In the Light of the Silvery Moon and a birthday to be remembered

Sailing out of Istanbul on Sunday evening, champagne in hand was spectacular with lighted bridges and a huge full moon rising over the water. The four of us sat on our veranda and soaked up the beauty of it all long after we had left the city lights.

We ordered a room service breakfast on Monday and sat again on the veranda. Enjoying the morning sun and two pots of coffee, we sailed through the narrows out into the Aegean watching boats, ships, and hillsides with delight. The sea was shimmering blue.We ate lunch poolside and went to a couple of lectures on culture of the area in the afternoon. We are impressed with the huge diversity of countries represented on board...lots of Brazilians!

Early today (Tuesday) as the sun rose on our ship and on my birthday, we docked in the major port city of Kusadasi.  It is the port for Ephesus.  By 9:00 we had left the ship and connected with our private tour guide and the four of us were off to Ephesus.  It was more than we ever anticipated.  We saw orchards of mandarin oranges, peaches, apricots and olives, as well as hillsides of sheep as we drove up the mountain to the site of Mary's (mother of Jesus> home here in Ephesus. It is recorded that it was here she died.

The ruins of the city are incredible and reshape much of how I view the ancient world.  We walked down the marble streets in amazement of the architectural and artistic beauty of this place.

On then to a Turkish Carpet Cooperative that employs many former nomadic women as weavers,  we were treated to Turkish coffee, chai, pastries and tomatoes as goes the ancient process of selling rugs. Prices ranged from $1200 to $65,000. We saw some absolutely beautiful rugs but in the hour and a half resisted purchasing one...even though one clearly grabbed my heart!

Back to the city of Kusadasi and one last shopping experience led by our guide Inan. (Great guy.). He had arranged a birthday surprise,  I was taken to a pashmina shop and presented with a beautiful deep orange pashmina and we all were served wine and birthday cake with candles! Total surprise and gifts from him. Then his uncle arrived and lo and behold, he had the same rug I had fallen for, only in a much smaller size. Well. Can I just say I love it and can't wait until it is shipped?!  Thanks Dick!

Dinner on board at a specialty Italin restaurant complete with...cake and candles! The captain phoned his wishes to our stateroom and sent a rose!

This was a day not to ever be forgotten!!