8. Izmir

This is the warmest day of the trip so far at 31c. We have been on a trip to Ephesus, a large ancient city and now an archeological site and just about melted in the process. When it was first built many years BC, it was a coastal port and trading centre, but is now many miles from the sea as the river delta upon which it originally sat has silted up over the years.
The original population of Ephesus was around 200,000 people and it seemed like there were double that number exploring the ruins today. The most important, indeed famous, remaining building is the Library of Ephesus - certainly still an imposing site even if it cost me a small fortune in library fines with my book being several eons overdue.
Unfortunately we have not had an opportunity to explore more of Izmir itself as the city is so large, the traffic dense and we are somewhat limited for time. So instead we have just had a late lunch from the Lido grill together with an ice cold beer, sitting out on the open deck. There are very few things that could be more pleasant.

Yesterday evening after dinner we went to the theatre for the show - the first time we have been on this voyage. The main act were two acrobats from the Cirque du Soleil who were indeed very impressive. They were followed by an Irish singer who was singing contemporary songs in an opera style and it just didn't work. Last on stage was the Cunard troupe and we were able to see for ourselves what other guests had said - they were enthusiastic enough but not really "together". Following the show, we joined Frances at the roulette table and our run of rather flat luck continued, once again neither winning of losing. Frances, on the other hand, quickly won a small fortune.

For later in the week we have booked the alternative Jasmine dinner in the Lido and also we are going to give the Verandah restaurant another try. Reports will follow in due course!