Day 10 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023) - Kusadasi, Turkey, Celebrity Beyond 12 night Mediterranean Cruise

 Day 10 – Kusadasi, Turkey (May 23, 2023)

We were scheduled to visit Ephesus (Selcuk) today and, after breakfast in Luminae, met our guide, Huseyin, at the terminal just before 9:30 am. We boarded our van and headed out to visit the House of Virgin Mary first which, once we reached the entrance, I remembered that we had visited this site before. The line was long but it moved pretty quickly. The day was perfect – overcast and cool. We walked through the house that the Virgin Mary was reputed to have lived in during her last days (no photography was allowed) – where St John had brought her after the crucifixion. 

Our next stop was the ruins at Ephesus where we spent about 1.5 hours. Huseyin took us to see a few things that we didn’t get to see the first time we were at these ruins and pointed us to some of the better vantage points and photo spots.

After visiting Ephesus, Huseyin took us to the Agora restaurant for lunch where I had the mezes platter (including yummy eggplant) and the spicy kebab. The food was pretty good and “spicy” wasn’t really very spicy at all. There were quite a few cats hanging out at the restaurant and I couldn’t help but slip them some meat morsels. Kusadasi not only had the cats that we’ve been seeing all week but also quite a few dogs. Huseyin told us that the government would round up the dogs and make sure they were all vaccinated – marking them with a tag on their ear. The Turkish people provide them with food, water and shelter everywhere and, of course, the tourists help too.

After lunch, we went by the Basilica of St John as Huseyin explained the history of this site to us. I have to say that Huseyin was the best tour guide we had during our entire trip. When we told him we weren’t interested in buying a rug or going shopping, he was cool with it and didn’t try to push us. He seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with us and showing us his country and had a special interest in the etymology so he taught us a lot about the origin of some English words. He also introduced us to the Turkish terms “shadap” (wine) and “kanka” (equivalent to “dude” or “bro”). We got a good laugh at how closely these terms resembled “shut up” and “canker” or “chancre”.

On our way back to the terminal, we saw more stork nests which were huge at the top of light poles and other columns around Kusadasi. 

For dinner, we decided to try one of the main dining restaurants. Joyce and Perter had recommended Normandie so we headed down (after cocktails at the Martini Bar) to just about the only part of the ship we hadn’t seen yet and got in pretty immediately. Dinner was really good for a main dining room.

We decided over dinner that we would book our next Celebrity cruise in 2024 to the Norwegian Fjords so Wade, Lisa, and I went to the Future Cruises desk and got it booked. We got 3 Sky Suites all next to each other on deck 10 mid near the elevators on the Apex for July 20-27. The premium internet and liquor packages were included as were gratuities. The price was the same but the perk for booking early on board was that the deposit was $100 per person instead of $500 (non-refundable) and we got an additional $250 on board credit per stateroom.  

Next post:  Day 11 -Wednesday, 5/24/23 - Athens