Welcome to Asia!

It’s been a busy few days, but I am going to catch everyone up in the next 2 blogs.  Let me just say that this whole blog thing is EXHAUSTING!  I feel so much pressure from you people and it’s much different doing it for 6 months than for 5 weeks!  Ha ha!  Anyway- I really love it, but I’m finding it harder and harder to sit down and write.  So- back to business; we went to Kusadasi (pronounced kush-ah-duh-sih with accents on the first and last syllables like the word “applicable”…random, I know) where I went on tour to the ancient city of Ephesus.  Before I get into that visit let me mention a few things.  Turkey is one of the only countries that spans two continents.  This day I was in Asia (my first time on the Asian continent) and the next day I was on the European side!  Also, Turkey is a secular Muslim country meaning that they are allowed to do whatever they want.  99% of the country is Muslim, but they can still drink and they do observe prayers, but not like many Middle Eastern countries; they don’t drop down at work and begin praying, but they do go to Mosque, say, during their lunch break if they have time to pray.  Anyway- it’s a very interesting culture and they are excited to welcome people to their country with open arms. 

To begin the day we went to the ancient city of Ephesus, which is still being extensively excavated.  It is probably the most beautiful of any of these ancient cities I have seen and the restoration work that has been done is really incredible.  They have been able to put back together the façade of a few buildings, including the incredible library which was the largest in the world, second only to the library at Constantinople.  It’s really just an amazing place and I found it fascinating to learn from my guide all about daily life in this city.  To see the public toilets where the men would sit to socialize for hours at a time together was amazing.  Or to see that a brothel was put right across the library!  They even had a tunnel connecting the two underground where it is thought men would sneak in and out of the library to get to the brothel.  Anyway- this city was home to 250,000 people in its heyday. 

We had some free time at the end of the tour and I went with a British couple to view the city’s theatre a bit closer.  We had been told it had perfect acoustics and I marveled at its size.  It’s certainly the largest and best preserved Roman theatre I have seen, holding 24,000 people even today when they hold concerts there!  Anyway- when Sam, the husband, found out I was a singer on the ship he INSISTED that I had to sing in the theatre.  I resisted, considering I was surrounded by hundreds of other tourists at the theatre.  Also I didn’t know what to sing!  I mean in a theatre like that I felt like I needed some great Italian aria or some classical art song, but I didn’t have anything off the top of my head, so I tried to say no.  Sam wouldn’t have it.  He said, “You have to do this. You have to be able to say you did this” and went on and on and on until I finally caved.  I said, “Well, I will sing something classical in my genre!”  So I proceeded to go on with the first few lines of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning!”  Ha ha!  Things to note:

-The acoustics were stunning.  I mean the sound was just ringing loud as anything!

-I got some stares.

-I certainly am glad Sam was so persistent and he’s right: I won’t ever forget it!

Following our visit there and to a nearby museum about the city we had a great lunch.  Set up in a garden were canopy-covered tables with local dancers and musicians performing while we just FEASTED on a wonderful Turkish meal including mezes, cold appetizers, grilled chicken and koftes, or meatballs, and plenty of local desserts like baklava.  (I know what you’re thinking: Baklava is Greek.  WRONG!!!  The Turks insisted that they came up with baklava, not the Greeks.  They stole it!  And claim it!  It makes sense, too, if you consider that sugar came through Asia and would have reached Turkey before Greece.) 

Following lunch we went up a mountain to a house where they claim the Virgin Mary spent her last few years on Earth.  I think it was more of a tourist trap than anything.  Apparently some German nun dreamed that her house was on top of a mountain near Ephesus and archeologists found some rocks dating back to the right time period.  The people around here always say she was here with John because he came here and was supposed to have been looking after Mary at the time or something.  They said they rebuilt the home from the rocks how it was at the time, but to me it looked like a church…not a house.  Anyway- the Pope has recognized it as a sacred site, so people flock there like madmen. 

To finish up the tour we were taken to a local shop were we watched a master weaver give a demonstration on making a Turkish rug.  These women work for months and sometimes years at a time on one rug, making each knot by hand to form the intricate patterns.  Then, of course the men wanted to sell the rugs so they began showing all sorts of things.  It was AMAZING!  There are three kinds of rugs: wool on wool, cotton on wool, and silk on silk and they raise in price by size and material used.  For instance, a 2x4 silk on silk rug was costing around $4,000!  I saw wool on wool rugs, big enough to cover a large room, that were selling for $10,000!  I mean- these things are absolutely incredible.  Of course, I was traveling with the right crowd, so the salesmen were happy to see some very wealthy Americans ready to buy!  Ha ha!  It’s interesting because the people of Turkey (whose currency is the Turkish Lira) have been the most accepting of US dollars and Euros than any other place we’ve been.  They also are incredible sales people.  EVERYONE is trying to sell something and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make a deal!  Anyway- I’ll have to tell you more about my buying experiences in Istanbul, Turkey tomorrow.  Hope everything is good back home.  Miss you guys.

Tripp