12/30/12 2155 hrs pst Google's home page: watch and remember 2012: then post your resolution: let's all work for peace...

Izmir and Ephesus, Turkey

Good Grief! two blogs in one day, but i'm on a roll and i started reading about Ephesus and started looking at my pix and decided to put some of them up, too. first of all, i reported in my first blog post about Mykonos, the wrong date of embarkation. we started this trip on 18 Nov 2012. i think we were in  Izmir on 19 Nov, or thereabouts.

the Turkish coast is beautiful and the Turks are very kind to visitors. Izmir is a metropolitan area full of people going to work and busy, busy, busy. our tour took us out of the city and into the Seljuk area where Ephesus is located. from the roadway you see beautiful stone structures in the middle of nowhere--and they were part of the ancient city of Ephesus dating long before Christian times.

the Shrine of the Virgin was the first stop on our tour and it is purported to be the last home of Mary, Mother of Jesus. this beautiful statue is in the area of the Shrine, which consists of buildings and prayer wall, crowded but respectfully attended by thousands of visitors every day.

i am a tourist who loves to hear every single word uttered by our guide and for one of the only times in my travelling life, i lost the group. i was so busy photographing the beautiful ruins and the gorgeous terrain as well as the cute kitties, i lost our group and i still can't believe it. we were issued radio receivers and headsets so that our guide could speak to all of us and i got so far behind that the audio was breaking because of distance and all the stone. of course this means that i have to go back, but i'm still unhappy with myself for missing out on the wonderful audio portion of our tour. i've done research since and i know something of the history and what some of the buildings represent but the guide had so much more information...

this is the grand facade of the library, facing east to provide morning light for readers. one reference stated that the library contained 12,000 scrolls.

i believe this is the reconstructed ancient road to the sea, a harbor which was silted in by the river.
when i was finally found by my travel buddy and my tour group, we boarded our bus and headed for the tomb of St. John the Evangelist. it stands on a hill above which is a mosque. while we were walking up to the tomb, the call to prayer issued forth from the mosque and it was an interesting experience, the first time i had actually heard the Muslim call to prayer, not just a recording.

the tomb of St. John the Evangelist has been extensively excavated and reconstructed and is beautifully cared for. i believe that the Roman Catholic Church maintains the Shrine of the Virgin and at least part of the tomb of St. John.

and, back to the ship, a great meal, to bed early so that we could get to our next port call.

Eastern Mediterranean aboard MS Queen Elizabeth Nov 2012

can you believe this is my last US meal before embarking on a Mediterranean get away with my travel buddy Gladys? i got started on 7 Nov 2012 with the ubiquitous shuttle from Ventura to LAX, always a pleasure (...), got through security with a minimum of stress and headed for a food court to prepare for my KLM flight to Amsterdam. i have some tummy issues, so no dairy, no raw stuff, nothing fun or interesting to eat for 24 hrs before and during my flights. hot dog, fries, GLASS OF WINE, and that's brunch. got on the plane, took a benadryl and snoozed off and on until i got to Amsterdam; made it onto my connection and eventually found myself flying over GREECE!!!! airport/ship transfers are never pretty or fun, but after a (ahem) while, i was ON THE SHIP and drinking more wine with Gladys.

no, this isn't a portrait of Gladys, but of our Gracious Queen, Elizabeth II, and WE WERE ON MS QUEEN ELIZABETH!!! words cannot express the ambiance...Cunard is definitely the way to go, altho Queen Mary II passengers in the Caribbean are suffering from a touch of norovirus, i understand.

i'm wearing a fetching @Magellan's top and @Chico's pants and i've decided that they are worth the price...

aside from my tummy issues, i have sleep issues and awake issues and jetlag issues, the list goes on and on. anyway, i found a drug mentioned in one of the travel blogs that was recommended for jetlag and talked my doctor into giving me a prescription for it. Modafinil is the name and it works like a champ. i am usually subhuman for three days after a long plane ride and that really cuts into my enjoyment of a European trip. i took one pill after room service woke us up at zero dark thirty or whatever it was, and i was awake and ready to go. 

Mykonos is a wonderful island and is exactly what i expected from a Greek island, for some reason--this cruise took place at the absolute END of the season and there was no one there but us. of course there were lots of US but no other cruise ships. i love architecture, churches, art, animals, flowers, landscape, people, not necessarily in that order, and i love to take photos. i took about 2000 on this two week trip. i'm going to share only my very favs here.

we hiked from the dock into the little town and then hiked all over the little town itself. we had a wonderful guide, Mia, who lives part time in Mykonos and part time in Athens. she, as are all the European guides i've ever had, could teach college level classes in history, geography, sociology, political science, etc. excellent introduction to Cunard's shore excursions and to Greece. 

this little chapel, almost at the end of our walking tour, is one typical of those built by Greek fishermen and/or their families honoring a Saint who has blessed them and their pursuits, opened on name days when feasting is done...

after our march through Mykonos, i asked Mia for a restaurant recommendation. she said guides took their lives in their hands when making recommendations, but...  we found ourselves at the cafe pictured above and we were the only aliens in the place! our kind and helpful server brought us WINE, brought me fried fresh anchovies and a Greek salad. i fell in love with fried sardines/anchovies on the Amalfi Coast years ago on a trip with another travel buddy, Barbara, and have been on the lookout for them ever since. the entire assemblage was incredibly amused when i arranged the table for my glamour shot. i don't read Greek, but i'm making a wild stab at the name of the place, and i think it is Ivanos. anyway, it was fabulous. wish i was there right now, as a matter of fact.

and that pretty much ended our trip to Mykonos. we strolled back to the ship and i took a million more photos and off we steamed or motored or dieseled or whatever they call it these days.