Kuşadası

By the time our plane touched down in Izmir, it was late morning. We easily found our shuttle driver and in a few moments we were on our way to Kuşadası. 

The driver was a young guy in his 30’s. He was trained as a tour guide and was now working part time as a shuttle driver. He spoke excellent English and was very talkative. He offered to drive us around town or anywhere we wanted to go. After our early morning, plus having survived the sleepy shuttle driver on the way to the airport and the plane ride, we were all pretty tired and didn’t really want to see anything but our hotel rooms. Sill he stopped at a

lookout point where we could take pictures of the Aegean Sea, and a bit later stopped to buy us some local fruits. We were already having some trouble trying to figure out how much to tip the guy, and now he is giving us an extra tour and buying us food. This was complicating things instead of helping us. 

The most important thing we learned from the driver had nothing to do with the area, but rather how to correctly open and eat a pomegranate. It was a simple method that takes all the laborious work out of pulling the pomegranate apart and fighting with the white membranes and creating a huge mess like most of us are accustomed to doing. In fact his way was so easy, he was encouraging us to open and eat some in the van. We all declined, but we did try it out at the hotel and to our amazement it worked like a charm.

Kuşadası is a beach resort town on western Turkey’s Aegean coast. It is a jumping-off point for visiting the classical ruins at nearby Ephesus, and also a major cruise ship destination. The seafront promenade, marina, and harbor are lined with hotels and restaurants. Just offshore on Pigeon Island is a walled Byzantine castle that once guarded the town, and is connected to the mainland via a causeway.

For the most part, the town looked like any other seaside resort community. Vendors line the promenade where visitors stroll along and watch the waves from the sea crash onto the beach as they enjoy the balmy weather. We saw many Muslim women with their heads covered in scarfs, just as we had grown accustomed to seeing in Turkey, and strangely enough, even a few were walking the seaside fully covered in their full length black burkas.

It was in Kuşadası that we met Kirstan. Kirstan is from Germany, and is a long-time friend of Mark and his family. When she was a

teenager, she stayed with Mark’s family in the states for a summer program, similar to the exchange student program. Youth from other countries could come to the Unites States for the summer, but return in time to attend their regular school back home. It was through this program that Kirstan came to stay with Mark’s family, and they have remained good friends ever since. Kirstan is married and has two sons, but only she came to join us for the week. She was a delightful addition to our group.