The order of ports has been changed because of the wind and high waves expected around Mykonos so we are sailing to Kusadasi in Turkey before Athens and Mykonos. We enjoyed Kusadasi when we had three days there on the Albatross tour. Last time it was very hot and we were able to swim and relax by the pool. This time it is cooler and very windy. We enjoyed the bazaar and doing some bargaining knowing if they accept your price it is already overpriced. Everybody k...

After a 9 days away we are still both sneezing and coughing and putting it down to the air conditioning. Smoking hasn't been as bad a problem as expected which is good for me. Our hotel in Kusadasi is a resort and absolutely packed with English, Germans, Russians and Belgians. They get cheap packages that includes breakfast and dinner for less than half of what Turkish people would pay. We have a laugh as in the morning they line up for half an hour before the ...

Today half our your group returned to Istanbul and thirteen of us headed for Kusadasi, it was a drive of 500 km but we saw lots of the countryside and had plenty of stops for refreshments. The highlight was a visit to the Acropolis of Pergamum and the Temple of Trajan at Bergama. It had been a Greek and also a Roman city originally founded about 301BC. The ruins have been restored in places using the original marble and stone. We were able to get to the site by c...