Days 6-7: Kusadasi Turkiye and Dardanelles

Day 6 (May 4): Kusadasi, Turkiye 

Today we arrived in Kusadasi.

We booked a private tour to Ephesus that also included Turkish food tasting.

After being picked up at the port, we stopped at Selçuk, where we bought local olives, cheese, honey, and simit (Turkish bagels); one was filled with tahini. We then enjoyed our breakfast and Turkish tea outside near the aquaducts.

it was cool to see stork nests on top of the aquaducts.

After breakfast, we visited Ephesus.

After leaving Ephesus, we stopped to taste a variety of lokum (Turkish delight) then headed back to Selçuk to see a few historic sites, including the outside of St. John Basilica and a small mosque 

And then visiting the larger Isabey Mosque.

For lunch we had döner kebabs, kokoreç (grilled lamb offal), 

and çiğ köfte (the bulgar version).

We then sampled several types of baklava for dessert and made the obligatory stop to shop for a Turkish rug and enjoyed Turkish coffee and hot apple tea.

After the tour, we wandered around around Kusadasi before returning to the ship.

Once back on the ship, I went to the thermal spa to soak out the aches and Steve wandered about. I returned to my room to find a wet spot on the floor in front of the bathroom, which I incorrectly assumed Steve made when stepping out of the shower.

We went to dinner and the food was very disappointing. To top it off, my glass of wine had bottom of bottle sludge!!

When we returned to the room,  the floor was still wet, so we placed a towel over it before going to bed.

Day 7 (May 5):  At Sea - Cruising the Dardanelles 

Today is a much needed sea day but it has been anything but relaxing. The wet spot was wetter, so we called maintenance. It turns out that our cabin and the cabin next to us (and maybe others?) are experiencing a leak. Maintenance claims to have fixed it, and placed a large fan in our room to dry it out by blowing the water around our whole room. Steve has been "trapped" in the cabin so the door can remain open.

It didn't dry out and started to stink, so we needed to pack everything up and change rooms....and then solve all the cleaning and maintenance issues with the new room. 

Then, guest services kept calling the room to check on everything but would only let the phone ring 2-3 times, so by the time I answered the phone, they were hanging up. And as soon as I got comfortable, they would repeat the process. I finally answered in time and asked them to stop calling so I could nap. As soon as I laid down, a different guest services person called. Then I tried to nap again and my room steward knocked!!!!

At this point, I'm less than impressed with Holland America.

Our room steward did leave us this during turn down service, in an attempt to make up for all the inconveniences