Chapter 10 - Kusadasi / Ephesus, Turkey

In September 2015, we were on a cruise that went to Kusadasi Turkey, and we took a tour to Ephesus, an ancient archaeological site where we saw pretty well-preserved ruins of a Roman city, including the great Library, the Temple of Artemis (yes, another of the seven ancient wonders!) an amphitheater, and lots of ancient cats!

We also visited the house where some believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus lived out the last days of her life.

And we visited the garden of marriage vows where we renewed our wedding vows privately. Don’t we look like we belong in a Renaissance Festival?!

We’re showing you these because we’re not going there this trip. This time we’re just visiting the city of Kusadasi.

Kusadasi is a very popular cruise port even without all of the ships being rerouted from Israel and Egypt. The port itself is second only to Istanbul in size, but it attracts many more cruise visitors. According to some spas here, “you can rejuvenate for 5 years in just ten minutes of bathing in healing mud.” So you probably won’t recognize us when we get back! We figure an hour should do it!

The castle here is a short walk from the pier, which is right in the center of the town. They very conveniently built a causeway right across to pigeon island, the site of the Guvercinada Kalesi.

At the top of the hill is another statue of our favorite Turk, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk