Marders in Greece: Day 4 Kusadasi Turkey (Ephesus)

Phil at Celsus' Temple in Ephesus


Patty in Kusadasi (Turkey)

Day 4: Kusadasi Turkey (Ephesus)

We docked in Kusadasi (port city in southern Turkey) at 6 AM in the morning and at 7:15 am we met our guide for our excursion to the ancient ruins of the city called Ephesus. There was something very exotic about entering Turkey. I've always heard good things about Turkey but who knows? The weather was another issue. It was windy and quite cloudy. We got off our ship and boarded a motor coach with our local guide. We were headed for the ancient city of Ephesus which was about 10 miles from our dock. Our guide was pleasant young women from Turkey. Turks have an unusual, exotic look about them. They are not Arab or Greek looking at all. They are fair complexioned and quite attractive people. Their spoken language and written alphabet is also quite unique. We learned that in ancient times, the sea was much higher meaning that the shore line was miles inland than at present. Ephesus was an ancient city (first inhabited in 6000 BC) and was a major city for the ancient world. What we saw was much of the ruins of the Greeks and Roman civilization. This excavation was much like that of Bet She'an in Israel. The highlights of our walk through Ephesus was seeing the carving of the goddess Nike, including the derivation of the "swish", the ruins of a huge library built by Celsus, and an amphitheater that held over 20,000 people. The latter indicated that this city was once home to >200,000 people. At the end of our tour of Ephesus, it started to get windy and rainy. This unpleasantness made us hurry back to the motor coach for our ride back to the ship at 11:00 AM. T he last stop before boarding was a visit to a carpet making shop. The staff spent a good 20 minutes showing us carpets and telling us about their craftsmanship. It was much like we experienced in Cairo last year. We didn't purchase a thing. When we got back on our ship, we were informed that due to the poor weather, our departure from Kusadasi was being delayed until 6:30 PM and the ensuing trip to the island of Patmos had been cancelled. So after lunch, Patty & I walked back into Kusadasi city and strolled leisurely through town. This was a lot of fun. We chatted with the shop owners, watched the school children walking home, and had a liquid refreshment. We decided that the Turks were very friendly and happy people. We then headed back again to our ship and prepared for this evening's entertainment, Greek dancing, singing and bouzouki playing.

See photos for this section by clicking HERE

Also, see video of Greek dancing on the ship HERE