My European Adventure {Part 4}

On the fourth tour day we ported in Piraeus, Turkey. We then took a tour up to Ephesus. I was looking forward to this tour because I had read about Paul preaching to the Ephesians in Ephesus and I was excited to be able to stand where he stood. What was really cool was that parts of Ephesus are still being excavated so we were able to see them digging up and reconstructing the land there. I tried to maintain a conservative outfit that day as I knew that not only were we going to what I considered a holy area but it was also a muslim country and I didn't want to cause a stir by flashing the girls around (which turned out that I was fussing for nothing because although it is a muslim country, the women are not very conservative).
After our tour they took us to this rug factory, roughly the size of an IKEA, where we were able to see how they take the silk from the worms and hand weave the rugs. These rugs were gorgeous. They looked like they belonged in a palace. They took us to this back room where these workers are whipping out these carpets and spinning them in the air and it was really fun. They served us a turkish treat which is apple tea and it was so good. Then, at the end of the presentation the workers leave and in zooms all of the salesmen. It was as though each salesman was assigned to a family in the room. This guy was trying to sell me this $20,000 rug and I was just like not only do I not have the money to pay for that rug, but even if I did I could never justify paying so much money for something I'm putting my feet on. So we ask where the exit was and we're trying to leave and it's like this huge maze. We're going room to room on the way to the exit and each room is a different shop where salesmen are trying to sell us stuff and we can't find the exit and I was just like, well they drugged us with the apple tea. This is the plot of a scary movie and I am going to die here. It's going to happen. Obviously we made it out all right and it's hilarious now, but at the time I thought that my parents were going to get a call that their daughter was missing in Turkey. Other than the very demanding salesmen, Turkey was awesome. It's such a beautiful country. You are able to bargain while shopping and I love bargaining because my grandma taught me how and I think it's so much fun. The Turkish men are VERY forward and albeit very flattering to me, my aunt was getting upset that her young niece was being approached by older men. Like I said, I thought it was flattering. Creepy, but flattering.

                              Library of Celcius

The top is a lucky thrift store find and the skirt is a maxi I found at Nordstrom's rack and it has POCKETS. WHAT. You guys don't understand how excited I was to find this skirt (and it's black twin  that I also bought).

The theater Paul Preached in.