zeitgeist

We had been to Sirence three weeks ago. We rented a car in Kusadasi (Avis, easy walking distance from the cruise port), drove to Ephesos, parked the car at the lower entrance, took a taxi to the upper entrance, walked down through Ephesos (including the terrace house), drove to the Artemis Temple (quick & easy), to St. John's basilica and the excellent Ephesos Museum in Selcuk.

By noon, we drove the scenic road up to Sirence and had a picnic lunch at a nice spot along the road. Sirence used to be a Greek wine growing village until the Turks conquered the area in 1922 and disloged the Greek population. Today, it has a population of about 500 people, a mosque and a church.

We drove through the longish main road to the central square of Sirence and parked our car in the nearby car park. There you are in the midst of things. Yes, Sirence is very touristy with souvenir shops and restaurants and wine sellers. If you leave the main tourist drag and walk up to the church (which was closed when we were there) you see still authentic village life. And the touristy part is not too bad. After all, we enjoyed drinking fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice for 1 Euro per glass. Yes, this is touristy, but is it bad?

After all, we found it a rewarding trip. And we had time for it, anyway.

The Splendour of the Seas has returned back to schedule after the fire last week. According to marinetraffic, she is currently in Kusadasi after steaming through the Aegean Sea with a speed of 19 knots.

Be aware that it is a crime to buy fake watches and import them to the European Union. If you debark in a European port after your cruise and it happens that you are searched by customs the watches will be confiscated and you will pay a hefty fee or even land in jail.

I have just booked a rental car from AVIS. The AVIS website displays that the office is just 500m from the cruise port. Here is the map with the exact location:

http://www.avis.de/Autovermietung/Europa/Tuerkei/Aydin/Kusadasi

I used an AWD which I found in the web and got bargain rates. They were so low that I decided to splurge and reserved a BMW 3xx @ € 67 for a day. Of course, they have much cheaper cars.

We will primarily drive to Ephesos but a rental car gives us more freedom. Maybe we will be able to include Miletus or at least we will drive a little bit into Milli Park.

I have made cruises with Celebrity, Holland America, The Royal Viking Sun and - three times - with different AIDA ships (basically, the AIDAs are very similar to each other).

Here are the differences:

- AIDA has 99% German-speaking passengers. Although virtually everybody of the staff is speaking English (many speak Engllish only, not German), the announcements and the entertainment program are in German.

- AIDA has no dining room, but several buffet-style restaurants with complimentary beer and wine plus several à-la-carte restaurants where you pay both for food and drinks.

- Entertainment on the AIDA ships is weak. They do not have the Broadway-style shows which are typical for American cruise ships. Instead, they have those pool-parties which are discotheque-style dancing parties.

- Health club and wellness are high-standard, saunas are coed and nude.

- The organized tours are with German-speaking guides.

Otherwise, the cruising experience is similar.

Note that in Italy, pizza is not a proper dinner (for dinner, Italians eat four-course menus). Pizza is rather an Italian kind of sandwich. The most typical way to eat pizza is to buy it at a street-stand and to eat it like finger-food.

In Rome, you find some good pizza stands on the main pedestrian streets in the center, e.g. on Via dei Condotti.