1 column wonder of the world and carpet factory

By this time we were pretty exhausted so when we stopped at the 1 column former wonder of the world (there were originally 127 columns but just 1 today) we didn't get out of the van, just looked at the recreated picture of it. Our last stop was a carpet school. The presentation was interesting and covered everything from the original cocoon (pic 1) to the finished product (pic. 2).

All in all it was a wonderful day despite our guide being somewhat "flat". But it is hard to blame him when his original client bails with no notice and the rest of us are left holding the bag for what turned out to be a much more expensive tour than we thought. Hopefully I will come again and get a more lively guide who provides more interesting information and local color. Perhaps at the end of the season the guides are burnt out. Interestingly enough the guide put in a plug for tipping the driver who had made himself scarce as we got in and out of the van but showed up at the last drop off hoping for a tip. Considering he never once offered to help any of us in or out the entire time I had no problem passing him by.

After the tour we shopped at the bazaar surrounding the port. This was a mistake as everything was way over priced. I did find a lovely leather jacket for $1000 which I left in Turkey because it was too expensive. Unfortunately the carpets at the carpet school were not to my taste. I will perhaps find one in Egypt.

I do wish I had done a little bit of trinket shopping at the sites as they appeared to have a much larger selection of goods than the overpriced bazaar near the ship with it's multitude of stores, all carrying the same things. Maybe next time.

Back on the ship I was exhausted from navigating the ruins with my broken toe and cane. As a result we ordered dinner delivered to the room and ate it on the balcony. It was a lovely warm night.