On the morning of cruise Day 2, we slid into the Turkish port of Kusadasi.

Türkiye is a mysterious and vaguely scary place in my consciousness. Probably it’s just another country where people exactly like me live out their lives. But maybe it’s also the place I saw in Midnight Express, where shit gets real medieval real fast.

Exiting the ship, we were funneled through the obligatory bazaar. It wasn’t the actual bazaar, which is across the road. It was neat to see the Turkish lamps just like the ones we made a couple of years ago.

We skipped the organized excursion to ancient Ephesus. Lee had done research in advance, and rightly concluded that the heat and the hordes (cruise ship parking lot above) would dampen our enthusiasm for even the most remarkable ruins.

Our cruise included a bunch of earnest, clean-cut Americans on a bible-themed tour, and they were keen to see Ephesus for its association with biblical figures. I overheard a couple of men one-upping each other on Pauline Epistolary trivia over breakfast. It seemed to me that they could have skipped most of their conversation and just shot each other with smiling dagger eyes while chanting “bless your heart, bless your heart, bless your heart.” But I’m biased against such people so maybe I misread the situation.

Instead of being herded through Ephesus, we walked to the nearby Kusadasi Castle on Güvercinada Island.

The castle, mostly of 19th century construction, seems to have been little more than an outpost. Today, it houses a modest historical museum.

The exhibit came almost entirely from the collection of one man, an amateur archaeologist and collector who did a lot to establish Turkey’s archaeological profession. It features a world-leading collection of hand balances and coin scales… nerdy and cool.

After the museum, we dipped our toes in the clear Aegean waters. I brought swimming stuff on the trip, but it was in the suitcase which at this point we’d given up hope of seeing again.

That cool water felt good on Lee’s feet, which were already sore from all the walking she did in Rotterdam, and then from more walking in the wrong shoes in Athens. We went into the bazaar and found her a comfy pair of On Cloud shoes, which helped some.

And then back to the ship, passing back by the giant gold statue of Atatürk, all by noon.

We retired to the bar for colorful cocktails, had Greek salad (and many desserts) for lunch and headed to the lounge for afternoon activities. The all-purpose Cuban entertainers did some stuff, but bingo was canceled for lack of interest.

Onwards to Patmos!