Day 12: Dur

June 1st-

It's the last night here. This may be because it is the last night and I'm trying to vacuum in every detail, but everything seems super-magnified. The wind slapping at the plastic umbrellas sounds first like gun shots, then like very heavy footsteps. The whole ship feels like a giant snore, one enormous rolling inhale.

I hope I'll be able to come back to the Mediterranean area. I don't really want to return as a tourist though. It's cool to see all the sights I've learned about since I was in a crib, but there is so much more to being in another country. I want to learn the language, cook the food, make the rugs.... Actually, I just want to make the rugs.

Speaking of rugs, we excursioned ourselves into Ephesus today. Our boat docked in Kusadasi; from there we nabbed a bus that drove us along the coast of Izmir and into ancient Ephesus. Our guide always said, "And now you must know" and "by the way", when he was telling us about the sights. It's interesting, hearing the phrases each culture snags as its own in the different countries we've visited. Of course, now that I say that, I can't remember any of the phrases from Italy or Greece, but there were some.

A Turkish Stop Sign

Ancient Ephesus was very slippery and awesome. The rocks were a lot like the Acropolis; floor of death. I conquered though, my flip-flops are magic.

I don't remember what this is, but it's handsome.

View from the street

One sight, the Library of Celsus, particularly stood out. It was very well preserved and thousands of years later, it was still an impressive structure, maybe even more so because of its antiquity.

Library of Celsus

Rachel at the Library

This 'n' That 'n' Rocks

Walking out of Ancient Ephesus and back to the bus, we were assaulted by vendors. They are very pushy. They get right up in your face, slathering you with compliments and their merchandise. It got unfriendly wicked fast. I was on my own, waiting for my mom to catch up when a man (I'm not sure if he was a vendor or not) oozed up to me and told me he "wanted a slice" of me.

Good sales tactic.

Maybe I misunderstood him, he could have been selling perfume and said that he, "wanted to spice" me! In any case, it was fairly awkward.

The end of the story is I think my face went "Oh Em Gee" and I skedaddled to my mom before the oozing oozter could say anything else.

Our next and last stop was a carpet display, which was awesome. They kept rolling out rug after rug. If they had the time, I think they could have filled the room to our knees with so many colors and patterns we wouldn't have been able to walk straight for a week.

Carpet Show and Rachel

Drinking Apple Tea

A Plethora of Carpets

They were almost able to send my mom home with a rug, but neither of us were sure what dad would say, or whether the rug was the correct size for the hall she wanted it in. After the bartering was finished, we weren't left with enough time to even shiest a Turkish coffee.

Silhouettes and Boats

I bear a striking resemblance to Orson Welles.

Mom and the Aquamarine on the Left

We got back to the boat with 3 minutes to spare. I almost wanted to just let it leave without me, almost. I'd been looking forward to Ephesus more than anything else and 4 hours wasn't enough. But, it was hot and even though we didn't do an enormous amount of walking, it was still enough to be draining so getting back to the boat made legs happy.

As we pulled away I watched from the top deck of the ship as the increasing distance erased details of the city life into a silver-green glint along the coast of Turkey.

-Emily