Day 11 – August 16th, 2006

We continue our travels today in Turkey, this time docking in Kusadasi. We’ve decided to explore the port city on our own today, opting out of an organized tour. We slept in a bit, had some breakfast, and then got off the boat when it docked around noon. Seth’s plan was to go up to the top deck and grab a slice of pizza before getting off the boat. When we got on the elevator, he got the best surprise of the trip – the person already on the elevator was holding a Burger King cup! That could only mean one thing – there was a Burger King nearby. We skipped the pizza and he was SO excited to see a Burger King right when we got off the boat. It was like a kid in a candy shop. His eyes lit up bright and wide as he wandered in and ordered his first Whopper in two weeks (they also had a sandwich called the “Big King,” which he can’t wait to see come to the states)! See Todd, it didn’t take too long for him to find his BK!

It was going to be hard to top that excitement, but we ventured into Kusadasi anyway to see what the town had to offer. We walked up and down the streets for a while, seeing the modern part of the city, as well as the Bazaar - second in size only to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. We walked around for a while, but the people were extremely pushy in trying to get you to buy their goods. It got tiring!

After a while, we went back to the boat for some afternoon sunning and relaxing! We then tried out the ship’s steak restaurant for dinner. We were hoping it would be a better, less daring experience than the Italian specialty restaurant. We were not disappointed. Amy’s shrimp cocktail appetizer was delicious and Seth’s 22 oz. porterhouse was just what he had been waiting for the whole trip (and this was in addition to two appetizers, a salad, and a desserts – gotta love cruises)! We were pleasantly surprised by how good the food was and in a nice, relaxing atmosphere. From start to finish, this dinner took about 2 hours, as opposed to the rushed 30 minute dinners we’ve been having in the regular dining room.

After dinner we tried our hand for a bit at the casino again, and then decided to head to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow in Athens!