Kusadasi

Well it was a great bazaar and great shopping but one problem.  I thought I was in Viet Nam again.  Or, on the corners in Hong Kong.  The merchants practically dragged you into the stores. I have heard all the pitches in the world but there is a new one here.  My turn.  My turn.  Joan was with me and she did go into a HAL recommended store and bought a soft black leather handbag.  Beautiful and very similar to Coach bags,  They were not as pushy.  After awhile the merchants wear you down.  I was exhausted fighting them off.

There were several cafe's along the water and we sat for about two hours just enjoying the sun and talking to quite a handsome young man who was fluent in English.  He answered questions about the history of his country and was very charming.  We also talked about the lack of cruise ships and the economic harm to these merchants.  It is really sad since they rely on the tourist trade.  HAL and Seaborne are the only lines allowing their ships to go to Turkey and it appears at this time only the port of Kusadasi.  I did not feel at all unprotected except from the hungry merchants.

After a beer we were led to a shop for wallets.  Our young man took us to his cousin's workplace but the owner took over.  He was the worse.  He took all her bags and even Joan's sun glasses and sat me down to hold everything while he showed her wallets.  She didn't find one she liiked so (very common tactic) he had more upstairs and wanted her to go upstairs.  That is a no no.

Needless to say we were tired of the merchants and went back to the ship.