A Little Turkey and Not Nearly Enough Greece

Two of the most exotic stops on this cruise were Kusadasi, Turkey and Mykonos, Greece. Since we were working until the wee hours of the morning every night, we didn't get to spend the whole day outside in these places, but we managed to do some wandering, and of course, eat!

Kusadasi had a market that made my heart beat fast (haha) but we unfortunately ran out of time before I could explore it.
This is the restaurant we ate at, which served excellent Turkish/Mediterranean food, some of it very similar to what we eat in Israel. We had appetizers and spreads made of eggplant and other vegetables, kababs, rice, veggies, baklava, Turkish coffee and tea. It cost us $20.

Chillin'...

Turkish style tea, hot and strong.
When in Turkey..... you have to try the Turkish coffee. It was strong, thick and grainy but strangely tasty.
Turkish Delight for sale. I bought a small box but wish I had bought more, since it was quite tasty.
Oh, the money I could spend here...

I thought this was interesting... Evil eyes are HUGE in Turkey, as in pretty much all Mediterranean cultures. Everywhere you look there are magnets, jewelery and ornaments featuring the eye. It's meaning is similar to that of the hamsa, it is used to protect against the "Evil Eye" from others. In Kusadasi there was an entire street with coffee cup sized evil eyes embedded in the sidewalk.

Greece was a dream. So picturesque, so beautiful and romantic and ancient. Full of little white churches and bright blue doors. I loved Mykonos, the island we visited. It only made me more excited to visit other Greek islands someday.

The tiny, labyrinthian streets were built deliberately to confuse pirates who would attack the islands hundreds of years ago.

Now they're filled with quaint little shops, restaurants and bars.

For dinner we wandered down to the Little Venice area of town, where the buildings are built almost in the water and you can sit at a table a foot away from the ocean. Mykonos is also famous for the windmills in the background.

This was our table with a view.

We sat for hours, eating delicious food and admiring the sunset and magnificent scenery. Jack said it felt like Heaven. It was pretty hard to leave.