For those planning a 2013 Eastern Med Cruise - yet another trip report!

[MISSYLOU]

Great review and a trip your children will never foget.:)

[nothriver]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience is such detail. We are booked on a 12 day eastern Med cruise for June 2013 with our extended family. I'm hanging on your every word and can't wait to hear more!

[alliebrandy]

Thank you for the information. Now I need to start researching, planning, and saving some $$. LOL.

 

As to your question, about the Connie, we have done 2 Holiday cruises (14 night) on it in the past and we not disappointed. It is a smaller ship in comparrision to the Equinox. This year is our first time on the Equinox but we did do one a 7 nighter on the Eclipse this year so I'm going to just assume that the 2 ships are very similar (same class catagory). We sometimes do tend to like the smaller ships - not as many passengers and getting around can be a bit easier.

 

I just think that it will just depend on your likes and tastes. Our very first ever curise we did splurged a bit and got a balcony cabin and were not disappointed in the least. Enjoyed the sunrise and sunset when entering and leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico. Was just beautiful and we did not have to compete for rail time to take pictures on the top deck. We just did them from our balcony.

 

Since that time, we have been with booking inside cabins. Save the $$ to use for excursions, speciality resturants, spa treatments ;), ect... Plus we are not in the cabin that much so the savings is best.

 

I hope you do take the opportunity to sail this holiday. You will enjoy it.

 

I can't wait for December to get here. I for one am very excited that we are doing our first back 2 back cruise. Imagine 21 nights. :D Can't wait.

[Presto2]

Thank you, Presto! I am VERY proud of my crew. And we are lucky that our children appreciate what they are given. Our son still talks about how 'awesome' this trip was. He is home from his first year in college this weekend and just told us that he would definitely be up for a quick holiday cruise if we could spring it. Hoping that we can because I would much prefer going on a trip than buying lots of presents that they may or may not need.

 

My brother and I always met up with my parents each year when we were in college / at university. It was the only chance we had to meet up as a family over the year. Looking back, they were such special family times - not a lot of families have that. You're very lucky -- enjoy :)

 

Apart from that I love your reviews !!!!!!!!!!!! 10 months time we're there !!!!

 

:D:D:D

[hansolosmom]

Have to share this with you. I was talking about your review and showing my dh some of the Santorini pictures & he was like, "who are these people" so I said "lovestx and her family" you should have seen his face :eek: :confused: it was hysterical. So now he thinks I stalk you and gator girl

Edited October 9, 2012 by hansolosmom

[lovestx]

Have to share this with you. I was talking about your review and showing my dh some of the Santorini pictures & he was like, "who are these people" so I said "lovestx and her family" you should have seen his face :eek: :confused: it was hysterical. So now he thinks I stalk you and gator girl

 

Love that story! My husband would have been doing the same thing...until he shows up for the vacation and all goes so smoothly and economically that he has to be grateful for my hours of research on CC or TA (my other addiction).

 

But I need to clarify something.....please know that my screen name stands for Luvs STX or, in other words, loves St. Croix. When we arrived on the Equinox, all my new CC friends thought I love Texas! But it is St. Croix that has my heart :)

[hansolosmom]

Love that story! My husband would have been doing the same thing...until he shows up for the vacation and all goes so smoothly and economically that he has to be grateful for my hours of research on CC or TA (my other addiction).

 

But I need to clarify something.....please know that my screen name stands for Luvs STX or, in other words, loves St. Croix. When we arrived on the Equinox, all my new CC friends thought I love Texas! But it is St. Croix that has my heart :)

 

It's that planner in us, they do though appreciate it like you said when everything on the trip falls into place. Usually I do have him make the flight arrangements, since he travels a lot for business.

 

I thought it was St. Something. My dh thought you loved Styx (the band) and started singing 'I'm sailing away...'

[lovestx]

Day 7: First Day in Istanbul

I think of all the ports we were visiting on this itinerary, Istanbul held the most intrigue and interest for all of us. The idea of being in a city that straddles two continents and whose culture is so different from our own was enticing. Again, I did a great deal of research on this port and was focused on making sure that we saw the famous sites without doing a ‘forced march’. I decided to hire a private guide for both days (actually day and a half) and worked with them to craft a teen-friendly itinerary.

