Day 10: Stormy Waters to solid ground. Patmos to Kusadasi

This morning it was the last day readers for Kalemera as we say “ef-harry-stos” to Greece and head off to continue our pilgrimage in Turkey. I was unsure what to expect both of Turkey and of the boat crossing and both certainly delivered the unexpected. When we arrived at the dock the ferry pulled in. Smaller than the Manly ferry, it rocked and swayed on the waves in Patmos harbour. Not looking so good at this point. The deckhand lashed all the bags together on the lower rear deck…. Hmmm thinks I, not looking so good at this point either. As we moved further out into open waters the rocking became diabolical, waves in all directions and we were buffeted. If this were a Manly ferry it would not have been running in these conditions, but we had all given up any concept of Greek OHS days ago. Faces started turning green. It is not a good feeling to be an hour or so into the journey and to feel like saying “OK, stop it now, I have had enough, I am getting off NOW!!!” and certainly that was the sentiment expressed by many when we got to the other end. Thank heavens we had Florence Nightingale in the persons of Cathy and Christina who helped all of us who ended up in various “sick bays” around the ferry. The sign on the dock when we docked at Kusadasi was a magic sight. WELCOME TO TURKEY… dry land at last. It would take the rest of the day to reestablish my land legs. 

Our guide Aret greeted us and explained that Kusadasi is actually pronounced Kushadasi. A quick stop at the Marina hotel to drop the bags and freshen up after our ordeal revealed a really lovely hotel with magnificent views of the Aegean from our balcony… hmmmm maybe there will be an Aegean sunset yet. Back on the bus and off to Miletus, an important archaeological site, but not before stopping at a Sizzler style restaurant for lunch. There was one slight problem today… it was Turkish national children’s day and all over the place were large groups of kids out on outings. The first restaurant we stopped at had about 200 marauding kids trying to get fed. It sounded like year 7 camp dining room all over again. So we moved on to the second restaurant down the road which seemed much more civilized and for 9 Euro we were fed lots of salad, stewed artichoke, chicken and some other indeterminate type of meat and wobbly Turkish desserts. Then to Miletus.

This is a site not far from Ephesus. It has a very well preserved theatre area, evidence of Roman baths which are fabulous and reminded me of a more primitively preserved form of the Roman baths in Bath. There is also evidence of the rectangular grid road pattern used in so many cities with the road edges being clearly outlined. It is a small site but very interesting… especially the baths.

We were feeling pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel and because we hadn’t been able to have mass on the boat ( as Sam said we were really having prayer of the senses!!) we had to gather for Mass before dinner. As we sat in the conference centre we celebrated Eucharist with an Aegean sunset panorama to look at behind the Cardinal, so while there are no photos to prove it, it was a very special added extra to our celebration of Mass. In the middle of Mass the call to prayer rang out from the local mosque… the prayers of two traditions rising heavenward together. Special prayers were prayed for Michaela and Peter on their wedding day and then off to dinner. Dinner was an interesting mix of unknown salads, some lovely fresh vegetables and grilled chicken which was very tasty… not to mention the crème caramel style desert. It was arranged that we would go for a walk down into the town. There is not much to see except for a restaurant strip, but it was nice to share the walk with about 12 fellow pilgrims. As his Eminence noted, the hill seemed much steeper on the way back up it!  And then washing (of course) and off to bed at the end of a very very long and personally challenging day.