It’s 10:00 am under a warm beautiful blue sky and Sue and I are relaxing on the pool deck with our compulsory morning Bloody Marys discussing how to occupy ourselves these last few days. We are tied up in the small harbor in Dikili, Turkey and passengers are slowly meandering off the ship to investigate this charming fishing village and tourist port. Today’s action plan includes completing our refreshment then heading off to do a little sight seeing followed by some local cuisine at one of the many small restaurants littering the shoreline. Of course there are shore excursions to churches, ruins and markets but we’ve decided to wait until tomorrow when we arrive at our last port, Istanbul, before aggressively touring again.

In the last couple of days we’ve visited Patmos, Greece, a small tourist port where it is believed St. John the Devine wrote the Book of Revelation. This was the smallest of the ports we’ve visited and was very low key with no pushy vendors and a very relaxed atmosphere. Following our visit to Patmos we spent the entire day from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm in Kusadasi, Turkey, for access to the magnificently preserved ruins of Ephesus and where Mary, mother of Jesus, spent her final days. Kusadasi is a very lively port city and negotiating your way through the carpet, jewelry and trinket vendors can be somewhat challenging. The day culminated with a wonderful event sponsored by Azamara Cruises.

The cruise line offered a complimentary excursion out to Cittantica Ephesus Park to a replica of the spectacular Temple of Artemis for what they dubbed an “Azamazing Evening”. Once off the buses we were met with a welcome drink, local beer, wine or fruit juice served by tour guides all dressed in historic toga costumes. We were then ushered into the the temple where we enjoyed an evening of Roman era entertainment including a short play featuring Mark Antony, Cleopatra, gladiators, jugglers, dancers and musicians. I must say this was a highlight for us and very interesting to see a recreation of what these ruins may have looked like at one time. We were told that the event was prepared exclusively for Azamara and this was the first of only two performances all performed by local actors, dancers and musicians. An absolutely wonderful experience. Our next report will be coming to you from exciting Istanbul, Turkey!