We awoke to a view of Istanbul and the dock itself. It was very early (6:30 a.m.), and I was amazed to see the minarets and many buildings though not a view of the harbor. I looked down from our balcony to see the big charter busses lining up at the terminal building below and was reminded of just how many people were on our ship. We woke the kids up, had breakfast in Blu marveling at the view of Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sophia across the harbor. We were to meet our guide, Lale Kasagan from Private Tours in Turkey, at 8:00 a.m. When we exited the ship (our first time at a dock) we were pleased to see traditional Turkish dancers/musicians entertaining us. Had no idea that we would be ‘serenaded’ in most ports.

You can see the charter busses in the background.

 

As was to be a theme to this trip, we could not find Lale in the minor chaos outside the terminal building. Lots of CC friends looking for their own private tours as well as shore excursion people getting on their busses. But no Lale! So we called her office and learned from her husband that she had been there since 7:30 (he dropped her off!) and we should keep looking. Turns out that Lale was waiting INSIDE the terminal and we just didn’t see her.

A note here about the importance of carrying documents with you on your port days. I had a three ring binder (maybe I mentioned that already) that I had created with each port having its own tab. I also bought a plastic 8X11 ‘envelope with a Velcro flap that I carried in our shared backpack. In that envelope, I kept copies of our passports and a copy of our complete itinerary with contact numbers at all times. Before disembarking in a port, I would take the port-specific confirmation information as well as the Celebrity Today and the inserted Port Explorer and Shopping Guide. The Celebrity Today always had the Celebrity Port rep listed with address and phone numbers. We found that we needed to call our private guides more often than not so were glad to have the contact info. It also helped remind us what charges we had agreed to and in what currency.

 

Back to our day in Istanbul….Lale immediately put at us ease with her warmth and clear English. She engaged the children in the tours and did not talk down to them. She has her own children, including a teenage daughter, so she ‘got’ them. In advance, we had agreed to spend our first day visiting the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Underground Cisterns and Grand Bazaar. We had booked a full day from 8 to 5 with Lale so knew we would be adding some things.

I specifically requested that we do a walking/tram tour as I had heard horror stories about Istanbul traffic and I also thought it would be more authentic to travel as Istanbulites do. I am glad we chose to do this although I am sure that we could have seen more if we had not been on foot.

I could write a tome on Istanbul—we saw and learned so much—but I will just add a few words and use pictures to give you a sense of our day.

We walked with Lale to the right as you departed the port and within two blocks we were at the tram stop. She purchased all of our tram and museum tickets and our lunch using Turkish lire (so we never had to exchange our money). The tram was crowded with commuters but it is less than 20 minutes to the Sultanahmet area. We started at the Hippodrome and the went straight to the Blue Mosque as it was Friday and we wanted to get in before prayers began.

 

 

 

The line wasn’t too long (10 minutes maybe) and we were given bags to put our shoes in and Kate and I were given shawls (think blue tablecloths) to wear on our shoulders even though we purposely wore capris and short sleeved shirts.

 

On the way to the Hagia Sophia, we passed many vendors in the area selling what looked like a bagel or hot pretzel. We asked Lale about them and she immediately bought us one to share so that we could all taste it. I can't remember the name of it but it was like a sweetish pretzel but denser. Interesting to see that people all over love to eat carbs from a vendor!

 

I can only post six pictures with each posting so will stop here and be back on Thursday with more on Istanbul.

[SilverDollarDoll]

What a surprise for me to start reading today's post. We will be in Istanbul and we are also having Lale be our guide. I've read wonderful posts about her expertise and to actually see your post just really made me smile. The only problem is that today is Wed. and we are leaving on Saturday to start our trip with the cruise ship leaving Monday. So, I do hope I get to read more before we leave. Thanks for all you are sharing.

[lovestx]

What a surprise for me to start reading today's post. We will be in Istanbul and we are also having Lale be our guide. I've read wonderful posts about her expertise and to actually see your post just really made me smile. The only problem is that today is Wed. and we are leaving on Saturday to start our trip with the cruise ship leaving Monday. So, I do hope I get to read more before we leave. Thanks for all you are sharing.

 

I will try to finish Istanbul tomorrow if I can. One thing I will say is that we really liked Lale....but people on CC make her out to be an absolute goddess and it's hard to meet that level of expectation no matter who you are.

 

Also, in case I don't get to it, I would send her a note NOW to say that you do not want to go to a rug factory demonstration. I didn't do that and didn't expect that we would go to one. But I think she took one look at us and our lifestyle and decided we'd be good customers for her friends. They bent over backwards for us and it was interesting....but we were very uncomfortable. We probably spent 45 minutes there and we felt bad for not buying anything. Nothing was less than $800 and some were $30,000! So if you know you don't want to buy a rug, tell Lale now :) Or if you want to see how they are made, go ahead and have her take you.

 

I envy you!!!

[lovestx]

Trying to pick up where I left off….sorry it has taken so long to get back to this.

 

After the Blue Mosque, Lale took us to see the Hagia Sofia. We were fascinated by its history—different incarnations depending on the religion—and appreciated all of the detail she provided about the mosaics and the Arabic writing. So fascinating that it started as a cathedral and then became a mosque and how the Muslims shifted their altar so that it faced Mecca. I don’t think the pictures do it justice, but here’s some to give you a taste of the enormity of the space.

 

 

 

 

We left the Hagia Sofia and went on to see the Underground Cisterns which I was really excited to see. What a sight! To walk into what appears like the entrance to a subway station on street level to then be transported to a dark, damp but cavernous area was incredible. It is amazingly large and has been restored and lit to give you a great sense of its enormity.

 

 

We probably spent about 20 minutes here and then, when exiting, Lale took us up the main street so that we could see some of the commercial area which we found fascinating. The “kebabs” of meat on skewers turning in the storefronts like we would display deli meats was quite something. And there were many restaurants like this one all over Istanbul.

 

[lovestx]

Lale suggested that we might like to see a rug factory and offered to arrange for her friends to allow us to visit. To be honest, I was not thrilled by this suggestion as I knew we didn’t want to buy a rug, but I felt at this point like we would be insulting her if we refused to go and that the rest of our day would feel uncomfortable. So off we went. Lale assured us that we should not feel pressured to buy a rug. But once we were there, we did feel uncomfortable as they welcomed us with open arms, gave us drinks, let us use their bathroom, and had probably 6 to 8 employees ‘waiting’ on us and showing us rugs.

 

We were even given a demonstration of how they weave the rugs and Kate and I were given the opportunity to try our hands at it. What an incredible amount of work that is!!!

 

 

 

If you look closely in the pictures, you can see many rugs on the ground and men in the background. All of these rugs were opened up and displayed for us by those men. We were shown rugs that ran from hundreds of dollars to $80,000! We appreciated the workmanship and it was interesting to learn about the different types of rugs, but I wish we had gone to the Spice Market instead. It just felt lousy to say “no thank you”, “no thank you”, “no, I really don’t have anywhere in my house to put a new rug” over and over again. The owner could not have been nice...we just felt bad.

 

 

We departed the rug shop and then decided to have a typical Turkish lunch in a nearby restaurant with outdoor seating. Can’t remember what we had but Lale did a nice job of picking local and tasty options for us to eat.

 

Then it was off to the Grand Bazaar. Wow! Pretty much what I expected but hard to really grasp how big it really is.

 

 

And so much of what you see you see TONS of (the same t shirts, the same lanterns, etc). We went into a few of the shops but only purchased one souvenir. We are not big on buying things for ourselves on these types of trips (need to get over that I think!) but it was interesting to see the great cultural difference between shopping in the US and shopping in Istanbul. Of course, we realized that those who live in Istanbul rarely shop in the Grand Bazaar.

[lovestx]

After the Grand Bazaar, Lale took us to the 5th Avenue/Times Square of Istanbul atop a hill on the other side of the Galatea bridge (we did this by tram and then a really cool funicular that was like a subway car that climbed up the hill).

 

 

 

 

 

Here we saw many clothing and restaurant chains that were familiar to us and many that were not. But it was interesting to see local people—the young people dress similarly to US teens/20somethings.

While we probably could have asked Lale to take us further (it was not yet 5 o’clock), we were beat and were eager to relax on the ship again. So she took us back to the street where the tram and ship were, we settled up (Lale had paid for everything in Turkish lira for us) and parted ways. We truly enjoyed her company and learned a great deal about the city, the culture and the religion. I recommend Lale highly but would arrange in advance to avoid the rug shop if you are not interested.

We had some down time at the pool upon returning to the ship and enjoyed the relative quiet as so many people were still touring. Don't we look pooped?!?

