September 30
In the Mediterranean, cruising west
CU 27, No. 3 Oklahoma 24. I am swilling the Hawkins koolaid as fast as I can guzzle it.
Yesterday we went to the great ruins at Ephesus. I am not sure what I expected but this site is unbelievable. The city was created by a General of Alexander's 2300 years ago, but it was the Romans who expanded it 2000 years ago to a harbor city of 250,000, at that time the second largest city on the Mediterranean. It was continuously occupied until 1100AD when it was abandoned because the sea had receded and the port had become a malaria infested estuary. Excavation began about 150 years ago and about 10% of the site has been excavated. It may take another two hundred years to unearth and reassemble all the ruins. There was the second greatest library in antiquity. (Let's see: If the books were inscribed on stone, it must have taken a twenty elephant team pulling a massive cart to check out Gone With The Wind). There was a stadium which held 24,000 spectators. Both John and Paul lived and preached here (and our guide was George. Jane searched all day for Ringo but couldn't find him.)
Our guide was a history teacher performing his second job. He was a charmer.
"I am Jawgh, your guide. You are so lucky you came today instead of yesterday. Then you would not have had Jawgh."
"Follow me, Jawgh."
"Please follow Jawgh."
"Jawgh will lead you to the best spot in the shade for photographs."
"Jawgh, you may ask, why did the peoples leave here?"
"Jawgh will tell you."
These are spectacular ruins. We were impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the tour.
However, no matter how charming, Jawgh ultimately proved to be a crass mercenary. He was supposed to have us back by noon. We had to be back on board for departure at 330PM, and Jane wanted one more shot at the grand bazaar. But instead of bringing us straight back, Jawgh took advantage of our captive status by stopping at a rug merchant (with whom I am sure he had a commission agreement) where we were subjected to an extended sales pitch. I am happy for Jawgh to make as much money as he can------on HIS time, but not on mine, when I have no choice. Bad form by Jawgh and we ended the tour with a bad taste in our mouths. At 130, an hour and one half late, we were back in the marketplace.
Girls, we will be selling most of the things we had planned to leave to you, and probably the house, too, to pay for the goods we bought. Jane is happy, though, and that is what counts.
By the way; did you see the paper today? CU 27; #3 Oklahoma 24. Koolaid. More Koolaid, please.
Guess what happened on that last trip to the bazaar? We came around the corner in a small alleway lined with shops and bars and heard a familiar sound coming from a bar. There was a small crowd of people listening to a four piece combo. The guy on the drums was joking around and getting ready to sing again. He looked familiar. He sounded familiar. He began to complain and whine that McCartney and Lennon got all the attention. We looked closely. Damn. It was Ringo. We listened for a while. He spotted us, waved, and asked us to join him onstage and participate in the next song. We demurred. There was still one credit card that had not been maxed out.
Buongeorno. Te amo.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment