Summer of 2008 meant travel to Ephesus in Turkey and a visit to the Turkish bath in Istanbul to celebrate my sister, Ellen's, 50th birthday. Our journey began in Athens with a stay at the Grande Bretagne on 
Constitution Square where we dined on the terrace overlooking the Acropolis and drank Lemon Drop Martinis on the patio. We shopped in the Plaka, took a private tour through the Acropolis and finished the day with dinner on a hillside in the Plaka. We couldn't decide on a dish, so we ordered samples of fish that we handpicked from the kitchen (no joke!), some traditional Greek appetizers of hummus and stuffed grape leaves and a tasty lamb dish baked in pottery. The next day, we boarded a small cruise ship, the Silver Sea Silver Whisper, where we checked into our suites. Brad and I have enjoyed a number of memorable cruises with this popular Italian Line, but this was Ellen's first adventure. She was the life of the party for the entire cruise, quickly popular with passengers from all over the world whose names she learned quickly and whose attention they would seek at practically every cruise function. We had a spectacular time!
We arrived first in Istanbul where we took in a tour of all of the highlights of this fabulous old city 
that uniquely joins two continents, Europe and Asia and is divided by the Bosphorous River. We toured the Blue Mosque, St. Sophia, the Grand Bazaar and finished our day at the Turkish Bath immortalized in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die. If you've never been to a Turkish Bath, it is a true adventure! Ellen and I were sure when we left that we were the cleanest that we had ever been! For over an hour two large Turkish women scrubbed the skin off of us as we laid on a steamy marble wheel with nothing on but a dish cloth. Neither of them spoke English, but both were determined to scrub us clean. We laughed uncontrollably when we left. What were we thinking??? And, can you spell "staph infection"? Anyway, we checked it off of our list. Over lemon drops that evening, we exchanged stories with our husbands who were in another section of the bath house about their experience. It was just as funny, only they took a photo to share their experience. Brad said that he and Byron had a terrible time walking in their soapy wooden sandals. We all agreed that we would never do it again, but Ellen wanted to try it, and afterall it was HER birthday! The next day, we were off on a half day cruise of the Bosphorous River, a fascinating river because it divides the two continents and the homes that line it are really magnificent to view from the water. There is also a lot of boat traffic as the Turks use the waterway as a means of travel because the traffic is so bad in the city.
We also visited Patmos, the Greek island where St. John was exiled and wrote the Apocalypse. Then we sailed to Mykonos, famous for its straw topped wind mills standing like sentinels on the hillside, a bit touristy with all of the cruise traffic, but a fun place to eat and shop for gold jewelry. Then, on to gorgeous Santorini, the presumed lost city of Atlantis and one of my favorite places on the earth with its white washed buildings lining the caldera. Sailing in, these buildings looked like icing being drizzled down the sides of a cake. The sunsets were spectacular! On each island, we did some exploring, shopping and lots of eating. Each place held its own special place in our hearts when we said goodbye and came back to "the real world".
All of us agreed, this trip together made for a memorable birthday and a memorable summer!
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