2025_0913 Kusadasi, Turkey...

Saturday, September 13th, was an excursion day for us. We arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey at 7am. We had a quick breakfast at Surfside Cafe. Then down to the Viva Theater to wait for our tour to Ephesus to be called. 

Our tour was titled Magnificent Ephesus. It was to last about 2 1/2 hours. Most of that would be walking. I took these pictures as the coach drove us to the site. The Viva is the middle ship. 

Sam would be our tour guide. She was a very modern Muslim. She loved living in Kusadasi. She cracked me up by saying "Oh My Gosh!" after telling us something she found amazing. 

This is a map of the tour site of Ephesus. We entered at the top right by the baths and would exit at the end of the Harbor Road. Paul preached here and later wrote to the Ephesians. That is the Book of Ephesians in the New Testament. 

7a-2p, Kusadisi, Turkey

Magnificent Ephesus (KUSN09): 7:30-10am, 2½ hrs, Moderate.

Walk excavated ruins in Ephesus. The Great Theater where St. Paul spent 3 years preaching the Gospel. The Library of Celsus is another architectural highlight. One column of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also remains. Approx 2 hours of walking.

At the entrance was the Turkish flag. It based on the 18th-century Ottoman Empire flag and the symbolism of the crescent and star remains powerful, though not exclusively religious in its historical foundation. 

Bailey asked for cat pictures. There were several at the entrance to the Ephesus ruins. Not so many as we walked the tour. 

These are the bath ruins. 

Across the road was the state Agora. This was a public open space used for assemblies and markets. Sam explained they did not sell fish in the market area as it would cause and odor. There was another agora later and that is where the fish were sold. 

The Odeion Theater. The building would have served as a space for political meetings, social events, concerts and theatrical performances.

Prythaneion: the Sacred Heart of Ephesus. Built-in the 3rd century BC, this city hall housed senior officials, received foreign dignitaries, held the state archives, but most importantly, held the sacred flame in the Hearth of Hestia; the symbolic heart of Ephesus.

Memmius Monument. The four sided victory arch was erected to celebrate a military victory and the liberation of Ephesus from enemy occupation. 

Caduceus or Rod of Asclepius. Remember on the Acropolis where the medical office/temple were located by the Dionysus Theater. Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing. He was often depicted with a staff around which a snake was coiled.  The snake figure was associated with Asclepios possessed benevolent properties. It was believed to be able to cure a patient or a wounded person just by touch.

Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. 

Pollio Fountain is a significant ancient Roman structure. It served as a distribution point for water.

Note the ending of the words carved on this stone. Lisa Marie Presley came to Ephesus. Sam was the tour guide. She pointed out this stone and the ending words which clearly look like Elvis was here. Lisa Marie was very amused. 

Main Boulevard to the sea. 

The Hadrian Temple was built-in the 2nd century AD, the Temple was built in honor of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117-138 AD, as well as Artemis and the people of Ephesus.

Columns and mosaic floors. 

Men's latrines with another cat!

Celsus Library. At the time of its completion the Celsus Library was the 3rd largest in the world, behind the libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum, with space for over 12,000 scrolls.

The Agora where Paul would have preached. 

The Great Theater was actually positioned to make use of the breeze coming off of the ocean, which would carry sound up towards the audience. It was here that ancient Ephesians would gather during the day for plays, concerts, debates, discussions, and even gladiator matches.

Harbor Road.

Sarcophagi on the hill.

Tree-lined walk to the coach.

Claude and I were both very happy neither of us fell while walking these ruins. Many marble streets that were slick. After both falling in Italy last year, NOT falling this trip was a paramount goal. The walk actually started at the top of a hill and you walked downhill for the entire tour. Yike!!

We were informed while waiting for the Ephesus tour that anyone touring a mosque in Istanbul the next day MUST meet a dress code or you would not be allowed to enter. That dress code mean shoulders and knees covered for men. Shoulders, knees and head and hair covered for ladies. Hmmm...I did not bring a scarf for my head. I thought Haggai Sophia was a museum. It is not part mosque and part museum and I had to have a head covering to tour it. Fortunately, at the end of the tree-lined street were a good series of shops and many carried pashminas. Perfect. Sam directed us to the shop she felt was best for that purchase, #9. I quickly entered, explained what I needed, she showed me a purple pashmina (I am a sucker for anything purple). I was able to pay with American dollars. Yeah! I was ready for the next day.

Sam then took our tour group by coach back to Kusadasi, to learn about making Turkish carpets. I took this picture as we drove back to Kusadasi. 

