (that we saw in 2009) and so the ship was very quiet. The water in the pool that we tried by the Sanctuary was a bit cool (as I'd found the other day in the Terrace Pool), so we had a nice spa pool to ourselves for 45 minutes instead. This was the most relaxed I've felt all year - very peaceful, and soothing on the aching joints. We noticed the weather was deteriorating as we soaked, getting quite windy, then drizzling lightly, and we could also hear thunder and lightning as the sky darkened.

At 1 pm we had just sat down at the Horizon Court buffet and we noticed the boat had tipped a fair bit to one side - very odd. Next thing, the Captain came over the speaker system, shouting for the staff down in the boarding area to close and secure all exit doors immediately! Then he repeated the instruction moments later. The ship slowly levelled up again, and shortly after that he announced what had actually happened. A strong gust of wind had caught the ship and blown away from the dock, snapping the mooring ropes, causing the ship to drift right away from the dock! One of the large gang-planks that we use to step on or off the ship had been lost, another was ok. And the miracle was, no one was on either at that moment! We were then anchored securely in the harbour until the snapped ropes were repaired(!!) and then we carefully docked again. This all took almost 2 hours, and in that time a lot of passengers were stuck on shore, sheltering from the weather in the nearby shops.

Some coming back on board reported that the downpour of rain had been so sudden and torrential in the bazaar that drains had flooded, with raw sewerage ending up on the streets. Rain was pouring off stall roofs and onto scarves and leather bags on display. It sounded like quite a mess. Apparently, some people had also panicked when they saw the Ruby Princess had left the dock, thinking it had left early, without them.

We settled ourselves in an inside lounge area for the next 3+ hours, and David read his book, and I typed up yesterday's and today's blog and downloaded photos. Sail-away was nearly two hours late, because of the problems earlier in the afternoon.

We had dinner at 6 pm with a table for two, enjoying conversations with the couples on either side - one couple from Australia, the other from Florida. Jerry, our favourite waiter, looked after us well, and sold me a glass of Lemoncello, then snuck me a second glass later to convince me to buy the glass with it. Murat, our Head Waiter, was able to organise a copy of the recipe for the gorgeous gluten-free coconut layer cake we'd both enjoyed at lunchtime.

After dinner we headed for the 8:30 pm Princess international Crew production show in the Princess Theatre. We're finding you need to get there early to get a seat. This time, while we were waiting for the show to start, there was great hilarity, people letting their hair down batting balloons up in the air and around the theatre - amazing what simple fun can entertain us for 20 minutes! The last 5 minutes was also hilarious, with a 'Kiss Cam' zooming in on members of the audience and projecting their image up on the big screen. If your image was projected, you had to kiss your partner in front of everyone. David and I escaped that bit of fun. Then the show started, and Dan, the Cruise Entertainment Director, had us all in stitches of laughter. I can't remember when I've laughed so much - he is such a wit. He came on stage with a roll of thin rope, reckoned it was as thin as the toilet paper on the ship, and said they weren't worrying about tying up to the dock with ropes the next day, the Captain was just going to run the ship up onto the beach for us and we could walk off that way!

We headed straight for bed after the show, with an early start coming up for a Princess tour the next morning. The alarm was set for 5:45 am, for the meeting at 7:15am. Nevertheless, we had quite a disturbed night as the sea was reasonably rough - I was grateful that we were right in the middle of the boat. Others said they were listening to it smashing against the sides of the ship. I was lying awake wondering if I would start to feel sea-sick, but it was ok.

Kusadasi

(Please check the addendum to the Santorini entry)

It was a bit cooler in Kusadasi today - only around 23-25 degrees!

We joined a tour organised by another Cruise Critic member, only 14 of us, so that we could get into the Terrace Houses at Ephesus, the ancient city inland from Kusadasi. We have had different people from the group organising tours, and others join them, sometimes the same people, sometimes others from CC to meet.

We headed out at about 8 am, and went straight to the House of the Virgin Mary, which was already crowded. This is where it is believed Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent her last years, and lived in this house. It is now a shrine of importance to both Christians and Moslems.

From there we headed to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. This is inland a few kilometres, but in ancient times it was on the shore of the Mediterranean. Silting from rivers is causing the coastline to still extend further out by 3 metres per year, even now. Well, the place was very crowded, but we spent about two and a half hours there. And we loved it - our tour guide was excellent, very informative without overwhelming us. The streets are amazing, with a plumbing and drainage system. Highlights were the Library of Celsus, which once contained 15,000 books, the Terrace Houses (the 'luxurious' appartments of the well-off Roman citizens, with frescoes and mozaics still in place, and with limited entry to small groups only), the huge stadium which could seat 24,000 people, and the public latrines :-). At the latter, the water would run past your feet (excess from the public baths) and when you had finished doing your thing, you would use a stick and sponge to dip into the water running by, to clean yourself up. You wouldn't want to be sitting downstream from the others at the latrine....

After leaving this amazing excavation we were taken to visit the Moslem temple of Isabey, and we were allowed to go in. This was interesting too, and we heard a bit about that religion.

Next, it was back to the ship for a 1.30 pm lunch from the buffet (as is our breakfast, most days), and then back out to the local bazaar/market for a couple of hours. This is a very clean, tidy, smart, modern area, with lots of small shops selling jewellery, leather goods (bags and jackets), shoes, and tourist souvenirs. I bought two new pairs of sandals (there were four that I liked, but they didn't have my sizes - so, Michelle, you can imagine I was in 7th Heaven to actually find some comfortable sandals that suited me). Actually, I may have failed to mention earlier that I had left a bag of my shoes (good work shoes, and my two pairs of sandals) in the hotel in Rome, and the dratted cleaner had supposedly thrown them out - GONE. So, these were welcome replacements. David was pleased to get some new polo shirts.

When we got back to the ship, we sat out by one of the pools, and I had my first swim - the water was a bit cool, but it was good to sooth my aching legs and swollen feet from all the walking and standing. David has just given me a foot massage too - gee, I wish Sally was here too! While we sat by the pool, David had a couple of beers, and I drank diet Coke. We talked with a lovely Canadian couple (he is a retired school principal - he retired at 55 years, and their pension is good enough for him not to need to work, his wife, Michelle, works as a nurse).

Anyway, we're just about to head to dinner again, and catch up on the day's events with our other table friends. I pre-order my gluten free meal the night before, and they look after me very well. Last night I tried artichokes for the first time, and veal seems to be on the menu a lot - something I have never found at home. Last night (for Michelle's interest) I had a coffee creme brulee for dessert!