OCTOBER 19

Tuesday, October 19 – A rough night, weather wise. Fun for me, but lots of rolling and bouncing. Departure is supposed to be at 7 so breakfast is at 6 so I got up at 5. Lovely shower but I wonder how the rough weather will influence the schedule – we are supposed to disembark onto tenders (small boats) for the trip to shore to Patmos. Up for breakfast and a seriously rolling deck. At one point I was at the stern, and the flag was blowing forward - in other words, the winds was stronger than our forward motion. (I even took a picture.)

Back to prepare for the day and we all met at the Metropolitan Lounge. Winds at 40 mph, no tenders – the captain tried to enter the port to see if he could dock, but the winds and currents were simply too strong, so Patmos is cancelled, and as I write this, in dark skies and strong seas, we are on our way to Kasadi – Ephesus – although the schedule is a little loose, to the distress of some people who want to dictate what the schedule should be. Sigh. And sigh again. Somehow they can’t seem to grasp the notion that other people have schedules and commitments have been made and not everything can be changed at the last minute because we have changed our plans, or to make it the way THEY would like it to be. Sigh. So we have a quiet morning on the ship, which is not exactly a hardship.

The dark skies, lots of places to sit and watch the world go by – although, as always, finding a quiet place was a little more challenging. Bingo in this place, a cocktail making demo in another – not just background music, but loud and active “things to do.” But soon enough it was time to grab a lunch bite, and off we head.

Our group was to gather at 12:30 and leave, so we would be ahead of the other groups, who were leaving at one. Sigh. I love our group, but this one wasn’t there, that one had to go back to the cabin for something – it was 12:55  by the time we all gathered and headed out. And out was not to a bus, but off the pier and down the road – our group does not move fast, so it was a bit before we were actually on the bus.

The port and the city is Kushadaseh – that’s not how they spell it, but that’s how they say it. Our guide – whose name I have forgotten – had an accent difficult to understand sometimes. He spoke of the history of the city and often referred to the fact that we were going to “the house of Mother Mary.” And then the bus started to climb. And climb. And climb.

Small roads, no real guardrails, winding steep climbs – beautiful views, but the accident potential does get your attention. We did get to the house of Mother Mary without any incident, and we strolled past the gift shops into the areas of the house itself. On the way is a large cistern, fed from pipes from at least ten different sources. If I understood the guide, this was because of concern over poison – although the next influence would, it seems to me, be at best moderated. Maybe I didn’t understand him properly. There was a large outdoor altar but to my relief, I learned we would be celebrating Mass in an interior chapel.

The house itself was only discovered and excavated in the early 1940’s (1943?). It’s a 2-room house, and is a small chapel (what was the main living room and kitchen) and a side room (what was a bedroom). Pope John Paul II visited twice. We went through with carrying degrees of personal piety. Met a chap from Alabama outside I had talked with on the ship, and introduced him to one of our merry band who is living in Alabama. After everyone assembled, we went on to Mass behind some gates and along a walkway – gorgeous view of the valley. The sacristan is a Franciscan, who had spent two months in Chicago, and his English was quite good, so we had a chat. Everything was set up for Mass – liturgically a little confusing because, following the custom, I celebrated the Mass of August 15, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but I preached on the Jesuit feast, the North American Martyrs. Nice Mass. On back into the compound for some shopping and visiting rest rooms (always an important sotp on any pilgrimage!). They have three fountains for water - one for health, one for beauty and I think the other was for romance. They also have a large wall, along the lines of the wailing wall, where young women place slips of paper asking for or about their husbands to be. 

Some of the slips asking for husbands. 

From here, we went down the valley to the ancient city of Ephesus.

In my old age I am learning not try and disguise my lack of knowledge on any subject, because I get found out too easily. This is one of those cases. I knew about the place we had visited, but the whole excavation was a new item on my personal agenda and it is breath-taking. In so many places, archaeological sites are roped off and sealed up and you can look at things from afar, and this is understandable. But here, a huge site (only about 20% of the city is excavated but that is huge) there are streets you walk down and columns you can touch, and you can really get the sense of being in the ancient city. It is a new excavation – somewhere I have written down when it was started but it’s not 30 years and I somehow think it may be actually less. Since I had no sense of what was involved when we started, I was constantly being surprised at getting to an intersection and finding a street that literally went as far as my eye could see. In the days when Ephesus was a major city, the sea came right to the edge of the city. (Today is about 7 km away – a little over 4 miles.) They have a huge amphitheatre, a place where they uncovered the tombs of gladiators – fascinating, fascinating, fascinating.

Included is of course the library of Ephesus, originally built (and used) as a mausoleum. We did a little shopping on the way out – I bought a Rolex for 20 euro. Of course it’s a fake, it was advertised as a fake, but except that the band is a little cheap, it really looks like a Rolex. With my luck, I’ll run into a robber who will kill me for my Rolex. But I just couldn’t resist.

From there we were kidnapped again – seems if you hire a Turkish guide, he has a relationship with some business somewhere and by God you are going to visit them. We were taken to a leather company. Now, fair enough, leather is a major Turkish export, mostly lamb leather, and they do beautiful work. We had a fashion show, and were given ouzo – of course, I don’t like ouzi, so this didi not quell the angry little creature in my breast. The fashion show was nice – and then we went into the salesroom, where one of the gentlemen did a nice job of explaining the different kinds of leather (did you know there is a “silk” leather? Me either.) And then, of course, the sales pitch.

They gave us a 30% discount, no sales tax or duty (Turkey is not in the EU) and you could bargain a little after that. Five of the group bought something – four bought coats and one bought a belt. (An 85 Euro belt. My PANTS don’t cost 85 euro.) So obviously any unhappiness about being kidnapped had been assuaged.

We got back to the boat just in time for dinner in our private little alcove. Which is always fun but runs a full two hours of conversation and eating and not terribly fast service. It was Greek night, so the menu was heavily loaded with Greek food, and there is a Greek show in the evening –which I skipped. I sang again, only a couple of songs but the word is getting around the ship about the guy who sings. And a relatively early bed.