An amazing day at Ephesus (via Kusadasi). We had a wonderful guide today named Ahu who happens to have a sister who lives in Aventura, she was such a delight to spend the day with. Bubbly and very informative. The difference between Istanbul and Kusadasi is like night and day. It seemed like a wonderful resort town without all the masses of people but that also could be that we were the last cruise ship for the season so the town was getting ready to close.
As soon as we hopped in our van we left the port of Kusadasi and headed for the main attraction Ancient Ephesus. It’s like Pompeii but larger, more standing ruins and easier to imagine as a thriving large port city during the times of the ancient Romans. We saw the library of Celsus, Arcadian Way which is a series of columns that once led the way to the open sea, the amphitheater that sat 25,000 people that the Turkish govt. is restoring to hold concerts in. We were amazed how remarkably preserved some of the frescos and tiles were in the Roman homes (The Step houses) apparently the reason they were preserved so well is do to the fact that after the town was converted to Christianity during the late Roman period the home owners instead of destroying the pagan frescos they covered them with white wash and the mosaic tiles with pagan themes where covered in a type of cement which helped to preserve them for all these thousands of years. After our very informative walk through of Ephesus we headed to the museum which housed all the statues and artifacts that where found in Ephesus. We were amazed at the pristine condition of the items. Then we were off to see The Temple of Artemis the only thing standing in the spot was a single column the rest was moved to the British museum in the 19th century. Finally it was off to Kusadasi’s Grand Bazaar which was so much nicer than the one in Istanbul not as claustrophobic.
Next stop Athens
