I'll finish with my cruise pictures today.

When I left off yesterday we were in the ancient city of Ephesus, outside the port city of Kusadasi, Turkey. Ephesus was huge, with 250,000 people: second only to Alexandria. It was a major city for centuries. History nuts can look at this chrononology. The ruins are well preserved because they were covered for centuries, much as Pompeii was. Ephesus wasn't buried in ash, though. It was the result of geographic changes.

They've had a couple of earthquakes. The city
lost significance when the river's natural course changed and what used to be a city on the coast was miles inland, drying up food and transport.

Hadrian, who seemed to be everywhere (seen his stuff in Italy and Greece, too - and he's got that wall in the UK) has this temple in Ephesus. He was quite a builder.

The most noticeable structure in the ancient city is the library. It was the third largest in the world at the time. Remember that most people that

long ago were illiterate. George the guide told us that in Ephesus, 25 percent of the population was literate, which would have been amazing. I have not researched that so I'll just have to take his word for it. Thank you, George.


Last night Kim, Mark, Martha and I went to the movies. We went to see My Life in Ruins, the new film with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and Richard Dreyfuss. It opened here this week, but it opens next weekend in the US.


I'm not much of a movie goer but if I were, the theater we went to last night would be the way to go. It was an open air theater - like a drive-in but with tables and chairs. The chairs were sling back (like director's chairs) and the front row was chaise lounges. The refreshment stand had all the standards like Coke and popcorn but they also had a full bar and souvlaki that they made on a charcoal grill. You could smell it as you walked into the theater. For someone with a short attention span like me, they even had an intermission.


I won't say too much about the movie other than to say the Greek tourism board ought to pay money for all the beautiful pictures. I think the Greeks in the audience enjoyed watching it. Nia grouses about all the frustrations of Greece, that all the Greeks know and complain about, but she finally adjusts her attitude. Cute.


I was going to take Kim's picture at the library but she said I had posted enough pictures of her and not of me, so here I am (wearing my #4 tour sticker on my shirt).

I am a rank amateur posing for pictures compared to this woman. She and the guy she traveled with (her husband, we think) wore matching colors each day of the cruise and she was constantly posing for photos. They were everywhere and she really did "strike a pose" each time. We all speculated that she must be a model or maybe she was just a wanna-be. I have to believe they couldn't tell you anything about the trip - but they will have one heckuva collection of photos.


The arena at Ephesus is also quite impressive in size. George said it would hold 25,000 people. They had sporting events there, including gladiator fights and throwing Christians to lions. What constitutes a sport depends on who is in power.


We were late getting back to the ship but George announced on the bus trip back that he had talked with the ship and they were delaying departure. Thank you George. That gave him just enough time to drop us off at the shopping district outside the port. Thankfully we were not subjected to any lengthy sales pitches - it just meant we had to walk a little farther than if the bus had taken us straight to the ship. It's actually interesting to see what's in the shops, and I wouldn't have minded to spend more time. Kim was frustrated because things in Turkey are cheaper than in Greece and she had hoped to spend a little time in the shops. That didn't happen. Mark and Martha have a house in Rhodes and they told us there are shopping trips organized by tour companies to go from Rhodes to Kusadasi.

Onboard we had assigned seating for Saturday
and Sunday dinner. That was actually good because we got to know a few people a little better. The couple on the left are from Minneapolis and they were traveling with their son (back right). The couple front right were South Africans living in London. It worked out well for David (the son). He is doing a study abroad in South Africa in just a couple of months.

It was Greek Night in the restaurant so the waiter tried to sing, but.... Overall the ship entertainment wasn't much but I can't imagine that anyone expects much. The performers have other jobs onboard - they're not just entertainers, so obviously they don't give it all their focus.