 

 

We had an early dinner in Blu. Then it was off to the Turkish Folkloric Show in the theatre. I had seriously considered doing one of the dinner shows in Istanbul that you read a lot about on CC. Thought we should see something cultural. But I am glad that we did not make that arrangement as the kids would have revolted (and we were all spent from a full day). So I was glad that we could at least seem some Turkish music and dance (and, yes, a belly dancer) on the ship.

 

 

 

Then the kids took off to watch the European Championships and we went off to the Martini Bar. There was an “Istanbul Under the Stars” party on the pool deck later in the evening but we knew we had more touring to do the next day so took a pass.

 

Expenses:

Guide 200 Euros

Museum fees, transit and tip 100Euros

Lunch 57 Euros

[Coolcruise02]

Great review! Thanks for sharing your trip with us. :)

[lovestx]

Prior to sailing, we arranged with Private Tours in Turkey to spend our second day (which was only a half day) with Kagan, Lale’s husband and the owner of the company, touring the Topkapi Palace. We met Kagan (pronounced “Kahn”) at the cruise terminal at 8:30 and found him as warm and welcoming as his wife. He studied history in college and his specialty is the Harem so we had the right person touring us. We again took the tram over to the Sultanahmet area and walked up the narrow streets to the Topkapi Palace. I thought this area looked very much like Victorian San Francisco and we were surprised to learn that some of the charming buildings (where harem girls who did not get picked to stay in the harem would go to live) are actually now a hotel. Very unique!

 

 

 

 

 

My initial impression of Topkapi Palace was that it was absolutely beautiful with wide open spaces and lovely views over the Bosphorus. One could appreciate why a Sultan would have picked it as his place to live!

 

 

 

There was a bit of a line to get into the Palace but we were through the throngs and inside in about 15 minutes. Kagan, wisely, suggested that we go directly to the Treasury buildings where the jewels were displayed as it can get very crowded. I couldn’t take pictures of the treasures but suffice to say they were mind-blowingly beautiful! The size of the emeralds was not to be believed and the gold encrusted cradle that was used for one day was amazing.

 

 

We toured the grounds a bit and then Kagan took us into the Harem which requires a separate entrance fee. The mosaic tiles and the sheer size of the harem area was fascinating. Kagan got into quite a bit of detail about the harem and how it functioned (David and Kate thought he went into FAR too much detail!) but it was interesting.

 

 

 

An example of the mosaics still found in the Harem area of the palace. This was a fireplace:

 

 

 

 

As we had to be back at the ship for a 1 p.m. sailing, Kagan took us back to dock by tram, we paid him and said our goodbyes.

 

We all agreed that Istanbul lived up to our expectations and that it is a fascinating city. We felt we got a good taste of the sights and people and were glad that we chose to do a private tour. Lale and Kagan gave us insights into Istanbul family life and the religions of the country that we would not have gotten had we toured on our own or in a larger group.

 

Expenses:

Private Guide 150Euros

Tram, museum entrance fees and tip for guide 90Euros

Total 240 Euros

[alliebrandy]

We are still enjoying your review of your vacation and the pictures are beautiful. Keep up the great work

[lovestx]

One of the highlights of our time in Istanbul was the Sailaway at 1 p.m. We went up to the Lawn thinking it would give us a nice view of all the sights and found they had placed pillows, blankets and small tables around so that we could lounge and enjoy the view. What a kick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view of Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sofia was amazing and a lovely way to be reminded of all we had seen in our short 30 hours in Istanbul.

 

 

 

 

 

We were sorry that we didn’t squeeze in a tour of the Bosphorus. Many of our friends did that on the second half day and it sounded interesting and relaxing. Guess we’ll have to go back!

 

 

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the view as we cruised back through the Dardanelle Strait. We were on to Kusadasi.

 

We probably had one of several lunches in the Buffet that day and, as usual, ate out on the Sunset Deck. The food in the buffet was very good and there are certainly all kinds of options. Most days I would make a salad of some sort and enjoy the great selections of rolls/bread. We liked that all four of us could choose what we wanted to eat and also that we had the option of getting a beer or glass of wine. Sometimes on sea days we would take an afternoon break in the Sunset Bar and grab some hors d’oeuvres.

 

We hung out by the pool that afternoon and I even joined an AquaFit class. O.k. The truth really is that I went to cool off in the pool and found myself at the start of the class so decided, what the heck, I’d give it a try. It was a better workout than I expected and a hoot to be exercising with women of all shapes and sizes! My kids loved hanging out at the bar that overlooks the pool area as they are very big on people watching!

