Missed my previous Mediterranean Cruise recaps?  Check them out!

• Food & Fitness on the cruise
• Barcelona, Spain (on our 1st anniversary!)
• Tuscany, Rome & Amalfi Coast, Italy
• Athens & Santorini, Greece
• Cannes, France

And now, sadly (or maybe not so sadly, depending on whether you’ve been enjoying my recaps or not ), we are on to the last port of call during our 12 day cruise!

Ephesus, Turkey

Our final stop during the 12 day cruise was in Turkey.  I know I mentioned that there were a few places that I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Turkey?  I really didn’t know what to expect!  I loved it, absolutely loved it!

Of course, Turkey is big, and we only had the chance to see a small portion of it, but Ephesus was gorgeous!  Everything was so clean and well taken care of, and all the people were so friendly and helpful.

In the morning, we boarded a bus and were taken to The House of Mary.  For those of you who don’t know (which I didn’t), The House of Mary is said to have been the house in which The Virgin Mary passed away in.

This blew me away!  We toured the little house (no cameras were allowed) before walking around the grounds.  Everything was so peaceful and quiet!  We lit a candle and wrote out a few prayers to add to a prayer wall before making our way back to the bus.

From there, we were driven to the ruins of Ephesus II.  On the way, the tour guide explained Ephesus II to us.  Apparently these ruins were only found about 100 years ago, and the excavation is ongoing.  This little town was deserted around 500 B.C. The excavators have found shops, a library, a brothel, homes and even a little house with public toilets where men used to hold business meetings (imagine that… yuck)!

After walking around all morning, we decided to stop at a little outdoor cafe for lunch!

The afternoon was… interesting.  We had signed up to go get Turkish baths.  In my mind, I thought it was going to be like a little spa day… I was wrong.

We were all taken into a little sauna room, with a tiled table in the middle.  Thank goodness we had all brought our bathing suits… otherwise this situation would hav e taken “awkward” to a whole different level!

The Turkish man told me to lie on the table in the middle of the room, so I did as I was told.  As I was lying there, he exfolited my body from head to toe before taking a huge sponge and washing me down.  Keep in mind that this is in a room with all my in-laws, as well as about 20 strangers!

After he was done “bathing” me, I was instructed to go shower and wait in the waiting room for everyone else to be done.

I’ll admit, my skin was so soft and smooth afterwards… but would I do that again?  Nah, I’d have to skip it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Turkey, and I would love to go back!  I’ve heard that the resorts are beautiful!  Next time though, I might have to skip the Turkish bath!

Tell me something awkward that has happened to you recently!  Please!

Would you ever want to go visit Turkey?

What are you looking forward to this weekend??