So this is one of the three ports we got in lieu of Israel. There's nothing here. The port is about 8 miles from the center of town so they have to bus us in. Only two buses so it takes along time. We have breakfast, do a few chores and head down to the cruise terminal. We get on the bus at noon and make the ride into town. We get off and Mom waits under a shade tree because it's hot, maybe 90, while I look for something to see. I take a few shots ...

So now these next 4 days are all different from our original schedule. Today was supposed to be a sea day followed by two days in Israel. Then a sea day and Crete. Now that Israel is out of our itinerary, we are not having a sea day today and Mom was counting on that. You see, she has been having problems with irregularity so finally, last night, after holding off for so long, she ate 20 prunes and 3 glasses of prune juice. Today she was out. In the morning...

Today we visited Ephesus, an old city with history from Romans, Greeks, Turks and biblical ties too. After breakfast, we left the ship at 8:30am on a bus. Our first stop was high on a hill overlooking Ephesus, the last home of the Virgin Mary. After the death of Jesus, John the apostle was given the responsibility of caring for Mary and he took her with him to Ephesus. Later she was moved to a home in the mountains where she spent her last days. It was a be...

Wow!  What a kind day for me!!! Finally the security of the ship to return to and thank God no more lugging that suitcase up and down stairs. I swear, Al has muscles he never had before and now I can climb stairs almost as good as normal people from all the practice. The day started with some real food that I finally recognized. We decided that since we had one more day in Istanbul and kinda new our way around the tram system that we would take the tram to t...

It has come to my attention that very often some of my plans, although well thought out beforehand, never come to fruition. This has been another city where my list of possibilities was greater than the list of accomplishments. Yesterday, our first day in Istanbul after disembarking the train, we spent the morning with the pharmacy and recuperation of our energy stockpiles. I had pre-purchased tickets to the Topkapi Palace prior to leaving home for about $60. ...