Found on: www.turkey.org/news/

QUEEN OF THE SEAS: SEA CLOUD 

by Jennifer Rahel CONOVER 

We flew directly from New York to Istanbul on Turkish Air. With their new GPS you can watch your position as you fly across the Atlantic and Europe. In addition there is the excellent food and impeccable service along with complimentary movies which make the time pass very quickly. 

Our Odyssey began when we met Annemarie at the Ciragan Palace Hotel once a sultan's palace, located on the European side of the Bosphorus. Restored to its ancient splendor it is one of the world's finest hotels offering every modern luxury., Annemarie,an Austrian a charming well educated woman fluent in five languages and is the host of the Discovery Channel's "World Class Cuisine." On our last evening before meeting 'Sea Cloud' Annemarie, with her usual panache, hosted a gala dinner at the Palace that would have made any Sultan proud. 

Early the next morning we flew to Izmir in time to visit the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus in the cool of the morning. It was one of the greatest seaports of the classical period. The temple of Artemis here was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. 

Descending from the upper gate you find the baths, the odeon where the Senate met, the agora, the magnificent library of Celsus, and the theater which holds some 25,000 people and is still used for performances to this day. It was in Ephesus where St. Paul first delivered his epistle and was later forced to flee. It is impossible to walk down these broad avenues and not be moved by the history and splendor of this city. The Meander River was the cause of Ephesus' decline. Because it looped back and forth, silting up as it went it finally built up such a marshy delta despite all efforts to excavate it. It continued to fill in and eventually Ephesus was no longer a seaport. This winding river gave us our English verb "meander". We spent the following day at sea under full sail. With the engines cut "Sea Cloud' showed her mettle as we slid quietly and effortlessly through Homer's 'wine dark sea' giving us time to enjoy the spectacular beauty of Turkey's irregular coastline with its countless bays that offer protected anchorages. 

The scenery is so startlingly beautiful and the water such a clear sapphire that it's easy to see how the ancients believed that the gods dwelt here. We pulled in at the old port of Antalya, protected by the pine covered Taurus Mountains, early next morning. It is said that Cleopatra and Mark Anthony swam here before the battle of Actium. Armed with bottles of ice water we spent the morning wandering down the beautiful colonnaded main avenue among the ruins at Perge. Remnants of tiered fountains can be seen stretching down the center of this broad avenue where once fresh water flowed all the way to the sea. With its splendid Hellenistic gates it was a breathtaking sight . 

We then went to nearby Aspendos, site of the best preserved ancient theater in existence. All of these ancient theaters have incredible acoustics. A whisper center stage can be heard in the highest seats. Aspendos, like some of the other theaters we toured is still used for performances today. Later there was still plenty of time to visit the fabulous archaeological museum, shop and 'meander' slowly through the crooked streets in the old town. We awoke next morning to hear the anchor chain let out and to see dawn's rosy fingers lighting up the bay at Phaselis. We had a lovely time swimming and investigating the ruins amid pine shaded ruins and three perfect bays. 

Although we had the morning to ourselves by lunchtime quite a few gulets, the beamy Turkish ketches had pulled in to share our anchorage and circle us, taking full advantage of their photo opportunity. 'Sea Cloud' is a very special ship. Built in Kiel Germany in 1931 for Marjorie Merriweather Post, she is a four master twenty-nine sail square-rig barque 356 feet long. Carrying 32,000 square feet of sail, her main mast is 198 feet high. Once the largest privately owned yacht in the world, she has been lovingly converted into a small cruise ship taking a maximum of fify-five passengers. Post furnished her with loving care; intricately paneled walls, ornate working fireplaces, marble baths, Regency and Sheraton antiques and priceless objets d'art. She was quite literally a floating palace. When Marjorie Post married the international lawyer and statesman, Joseph E. Davies in December 1935 'Sea Cloud' began the 'diplomatic chapter' of her life. 

In 1936 Davies was appointed ambassador to Moscow by President Franklin D.Roosevelt. I have known 'Sea Cloud' since I was a small child as I am the granddaughter of the late Ambassador Davies and I know that Aunt Marjorie would be very pleased to see that 'Sea Cloud' is still bringing pleasure to so many! And see Turkey for yourself. No matter what charter you take by all means, go!i It is the experience of a lifetime! (SKYLIFE)