Kusadasi, Turkey TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Trips Kusadasi, Turkey Date: May 17, 2025

Day 13 Kusadasi, Turkey: Last shore Day, May 17, 2025 NCL Viva

Our last shore day was in Kusadasi, Turkey. There was one thing we had planned for today that’s visiting the Virgin Mary’s house. We kiddingly told a priest back home they invented the stop a few years ago. He told us NO, Virgin Mary followed St Johns and his travels who was known to be building churches in that area. OK, now with nothing ELSE to do we have to see her place.

The guy upstairs must have been watching over us last night. I got a text from Selahattin Sivri at midnight at +90 505 232 4187 asking if we wanted to go on a tour. At 6AM I texted him sure. When we got off the ship at 8AM he had not responded. So, we walked up to the NCL Bus and asked if they had room. They did not.

So, we walked out to the taxi area. On the way Selahattin came up to us with my profile picture on his phone and said are you Dennis? I said yes. He said I am Selahattin my car is right here. He charged us $25 for a few hours just me & E. Now we did NOT go into the compound of the Virgin Mary, but we photographed it. He said it would have been an extra $15 each. On the last day of our cruise that was fine. I was feeling a bit sick, so we were fine with that. There were SEVERAL things we did not do on the two-hour ride, had I not been under the weather.

Selahattin took us up to the hill to a bronze statue overlooking the city next to the Kusadasi sign that looked like the Hollywood sign on the hill. The Bronze statue was of Yurt Sevgisi the president when the current state of Turkey was created after WWI.  From there was a great view of the fort at the entrance of Kusadasi harbor built by the Knights Templer (Remember The search for the Ark & the Holy Grail knights) to protect the European travelers to the Holy Land.  We also stopped by a statue created as a tribute to the Virgin Mary.

On the way to the Virgin Mary’s House, we traveled past a Ramada Inn and a few hotels in the latest designs. Next to one was the Man’s Beach. And next to another was the woman’s beach.

At the same time, we got a short lesson in International Relations and Safety. Do you recall the protests currently on U.S. campuses about the RIGHTS of the Palestinians? Well not too far south of Palestine and in Istanbul is very full of Palestinians. Selahattin advised if asked where we were from, we should say Canadians. As a US Vet who has a lit flag in front of our house in MN, I guess instead I will need to make sure I don’t hear the question. And it MIGHT affect when we use the $ and Euros we have left. When in Rome! But STILL!

Selahattin then took us to a rug making place. Most of the trip was a tour of shops to get us to buy things. But hey we had time. At the rug making place they showed us 4’x8’ $10K rugs that took a year to make ONE string at a time.

They also showed us a silk making process from silkworms and the history of getting silkworms out of China. There was also a dying station to dye silk and wool with local materials to make colors. It was fascinating to see what I had read about firsthand. Though they showed us many rugs to purchase. A 2’x3’ rug the cheapest they had was $250. BUT they would last a lifetime. Which is less than 20 years for us… lol.

Next, we were taken past the temple of Artemus. Or the remains of it. We were told the best parts were in the British Museum. I also read recently that at one of the great temples somewhere in the world the locals were giving the Brits pieces of Temples to preserve them else the locals would simply carve said pieces into cannon balls to throw at the enemy. I guess you use what you HAVE!

Driving around the country we saw what a great agricultural area Turkey is. We saw farms with acres of: Oranges, Apples, Figs, Olives, Grapes and Pomegranates. Many of these were used at the spices shop we stopped at.

After we returned to the city we shopped the local shops. We bought two metal license plates with Turkey and Istanbul on them to put on our back deck as memories of you and this cruise.

One quick unrelated note in closing. We were asked by our Bartender to respond to the email survey you will be receiving. They are read in Miami at NCL Corporate Office and are thought of much more importantly than the paper surveys we have filled out. It affects their future pay. And Please, Please, PLEASE take a few $20 and hand them to anyone that regularly gave us great service. We don’t have a basis but gave our room guy $100, don’t know if that is right or wrong, but it’s something. These people work hard to make our days fun. Thank You. And thank you for reading and commenting on my daily’s. It was fun and in about 40 hours I need to return to designing computer chips for space as I am sure you too are looking forward to returning to your life.

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com