August 2 Kusadasi, Turkey

 August 2, Tuesday - Kusadasi, Turkey 

My how the 9 years since our last visit here have changed the city. Leaving the ship you are now required to pass through a myriad of shops. We succeeded in running the gauntlet without entering a single shop. That doesn’t mean we were not cajoled. The aggressive shopkeepers don’t take no for an answer as they give you the it will only take a minute hustle. 

Safely out of the terminal area, we walked to the fort on Pigeon Island. This compact fort was very inviting until we saw the stairs. We agreed that these would not serve Alice well. We got our pictures and returned to city center. 

This was also changed from what we remembered. There were more vendors than before and their shops were better organized. We stopped at one shop that looked like the one where we bought a pendant and earrings for Alice in 2010. They did not have any porcelain work available. They did make sure that we knew they could repair Alice’s pieces if necessary. 

Now we headed into the new to us bazaars. Here the crowds of shoppers were almost matched by the number of vendors. I did not find anything of interest to us. 

We found the central mosque and admired it. Then we were off to a neighborhood. The homes and parks were very nice. Then we were back at the waterfront. Near us was a rocky beach. On the concrete pier was a sculpture of a large hand grasping birds. Just beyond that was garden with about 20 sculpted pieces. 

Near the terminal was a fish market. The day’s catch had just been laid out. It looked beautiful. Men from the local restaurants were buying for the catch of the day. What an experience. 

Our walk was good. The sights were different. And we did not buy anything. 

We had a fine day.