Kusudasi

You know....i must say...i feel prouf of muself to somehow be on track again with my blog....but it is just very difficult if there is a lot of other things going on...but anyway...now i have time and i want to write about Kusudasi....i was not super excited for this port....yes, i was looking forward to a new port but Turkey is not my favourite country...for me...the food is not wow...and people are not so wow....i also do not like the bazaars everywher....i mean in Italy i can have good food...and i can have a good cappuccino when i want and an Aperol Spritz....or some other aperitifo....sometimes or often in Turkey they do not even understand the word cappuccino....anyway...so yes...i was looking forward to a new port but i was npt super excited...kim said he would join us for a dinner...so my gran and i decided to check the internet a little before arrival at 13:00....check what there was to do other than the bazaar.....and suddenly we stumbled upon these pics of a beautiful mountain village called Sirince...and it said it was only 35km from Kusudasi....so guess what my gran and i decided to do...explore this beautiful village.....

The taxi drivers hassled us outside the port so we walked a little away...i had checked the internet a little and the price to Ephesus was 50tL one way (Sirince a little further)....the first taxi driver i asked stated 200 Euros....so i said 200 Turkish Lira...he then repeated Euros...i was like no way buddy....nice try....so as mentioned we walked a little further and then another taxi driver saw us and said he would do it for 150 Turkish Lira....finally we reached the right amount.....and oh boy....we were lucky with what a driver we got....he was amazing....just fabulous....let me start our trip now....first he drove us to Sirince...on the way explaining a little about Turkey 95% Muslim and 5% other religions....Turkey has a population of 74million and Kusudasi about 65 000 but in summer it goes to close to a million.....i also asked that i heard Sirince was famous for fruit wines and he stated that he would take us around in Sirince and show us....so we thought...hmmmm...we dont like that, but lets see how it goes if we dont like it we can always say enough....to arrive in Sirince we had to drive up narrow streets...windy streets....saw a lot of fruit farming....from peaches to figs and also olives....beautiful...i thought for a second i was somehow in the tuscany....did not remind me of turkey at all.....we arrived in Sirince and has promised he started our guided tour....and what amazed me...he didnt push us to buy...there was no hassling us...it was extremly pleasant...when Mutti had difficulty walking the very steep pathways down (which are slipery), he helped her the whole way...i was truely amazed...the village was beautiful...car-free...and all the narrow streets lined with wooded shops...very beautiful...i really did not think i was in Turkey at all...but before i continue..let me share some pics....

Sirence...narrow streets

Mutti at one of the stalls in Sirence

Then it was time for some fruit wine tasting, he stated that he would take us to a friend of his for some fruit wine taasting....i decided not to ask how much it would cost...but Mutti and i chose to just go with the flow...the little place was so quaint...let me share two pics with you....

The shop where we tasted fruit wines

Mutti and me waiting for our fruit wine tasting

Mutti and i received 9 shot glasses of different fruit wines....they are all sweet and are best drunk as dessert wines...damn...when i tasted them i thought of my mom...she would have loved them....ranging from apple to quince, to peach to sweet wine to mandarine (white fruit wines) to strawberry, blackberry, mulberry and cherry (red fruit wines)....my best...the apple one...divine.....and then he even gave us a red and two white dry wines to taste....they were rather light but pleasant....apparently he produces the wines himself, it is gamily owned and they do not export as they are very small....i asked how much a bottle was...and decided i would purchase a bottle of the apple fruit wine....and to our surpise the tasting didnt cost anything...wow....amazing....we were just loving our day out

Fruit wine tasting

Next Kadir took us to the church....strolling again through the narrow pathways....up from the church we got an amazing view....just wow....

Sirence

Church

After exploring the village...kadir stated that he would take us back but we would drive through Selcuk because he wanted to show us an old mosque...wow....how amazing....

Walking through Sirence

We drove to Selcuk which was only about 15min away and Kadir even took us inside the Isabey mosque explaining a little bit to us....it was built by Aydindis in 1375.

Isabya mosque

Last but not least...he took us to Artemis temple....of what there is remaining...interesting again.....and again he took us there for the view....showing us the beautiful view of Selcuk...with the grand fortress of Selcuk on Ayasoluk Hill, the Ottoman castle, right in the back...infront of it the St John Basilica and then the isabey mosque and right in the front the column of the remains of Artemis temple...amazing...the Artemis temple is right by Ephesus...and to think Ephesus was once a city boardering on the sea and now it is inland...just amazing...

At Artemis temple

Before getting back in the car...he showed us mulberry both green and black ones and we got to taste....divine....and the green as well as the black are ripe...very nice..let me share another pic with you....

Mulberry

Then it was time to head back cause we were meeting kim for some dinner....hmmmm...lets see what we would get....last stop was another view point where we had an amazing view of the ship.....

Norwegian Spirit

We met kim outside the port and chose a restaurant at the sea front....they had yumie looking meze salads...so we chose some of them with fresh bread and kim also ordered a lamb kebab..i must say...some were really nice...i love aubergine...so i loved the fried aubergine as well as the grilled aubergine in tomato...actually delicious....

Some of our food

After that...a stroll through the main area of the bazaar and some nut shopping...of course the ones that i love from Izmir...the peanuts with the skin still on and a lot of coarse salt...yummie...then...time for the ship...and time for a prosecco with Mutti....what a surprising day out...totally unexpected....