Mediterranean Trip - Kusadasi & Ephesus

The next day we stopped in Kusadasi, Turkey.  Our day started bright and early with a tour we had booked through the boat.  We would be visiting Mary's house, the ancient city of Ephesus and learning all about making carpets (rugs).  

We first stopped at the Virgin Mary's house which she spent several years at and is believed to have lived at until her death.  There wasn't much to see other than the small stone house which has been converted to a house of prayer, but there were droves and droves of people. 

After Mary's house we took the coach to the ancient town of Ephesus.  The condition of this town was pretty incredible.  I was impressed by the infrastructure they had in place.  They had a sewage and water system, including toilets and other amenities which felt to be advanced for the era.  The other thing I found interesting is there were both Christian and Jewish artifacts remaining and that all evidence is that they lived in harmony within their community.

Cory's Mom, Ann, wanted Katie and I to pose in front of Aphrodite the Greek God of Fertility.  Not sure what she was trying to tell us, but we complied.  I personally thought she looked like the Grape God Dionysys since she was covered in grapes. 

We were in Ephesus for several hours before returning to Kusadasi to see a carpet weaving demonstration.  This is the part I would call the 'money making' component.  I will give it to the carpet guys though they were quite entertaining and did make some pretty nice carpets.  It's crazy to thing that a large woven carpet can take up to a year to make and it's all done by sight.  No patterns involved.  For a small fortune you could have a carpet personally made and even shipped for free.  Too bad by the time you get the carpet you may or may not be interested in still having it.  I'm pretty sure these guys are in a lucrative business.  There were 3-4 guys that seemed to be the 'workers' rolling out the carpets, etc.  Then there were 3 guys dressed in fancy clothes & shoes 'supervising' things.  They were very nice though and when Brady wasn't interested in the weaving demonstration took Brady and I on a tour of the place and got us a snack.

After the tour we walked around Kusadasi for a bit and visited the market.  I bargained for a Messi 'kit' for Brady and was excited that I got a great deal since they are regularly at least $50.   We tried it on and the 3T jersey top has to be the size of at least a 5T and the shorts I would say are about 18 - 24 months, but Brady needs to gain at least 5 pounds for the waist to fit.  Oh well, it was only $12.

We also found the oh so important playground.