 

Here’s a photo of our Rome transfer friend, Richie, with his ‘harem’ of pre-teen girls.

 

 

Richie had a blast with the teen club group and could be spotted all over the ship with a fun group of kids. His mom was good humored about it but I do think she got left in the dust a lot as Richie was having so much fun with the kids. CC posters frequently ask about whether Celebrity attracts many kids/teens and I would say that they do…especially starting in June when school is out. There were even very young kids in strollers on our cruise but I wouldn’t advise it given the port-intensive itinerary.

 

That evening we did our usual: dinner in Blu, kids to watch soccer and us to the Martini Bar (more on that in a separate posting).

 

This is probably a good place to mention that we (o.k. my teen daughter) became obsessed with the a cappella men’s group, Top Shelf. Our son was in an a cappella group in high school and so he enjoyed watching them perform. The guys were really talented and have been on the ship for a couple of years (with some switching off of individual performers). The performed in the atrium area but also at the Ensemble Lounge where we really enjoyed listening to them. They were very friendly and were happy to chat. They really added to our experience on the ship and we will always remember them fondly.

 

[lovestx]

So many people, hearing that we were going to the Eastern Med, had raved about Ephesus with most saying it was the biggest surprise hit of their trip. What they didn’t tell us was that it would be HOT in June. It was memorable for its history and also for its heat.

We arranged a private tour with Hello Ephesus and met our guide (whose name we really never heard) at 10:30 a.m. The port at Kusadasi is modern, clean and very convenient to the town and shops and it was pretty easy to find our guide.

 

 

 

She whisked us across the street where her driver (it was a minivan) swung around to pick us up and we were off to “Ephesus Ancient City”. If we had a Turkish lira for every time our guide said “Ephesus Ancient City”, we could have paid for our entire cruise! It became so comical that we still mention “Ephesus Ancient City” in our house at least once a week! I guess she wanted to make the distinction between Ephesus today and Ephesus Ancient City….who knows?! But it will always be part of our family lore going forward 

 

The trip to Ephesus Ancient City is about 30 to 45 minutes from Kusadasi. Kusadasi is clearly a popular beach resort and there is much development. The kids looked longingly at the huge Aquapark we passed (really did look like fun!) but we were on to the learn more history.

 

Ephesus Ancient City is situated on a pretty steep incline so the tour busses drop you off at the top and meet you at the bottom. We were given a few minutes to do some souvenir shopping (the smartly push you to buy water and hats) and we got the biggest kick out of this sign:

 

 

 

And then we were off to Ephesus Ancient City! Did I mention that it was HOT?!? We had barely started the tour and the sweat was already dripping off of us and we wore light-colored, cotton clothing. The ruins are amazing and our guide did a good job of describing everything for us and trying to find some shade to give us while we listened to the descriptions.

 

 

 

This shot gives you a sense of the crowds:

 

 

These are the ancient pipes that the Ephesians used for their indoor plumbing!

 

 

 

The walking is uneven and we were completely amazed at the folks for whom walking was challenging (we saw wheelchairs, canes and walkers). We thought it must be dangerous for older folks for whom the heat and the unstable walking would be difficult. More on that later…

[lovestx]

Everyone on CC had told us we had to spend the extra money and visit the Terrace Houses. Thank you CC…..they are definitely a highlight! I can’t remember the extra fee but it was completely worth it. To view the work that had been done to uncover the apartments and to see how advanced the Ephesians were in their thinking (indoor plumbing!) was amazing. But boy was it HOT!

 

 

The archeologists have spent years piecing together mosaic pieces and wall and floor pieces they have uncovered. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle! These tables have thousands of pieces on them!

 

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, the President of Austria was visiting the Terrace Houses just in advance of us (we missed him by minutes) because most of the excavation work is supported by public and private funds out of Austria. Still can’t figure that one out (can Americans imagine having Austria fund hiking trails in the Grand Canyon?!?) but boy am I grateful to the Austrians!

 

These photos give you a sense of the size of the Terrace House area. Multiple levels of apartments and rooms were built on top of each other. You start at the bottom and finish at the top.

 

 

 

 

It was much less stuffy once you got out of the Terrace Houses but now we were back in the direct sunlight. Did I mention that it was HOT?!?

