Kusadasi and Ephesus, Turkey

We have been exploring on our own until Turkey but since we had not been there before we hired a small group guide. As it turned out, the small group was just Terri and Me, perfect!

We found our guide after exiting the ship and she guided us to a Mercedes Sprinter Limo conversion, very nice. Our guide, Neslihan, (pronounced Nestle’), was a mother of two teenage boys, she guided 7 months of the year and taught Tourist guiding the other 5 months of the year at the university.

First stop, Ephesus, once an ancient port city of 300,000 now just home to a few cats and dogs.

After our extensive private tour of Ephesus we departed for a traditional Turkish lunch and to watch the rug weavers.

On the way to Ephesus, Terri spotted a Hammam and asked Neslihan what it was. She explained the basics between what is a Hammam and what we westerners call a Turkish bath. It sounded great, so great that we had Neslihan book us an appointment for after our tour.

Neslihan dropped us off at the Hammam, made sure they understood our wishes and she arranged transport for us back to the ship.

We were each given a towel and a piece of cloth and shown to the dressing rooms. We were to wear nothing underneath and I was told if the cloth was too small, (it was), to wrap myself in the towel.

We started in the hot sauna for a few minutes and then it was off to a “couples” room where we could have the experience together.

We were placed on a large slab of warm granite, had water poured on us then buckets full of suds. Then the scrubbing began, we felt fully exfoliated from head to toe barely missing a spot.

Then it was time to roll-over, not an easy thing for me to do, I was slippin’ and a sliding!

Once we were fully cleansed it was time for the massage. Not a bad way to end the day in Turkey. Sorry, no photos of the us in the Hammam.