Mykonos, Kusadasi Turkey, Patmos Day 1 and 2 Cruise

Day 1 & 2 Greek Cruise

Mykonos

After being in Athens for two days we were ready to get to the Greek Islands and be on our cruise ship. The first hour was pretty hectic on the cruise ship. You have a meeting right when you get on the ship giving you all the information you need about the cruise and then you have a safety drill where you have to go stand in front of your life boat with your life jackets on in case of an emergency. We were ready to get on the cruise ship and relax and have a drink and all of a sudden we felt like we were back in school with meetings and safety drills scheduled right off the bat. Once we were done with all the necessary meetings and drills we were able to relax and enjoy the view on our way to our first stop in Mykonos. We weren't expecting much from Mykonos because we weren't getting to the port until 7 and we had to be back on the boat by 11:30. We were mistaken about Mykonos. It was one of our two favorite places out of the whole cruise. It was what you would expect Greece to look like with the white villages and right on the sea with beautiful views. It had the greatest shopping out of all the islands visited in my opinion and wonderful restaurants to choose from. After we walked around the village we decided to choose a waterfront restaurant and enjoyed the view and Greek cuisine. In the slide show you will see two things we thought were very interesting in Mykonos. First off, octopus is a very popular dish in Greece. Clifton and I were not brave enough to try it but we took a picture of the octopus on the grill and a few ready to be thrown on the grill. The other thing we loved was the massive pelican we got a picture of. The pelican is an integral part of the island and is considered the mascot of the island. It's name is Petros or Peter and is usually seen along the harbor which is where we got the picture of it. We were so sad to leave Mykonos but it was definitely a great start to our cruise.

Kusadasi, Turkey

The next morning we arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey where we had booked an excursion to see the House of the Virgin Mary and Ephesus. Our first stop was the House of the Virgin Mary which is believed to be where the Virgin Mary lived and died. It is an amazing story but entirely too long for me to fit in this blog for how this house was believed to be where the Virgin Mary lived and died. Here is a link to find out more information about this sacred site. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-house-of-the-virgin

After we visited the house of the Virgin Mary we took off towards Ephesus. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, it was for many years the second largest city of the Roman Empire; ranking behind Rome, the empire's capital. Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it the second largest city in the world. This was another great sight to see. Only 20% of the actually Ephesus city has been found and they are finding more and more every year.

There were so many objects like tombs, statues, pedestals, lying around that had been

excavated. It was incredible to take a tour through this area that again had so much history. After

Ephesus we took our bus back to the city and walked through some of the stores. We

were warned that you need to bargain with the Turkish people trying to sell you things and that

some of the stores will rip you off. These people in front of the stores were so aggressive and

made you not want to walk into their stores. I did walk in a couple of stores that didn't have the

aggressive sales men and women in front of the store and I had my first experience of haggling.

Clifton was so proud of me. I really wanted this hand painted mirror but it was 20 euro and I said

10 euro and she said 15 euro and that is final and I actually walked out but was soon chased by

the woman and offered 13 euro where I said sold. I do not haggle with anything. If I see a price

and I like it I buy it and that goes with cars and houses. I am pretty much told by my husband to

be quiet when house shopping or looking at anything to where you can come down on the price.

After this purchase Clifton said to me I am so proud of you and just couldn't believe that I walked

out of the store. He had nothing to do with my bargaining. So one of the pictures in the

slide show is of my victory at the store. This picture might actually be framed and placed next to

my amazing purchase! hehe!

Patmos

After Turkey we headed towards Patmos where we had another excursion booked to see the cave

of the Apocalypse and St. Johns Monastery. After our visit to Turkey and Patmos we felt like we

had seen so much history in one day. The cave of the Apocalypse is believed to mark the spot where St. John received his visions from Christ that he recorded in the Book of Revelation. After

the grotto or cave we then went

to St. Johns Monastery.The Monastery of St. John the Divine also known as the Monastery of St. John the Theologian, is a fortified Orthodox monastery. Both places were incredible and Patmos is the third most sacred city in the world.

These three cities I have written about were all amazing and different. Mykonos was great shopping, food and nightlife and then Kusadasi and Patmos were very sacred cities with incredible history. Our first two days in the Greek Islands were enlightening and brilliant.