Shopping and end of day

We then proceeded to do some shopping in the Christian quarter, the Muslim quarter and the Jewish quarter. Interestingly enough one of the merchants in the Muslim quarter had an interesting tactic to selling. He basically didn't want you in his store but when you tried to leave he called you back, saying it was a joke. Unfortunately I saw a cute little purse I liked in this store so I asked the price. He started at $15. I countered with $3 he said $10 so I left with him calling after me, lowering the price down a dollar each time. When he got to $3, I was several stores away but I turned around to buy it. When I got back in the store he said, no that one was $5 this other one was $3. I asked him why he called me back with my broken toe when he wasn't going to sell it. He proceeded to yell at me that I should have just stayed home, why did I come out of my house? Of course I left. But later I came up with the perfect thing to ask him. Why does he sit in a
shop all day, just to be rude to the customer so he doesn't sell anything? It is a waste of time. He should sell his store to someone who is interested in selling items.

Needless to say it didn't feel like Jerusalem was quite ready to be a prime time tourist site as the people were more interested in expressing their displeasure with those visiting than making them feel welcome and selling them souvenirs.

At this point we were all beat so we exited the city via the Zion gate (I think) with an overview by the guide of it's history and defense along with having the bullet holes pointed out.

On our way to the bus two guys with postcard descended on me and I found my waist bag unzipped at the end. It did not appear anything had been taken. I thought it was a little weird that they should both try to work the same person to sell the cards but now I think it was a pick pocket attempt. Luckily I did not have wallet that they could take out of it. Of course it may have been that I had not zipped it back up when I put my camera into it because I was so tired.

Beautiful Turkey

The weather in Turkey was gorgeous. It was a perfect, warm fall day. Surprisingly the terrain looked very similar to Colorado despite it being a much warmer climate.

I had arranged for a private tour through a fellow member of cruise critic. Unfortunately this member wasn't quite convinced they were going to go so had sent some msgs to that affect to the guide. Understandably the guide who had rented a car and hired a driver for the occasion wasn't too thrilled with this wishy washyness. In addition, we who were going along weren't to thrilled as the price went up for each canceled person. The end result was on the day of the tour our group went from 10 to 6 (the organizer backed out because his friends canceled) and everyone was a bit confused. I think this may have affected the guide's tour as he gave a mediocre (at best) tour.

But on to the sites! The six of us who were going piled into a great big mini-bus with plenty of room. Our first stop was the ruins of Ephesus (pic. 1). This was a wonderful spot. The ruins are gradually being rebuilt and in future years it should be even more spectacular. Pic. 2 is of some of the drain or water pipes that used to run under the city. Pic. 3 is of an arch that framed some beautiful cypress trees.

Ephesus

There were lots of interesting little details to see at Ephesus. Pic. 1 shows the goddess Nike. Pic. 2 shows some of the partially rebuilt ruins. Pic. 3 is of a statue.

Terrace Houses

A highlight of the Ephesus ruins is the Terrace Houses. These were large hillside homes being excavated from under the hillside. The interiors are being painstakingly reconstructed from the original materials that is uncovered as they are excavated.

Terrace House details.

Pic. 1 is of a floor mosaic. Pic. 2 is of a bird painting. Just about every room had interesting floor mosaics and wall paintings or marble slab decorations.

The library and marketplace

Just outside the Terrace Houses was a partially rebuilt library with stunning detail (pic. 1). Beside this was the remains of the marketplace (pic. 2). This had many shops (pic. 3). White marble roads connected all the main areas of town. One lead us to the large stadium (pic. 4). We were treated to an impromptu concert when some men on another tour got on stage and started singing. They had fabulous voices and may have been professionals.

Lunch and Mary's House

We then went to lunch at a wonderful local restaurant where I got the vegetable salad sampler plate and chicken kabobs. The veggie salads were amazingly wonderful. Very tasty! Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of them until they were half gone.

We then proceeded to Mary's House (pic. 1). This is known as the final place that Mary lived before her death. They have several springs representing good health, wealth and wisdom to drink from. There was also a prayer wall.

From there we went to a leather jacket factory for a fashion show and some shopping. I didn't see anything I liked but 4 members of our tour group did and took home 4 jackets.