Day 46 – 10th June. Rhodes->Patmos->Kusadasi, Turkey

Day 46 – 10th June. Rhodes->Patmos->Kusadasi, Turkey

The ship travelled overnight to reach Patmos and those going off the ship were off on the tenders at 7am.
We have noticed we have had no seasickness or motion sickness this time since we embarked. Even though it is a very tired vessel overall, this is the first time on a ship that none of us have felt ill. One of the other ladies from the tour wasn’t feeling great the first day – she had that “just let me sit here and die” look on her face. Couldn’t bear to leave her like that , so gave her one of my tablets as she didn’t have anything, and she came right thankfully.
Found out later that we were meant to be onboard the ship that hit rocks and sunk late last year- hence this older ship being pulled out of dry dock!!! The captain was found to be down in his cabin drinking at the time.

Today we decided to stay onboard as Patmos is pretty barren and not much to see they tell us. Plus with the tender process it takes ages to get onshore. There was I think just a 2 hour period there, so most people have stayed onboard and taken it easy. The point of interest here is St. Johns grotto where in 95AD, he claimed to have heard ‘a great voice, as of a trumpet’, commanding him to write a book and send it unto the 7 churches. This he did – later to be known as the book of revelations in the bible.
Cant help but wonder if someone claimed this had happened nowadays, they would be more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic and given medication, rather than be revered as having been spoken to by God??

We sailed for Kusadasi (Koo-shard-a-cee), Turkey and arrived early afternoon where we disembarked with Jerome for the Ancient Ephesus tour, 49 nautical miles away. Picked up our local guide who is an English teacher here in Turkey.

Drove to the ancient city of Ephesus, out in the country, just sitting there in the middle of nowhere! The ruins are the 3rd city of Ephesus- apparently the ruler who built the first one, wanted to renovate the city but the people resisted- so he blocked up the sewer system in a bid to change their minds. All it did however was make them decide to build a 2nd city further away!!

The 3rd city was built around 70 BC and just blew us all away. It was unbelievable and there is no doubt why it was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. We walked down the same road which is still visible, where Marc Antony and Cleopatra strolled on their travels to Egypt.

A lot of the outside walls are still there and the archeologists have laid out all the broken pieces on the ground where they are to go back when the excavating is finished. This gives it an eerie, awesome quality as you are walking along seeing exactly how it was.


The library was the most complete building and puts every NZ library to shame!!
The temperature was up around 40C and very humid and sticky, but you couldn’t help but stop in the sun and stare at the magnificent layout that just went on and on. Even saw grooves in the marble road made by chariot wheels!

Jerome had explained that the stalls and shops you visit at the end of the ruins, have the Turkish men who all come at you at once, trying to draw you in and as he said when you think about it, the traders here have been doing this successfully for 2000 years.

It was a bit like going to the main street in Nadi, Fiji where the Indian Fijians hassle you to come in for ‘a very good price’. It was ok though- best piece of advice we were given – if you don’t want to buy, don’t even answer them as saying No is a form of conversation starter for them!! Jerome said we are all way to polite, so we tried the silent treatment and apart from the occasional, “I have to feed my family and see my poor old father…..’ they left us alone!

Tried hot apple tea for the first time in a Turkish rug shop the tour went into, it was yummy, very crisp and refreshing after the intense heat at Ephesus.

Back to the ship and last night tonight, so we are putting our suitcases out in the corridor tonight- and praying that we get them tomorrow all intact. There are lots of people who have had their cases broken like us – wheels etc off??!!

Enjoyed another 4 course meal in the restaurant with a couple of Canadians form our tour, a lovely end to our Greek Island cruise. We certainly want to comeback again to stay longer sometime soon.