 

I thought the Celsius Library was incredibly well preserved and this is one of my favorite family pics from the trip.

 

 

 

If memory serves me correctly we were probably on the site for about an hour or an hour and a half and I would say the walking is close to a mile….all downward. And the crowds are quite extensive but I was prepared for that.

At the bottom, there is a almost-continuously running free ‘show’ depicting the Romans as they walked triumphantly through Ephesus Ancient City and a sword battle. Kind of kitschy but we watched it from the shade of a tree.

 

 

As we were watching the shore, an ambulance (which clearly hangs out at the bottom of the hill every day) took off up the path of Ephesus Ancient City. We learned later that an older gentleman from our ship was overwhelmed by the heat and collapsed. We believe it was o.k. but it was easy to understand how that could happen. The four of us are in good shape but I was dripping sweat by the end and Kate became very overheated and felt nauseos toward the bottom of the hill. You MUST take a lot of water and a hat and drink often!!!

 

 

Our guide gave us time to watch the show and to do some more souvenir shopping. Our son found a Polo shirt that he had to have and we did a particularly lousy job of negotiating for it. Saw it for much less later on in the trip and the quality is lousy (it’s already shrunk!).

 

 

We moved on to the Temple of Artemis which is one of the seven man made wonders of the world but the President of Austria was visiting and we could not go in.

 

 

Rug Factory Alert!! Our guide then told us we were going to a rug factory….yikes! Been there, done that. And I had explicitly (thanks to guidance from CC members) told Hello Ephesus that we did not want to do a rug factory tour and I had it in writing in my papers. Interestingly, my refusal to go to the rug factory caused great consternation for our guide and she said she would have to make a phone call. Clearly these tour companies get a kick back from the rug companies to bring people to them. And maybe it usually lowers the cost of the tour. But we were able to avoid it and were back on our way to Kusadasi.

 

I think we got back to the ship at 1:30 and, after having a quick bite in the buffet, I went back out to the town on my own as it seemed very safe and convenient. I figured I had a chance to do some shopping and that was fine by me. I ended up buying my daughter a silver filigree bracelet as a souvenir from the trip. She had seen them in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but they were close to $200. I was able to buy one for 83 Euros at a shop in Kusadasi. Think I should have bargained more but that’s just not my forte. Kate loved the bracelet and wears it every day.

[suzzek]

Thank you for continuing your excellent trip review. I love your pictures and your personal insights. We will be on this itinerary beginning Nov. 5 and are so looking forward to it. I don't think we'll have to deal with large crowds and heat, as you did in June, but we will be aware of the rug factories.;)

[lovestx]

Thank you for continuing your excellent trip review. I love your pictures and your personal insights. We will be on this itinerary beginning Nov. 5 and are so looking forward to it. I don't think we'll have to deal with large crowds and heat, as you did in June, but we will be aware of the rug factories.;)

 

Lucky you! I am going to try to get a bit more done today but then will be busy for a week. So if you have questions about upcoming ports, let me know.

[jt1120]

Where was the amphitheater picture (third one in post #93) taken?

[saffy12]

It's interesting you mentioned the Austrian government being involved in the Terrace Houses. Just this weekend, we happened to go to a presentation at the Getty Villa Museum here in LA where a Dr. was giving a lecture on the Terrace Houses (they also have an ongoing exhibit on Pompeii, so we decided the day at the museum would be appropriate to prepare us for our Med cruise next month).

 

The dr. who did the presentation is supposedly the head archaeologist who manages the Terrace House excavation, an she is Austrian. Apparently she won an award last year - Scientist of the Year in Austria - so she is very popular there. Not sure which came first - if she is Austrian and this is her pet project so the government happens to put its resources there, or if the Austrian government puts its resources in Ephesus, so that's why she is there working. In any case, I didn't even think to question it until you mentioned it here (after all, there are American archaeologists that work in other countries - you have to go where the ruins are, right?) , but now I'm curious....

 

Enjoying your report - thank you for sharing!

Edited October 22, 2012 by saffy12

[Deb0702]

Great review with lots of good tips. Thank you for posting!

[ShellDil]

I'm really enjoying your review. We're going to some of the same ports next year, and will be using Kagan's company in Ephesus. I don't think we'll have him, since I believe he is only in Istanbul. But his guides in Ephesus come highly recommended.

 

Your family seems to really enjoy one another's company! I'm looking forward to to reading more!