To the Ephesus Ruins!

August 28^th, 2011

My morning began with an early morning workout before the boat docked. I hit the gym nice and early so I would be ready to tour the fabulous ruins of Ephesus, Turkey. Today I wanted my cross training to involve plenty of leg and abdominal workouts in a jam-packed calorie burning workout. I have listed my workout for today at the end of this entry.

I was off to explore the best preserved ruins in all of the Mediterranean today. My day began with a scenic motorcoach ride from the port city of Kusadasi and past the Byzantine fortress in Selcuk to the house of the Virgin Mary. We traveled through the picturesque Solmissos Mountains and saw the Adaland waterpark that claimed to be the biggest in all of Europe, the one problem with it being that geographically, the waterpark was in Asia not Europe.

We traversed the ruins on a downhill walk of the city, stopping and awing every step of the way. Our guide highlighted the best archeological finds throughout our journey through the ruins, particularly highlighting how technologically advanced the civilization was. They even had heated floors for the winter!

I saw the beautifully preserved Temple of Hadrian, the magnificent Trojan fountain-with a man placing one foot on a globe symbolizing the ruling of the world, and the Odeon Theater. All of these sites were so well preserved that it was nice to not have to imagine what was once there, but actually see it right there in front of you with your own eyes!

The mansions were so ornate and advanced with their heated floors and marble walls and mosaic flooring. It was so beautiful and to know that each intricate part of the house was all made by hand without any modern technology just amazes me. Their culture truly was something else. Above all the majestic Celsus Library was a site to be seen. It was three stories high, even though only two stories remain today. The whole front of the building was pretty much still intact! I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was so detailed-someone had even carved a menorah into the steps of the marble stairs hundreds of years ago and you could still see it today!

We concluded our fantastic tour of the ruins with a view of the Great Theater and hiked our way back to the bus past the camel ride and all of the noisy vendors. The day finished up with a nice shopping trip through the colorful bazaars before we hopped back on board the ship to travel back to Greece.

1)   Burpees

2)   Lunges with Torso Rotation-10lbs

3)   Bell Ringers-10lbs modified-after the reps hold the position for that many seconds

4)   Mason Twists Rotations-10lbs and the last set was a double count

(Set 1-16reps, Set 2-14reps, Set 3-12reps, Set 4-10reps, Set 5-8reps, Set 6-6reps. No break after 3^rd set.)

Abdominal Workout

1)   Crossover Crunch with arm+leg extended

2)   Crossover crunch legs in the air and bringing the opposite elbow to the opposite knee

3)   Leg lifts and leg circles

4)   Cross body pulses-balance on one side of the body and reach for the opposite leg with the opposite arm and then switch. Then hold the position for the count

5)   Reverse situps

6)   Six inches

7)   Lean back abdominal twists with dumbbell-10lbs

(4 sets of 20 reps)

Thanks for reading, please leave any comments below!

Courtney Dumas

Adventure in Turkey

August 27^th, 2011

The boat ride into Turkey this morning was amazing! The sun was shining bright and the domes of the Blue Mosque and St. Sophia were glistening. It was quite a site! My tour of Istanbul was first thing in the morning once the boat was docked. Our tour guide led us right to the Topkapi Palace where all of the sultans had lived. It was huge!

The palace is decorated with thousands of tiles since Muslims do not and did not believe in depicting the faces of people. Each tile is worth around $2000 to $3000! Here at the palace many religious relics are supposedly held as well like the staff of Moses. The palace is also the residing place of the Topkapi dagger and the Topkapi Diamond. This diamond is no regular diamond. It is 86 karats! It was unbelievable.

Our next stop after a fantastic lunch was the Blue Mosque. The decoration was so beautiful! The lights lit up the room perfectly and the stained glass looked as though hour upon hours of work must have been put into them. The interior of this mosque has over 20,000 blue Iznik tiles that give it its characteristic blue color. I could not believe the detail that went into the production of such an ornate building.

As we moved on to our next stop, the St. Sophia, we had a chance to grab a quick drink before we were off again. St. Sophia or Haga Sophia was a church built by Justinian in the Byzantine period before it was later converted to a mosque during the Ottoman takeover. From there the beautiful building was further converted to a museum with the rise of Ata Turk. The architecture alone of this museum is unbelievable. Its rich mosaic work and fine craftsmanship cause one to stare in awe of its beauty. Most of the mosaic tiles in this fine building are incredibly decorated with real gold leaf! The marble pillars are grand and the coverings ornate.

The amazing thing was that the Ottomans never destroyed the mosaics depicting the biblical figures. They merely covered them with plaster and redecorated the church. Today the massive disks they hung on the pillars still stand and depict the five pillars of Islam. The stucco has been removed and at the head of the building both the Christian alter and Muslim alter remain. One is literally not even a half turn to the right of the other! This museum is an amazing blend of both cultures and religions!

At the end of the tour around Istanbul we were taken to see the construction of fine Turkish carpets. Unlike normal carpets, the threads are knotted twice. From there we were set loose on the Grand Bazaar. I honestly could not believe my eyes. This market place was the biggest thing I had ever seen! There were so many stores and people bustling about and scurrying from place to place. It felt like a giant shopping maze! I’m pretty sure we went in circles for forever, but we finally after shopping for a couple hours found our way back to gate one and our bus and back to the boat.

The next stop is the Ephesus ruins! Please leave your comments below, I would love your feedback and would be happy to answer any questions!

Courtney Dumas