18 April 2015; Kusadasi, Turkey.

We arrived very nice and very early in Kusadasi, Turkey. Early because of the tours to Ephesus and nice because it was yet another glorious day of sunny but not too warm weather. The people on the tour to Ephesus were lucky as we were the only ship in as such and thus it was a lot less crowded than it could have been. When the cruise ship season is in full swing here, there can be 7 or 8 cruise ships in port with an estimated 16,000 guests ashore of which at least 3,000 go to Ephesus. Today only us and only about 150 culturally inclined souls made the trip.  

Next to us was another cruise ship belonging to Lois Cruise Lines and to my utter amazement it was the old Song of America. Now it is employed on 3 and 4 day cruises from Limassol and they do 2 ports a day. This means every stop is about 4 hours.  Cheap Cruises in the style of roll your own luggage on board and that is what we saw happening today. Kusadasi was a sort of embarkation port and we saw groups coming on board pulling their suitcases.  The ship was in by 0600 and was gone again by 13.00 hrs. and I believe they were going for Patmos with a 15.00 hrs. arrival.

Most of our guests have been to Kusadasi so their focus was on shopping. Kusadasi offers good prices for leather and jewelry as long as you know what the prices should be and you can haggle the prices down.

One of Kusadasi’s many shopping streets.

My roving reporter was going for a walk about and promised to shoot some scenic photos of Kusadasi.  Thus please have a look at her favorite leather shop calledB Dennys (with stores in Ireland, Russia, Romania, Tirol and Belgium) Lesley bought me a short black leather Jacket and herself a medium length cream leather coat.

Leather Galore.

With Bargaining skills honed by long years of experience she got at least 50% of the asking price for both so my Dutch mind was put at ease; we did not pay too much.

I did not mind spending money as having a birthday is a good excuse. Not my birthday but the company’s birthday. Today Holland America is 142 years young. It is being celebrated with a special dinner as was served a long time ago on the old ss Rotterdam and tomorrow with my History Lecture in the Showroom At Sea. The Hotel Director has promised everybody a piece of Birthday cake and thus we could have a very Full House. As the ship is not completely full we have at least the chance to get everybody in if they want to. There is a segment change over in Istanbul with more guests coming than leaving and then we will have a real full house, while the ship sails from Istanbul to Civitavecchia.

Our arrival tomorrow in Istanbul is between 2 and 4 pm. The captain is trying to get in a bit earlier to help with the ships clearance and give those who are leaving still a chance to see a little bit of Istanbul before they fly home. If that works will depend on how the voyage progresses between the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. Our official arrival time is 1600 hrs. so if we make it earlier than that it will be an appreciated bonus.

Tomorrow we have two scenic moments. First at sunrise we will sail through the Dardanelles at Cenekale. Then if the sun rises in a clear sky then its rays should give a stunning view of the Monuments on the West Bank.  Then we continue and by 1 pm. we hope to enter the south end of the Bosporus and have our scenic arrival by sailing past the Tokapi Palace and the Agia Sophia all located on the European side of Istanbul, which will be on the port side of the ship. The new part of Istanbul will be clearly visible on our starboard side. With the early afternoon sail in, the sun should be on our stern and thus both sides of Istanbul should not be in the glare of the sun.

Then the ship will stay overnight and sail at 17.00 hrs. on the 20^th. The weather forecast is a mixed bag with rain in the morning and partly cloudy skies later on.