We would see beautiful Turkish carpets. Turkish rugs are special for their hand knotting techniques, natural dyes, and symbolic designs. They are often crafted using the double-knot (Gördes knot) technique, making them highly durable and luxurious collector's pieces.

Claude and I left the rug store after much pressuring to purchase something. Don't like that pressure. The rugs were gorgeous though. We walked back to the Viva. The Viva is in the middle of the first picture. The second picture is a sign above a restaurants window. Cracked me up!

We went directly to Surfside Cafe for lunch and soft serve ice cream. Yes! A hot day needed that refreshment. Once again, we watched as the Viva left harbor. We loved our balcony. Will probably never cruise again with a balcony for our stateroom. 

A brief nap was on the schedule. Dinner would be in the Hudson dining room. I didn't record what we ate this night. Then we enjoyed views of the Kusadasi harbor and the Viva leaving. We watched a tug boat (2nd picture) position himself between the two huge cruise ships to keep them from bumping into each other. Wow!

A good day for us. We were happy to make it through the tour and happy for cool rest after.

2025_0912 Volos, Greece

Friday, September 12th, we opted to stay aboard the Viva all day. Our plan this trip was to have two days of shore excursions and then a day of rest. We are aging gracefully after all! 

A little about our itinerary. It was a bit revised from when we first made the reservation. We were to have gone to Thessaloniki, Greece and that was changed to Volos. We were to have gone to Izmir, Turkey and that was changed to Kusadasi, Turkey. I was concerned about this part of the change because I wanted to see Ephesus which I could from Izmir. As it turned out, there were tours to Ephesus from Kusadasi. Yeah!!

I found a map and noted the places we were sail from. If the name of the city is not on the map, I drew a red circle. If the name of the island or city is on the map, it is has a red underline. 

The Viva would dock in Volos, Greece at 7:00am and depart at 5pm. We slept in and began Tylenol Arthritis Strength as needed. We were very happy this stateroom had a larger bathroom than we remembered from other ships. In the living area, we had two twin beds that were very close together, a sofa, a vanity with stool and a night stand. As you entered the stateroom there were three closets, Claude got one, I got one and the suitcases took up the other. There was a sliding glass door to the balcony and two very comfortable chairs on it with a little table. Very comfortable digs for our cruise. 

This shower was like the one in the Grand Hyatt. It had the overhead rain feature to show under with the ability to turn the water to come from the sides or through a show wand. We really liked the overhead rain shower feature. 

Our first views of Volos, Greece were from our balcony.

We spent a good bit of this day enjoying our balcony. I was reading Dan Brown's Origin. 

We had lunch in Surfside Cafe. This became our lunch spot. Lots of other places to eat, but there was a good selection of foods on this buffet. Then we spent some of our afternoon in the Observation Lounge. This was our view of Volos from the Observation Lounge.

We would go back to our balcony to watch the Viva leave Volos. The first picture shows the churning of the water as the ship moves away from the dock. This is always fascinating to us. Such an enormous vessel and it can turn on a dime almost. When we did our Alaska cruise, the ship went into College Fjords and found a spot in the middle of the water. The captain simply spun the ship in a complete circle so everyone could get a 360 degree circle so everyone on the ship could have a complete view of the area with all the glaciers coming down to the water. The last picture is the boat picking up the harbor pilot. Whenever a big ship leaves a port, there is always a harbor pilot. that really knows the waters there, who comes aboard and directs the big ship out of the harbor. Then the pilot boat comes along side the big ship and the pilot climbs a rope ladder down into the pilot boat so he can be taken back to shore. To me, that had to be a very dangerous moment for the harbor pilot, especially if the waters are rough. 

We opted to have dinner in the Commodore Dining Rm. We were seated by a port hole as the restaurant in on the 6th deck. Here is our view from the port hole. The Commodore and the Hudson both have the same exact menu. The difference is in the setting, port holes versus huge windows and in the size. The Commodore is about half the size of the Hudson. 

For dinner Sandi had spinach dip, honey bourbon chicken, and chocolate mint mousse. Claude enjoyed clam chowder, breaded pork chop, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner, we took that walk around the 8th deck Ocean Boulevard. We stopped at the stern of the ship, found seats by the railing and enjoyed watching the sunset over the wake the ship created. This is another of our favorite spots on any cruise ship. Here is our views of the sun setting with the wake of the ship.

In the evening, I was still very achy and concerned about my ability to walk the tours we had selected. Our next day was Ephesus. It was listed as moderate but I was still concerned. I asked Claude to give me a priesthood blessing. It was a most tender moment and meant the world to him to be able to use his Priesthood to help me. I am very grateful for that!

2025_0911 Norwegian Cruise Line Viva...

Thursday, September 11th, we had a slow beginning to the day. We had a final breakfast at 8:30am in the Grand Hyatt. Then we checked out of the hotel at 10:30am. The Norwegian Cruise Lines bus to port arrived at the hotel at 11:20am and we were on our way to embark on our next cruise. By 12:30pm we were on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Viva. Our cabin was on the 16th deck Room 16104. It was not ready yet, so we waited in the Observation Lounge till our stateroom was ready. This was our view of Athens from the Observation Lounge.

Over the cruise, I took a few pictures of the Viva. On the 17th deck is the Observation Lounge. There is an hallway to get into it that is very wide. In the center of this hallway is a glass case with a scale model of the Viva. I determined that was the best way to get a picture of the entire ship. The ship was enormous! I asked Claude to stand by the model and point to about were our state room was located. That is the first picture. The second picture is the full length of the port side of the Viva. 

One of the cool features was the carpeting in the hallway for the staterooms. Those can be LONG hallways with nothing to help you get your bearings except for watching the room numbers. However, NCL has installed carpeting with arrows pointing toward the bow of the ship in these hallways. You can easily tell if your are headed in the right direction by looking for the arrows. Subtle, but they are there.

On the days we had shore excursions, we waited for them to call us to disembark in the Viva Theater. Except on the two stops where we needed a tender to get to shore. Those were the islands of Santorini and Mykonos. Those days we went to the Commodore Dining Room to wait. The ceiling of the Viva Theater had an interesting centerpiece that displays constellations. It is like a little movie and, for a while, it displays several different Zodiac signs in black and white. This was Leo. They did not do Libra in this mode. I am Leo. 

Then for a while it goes to a color screen where the Zodiac signs rotate. We were able to see Libra in that picture. Claude is Libra. Very amusing to watch.

A highlight of each cruise we have taken, is our evening meal in the one of the main dining rooms. The main dining rooms on the Viva were the Commodore (6th deck) and the Hudson (7th deck). We preferred the Hudson Room. Huge windows to see where the ship was going. The dining rooms are located at the stern or back of the vessel. We found if we went at opening time, we could get a table by the big windows and we missed the rowdy groups that came in. 

Walking to and from the Hudson Dining Room, we passed a wall of butterflies. When we visited Japan, we went to the top of one of the local mountains to an observatory. There was a display on the floor of one of the rooms with these interactive pictures. You touch the screen and it creates animation in the objects in the picture. When we first past this wall on the Viva, I recognized it as one of these with lots of butterflies waiting to be stirred up. As we left the Hudson, I told Claude to run his hand along the wall while we walked. Sure enough, the picture opened up, the butterflies opened their wings and you had lots of movement. Every night from that point forward, when we passed that wall, Claude would run his hand the entire length of the wall. There is actually a lounge across that room and the people loved learning they could do that with the wall. Great fun. 

I could see a walkway around the port side of the ship from our balcony. I learned it was on the 8th deck and was called Ocean Boulevard. After dinner one evening, we went to the 8th deck and walked all the way around the ship. I took these pictures on that walk of interesting features on the Viva. The first picture is the staterooms called The Haven. Top dollar for these rooms, they are huge and luxurious with an amazing balcony view of the cruise. This area has its own entrance and dining room. 

I never saw anyone on this waterslide. Before we left the States, there was a news report that someone on some cruise ship was almost cut in half going down one of these types of slides. Not sure if they were shut down until research could be done and I don't believe it was this slide on the Viva. Lots of huge cruise ships sport these types of water slides nowadays. 

There were two sections of this glass walkway. You can see right down below you. One section is over the deck below. The other section juts out over the water. Yike!! We walked both and held on to the rail. 

This piece of artwork fascinated me. It is a depiction of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Cool!

And every ship needs a life preserver with their name on it. 

This was a nice walk and allows you to see in all directions. 

After getting in our stateroom, we enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the Viva leave Athens about 5pm. 

We had our first dinner at the Hudson. I had cauliflower soup, chicken piccata and creme brulee. Claude enjoyed French onion soup, New York strip steak and creme brulee. Excellent first dinner onboard the Viva. 

We strolled to the Surfside Cafe on the 7th deck to find the soft serve ice cream machine. This is another highlight of any cruise for us. Once each day, we have a small soft serve ice cream cone. Claude became very adept at creating these for us with a curlicue on the top. He could work at Dairy Queen now that he has mastered that skill!

We met our cabin steward as we returned to our stateroom. His name was Rolando and he was from the Philippines. We spent our evening on the balcony. Man that is a great experience. 

Our first sunset on the Aegean Sea!