Day 13 - Kasadasi - 18 October, 2015

Weather - Sunny and warm

Accommodation - Hotel Kismet

Our day revolved around the movements of the 3000 passengers which came onshore from the large cruise ship in the Kusadasi harbour. Funda decided it would be best to visit the House of the Virgin Mary in the morning and Ephesus in the afternoon to try and avoid the crowds at Ephesus. 

It only took us twenty minutes to drive to the House of the Virgin Mary which sits high on Mt Koressos. It took us another twenty minutes to wait in line to be able to walk through the very tiny Christian and Muslim shrine as there were wall to wall tourists. The house was discovered in the nineteenth century as a result of visions by Anne Catherine Emmerich and she was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. 

Pilgrims visit the house believing that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was brought to the house by St John and it is the last house of the Mother of Christ. Outside the shrine is a wishing wall and I wrote a note and placed it amongst the thousands of others and wished good health for our family and friends.

For something very different we visited a leather factory. We were given a sophisticated fashion parade of beautiful leather coats and information on their quality. The factory also sold bags and other leather goods but no one on the bus took the opportunity to buy anything. 

Lunch was at a locally patronised village restaurant. It was very busy as it was a Sunday and many families were relaxing over long breakfasts and lunches. We had tasty Turkish bread filled with either meat or spinach and feta. Two local women were making the bread for these dishes. 

The afternoon was spent at Ephesus and as it was quite warm we needed our sunscreen, hats and protective clothing. Ephesus is so large that it was difficult to take in all that is there. It was an ancient port city but is now quite some distance from the Aegean coast due to silt accumulation. Excavations have been taking place over the past 150 years and only about 20% has been exposed. I was very impressed with the Library of Celus which was completed in 135AD by Celus's son. It housed 12,000 scrolls and served as a mausoleum for Celus. The facade lay in ruins until the 1970's when archeologists reconstructed it. 

Near the end of our walk through the ancient city is the large theatre which could seat up to 25,000 spectators. 

Before heading back to our hotel we visited the site of The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which now is represented by one lonely column. 

As our hotel has a private swimming area on the Aegean coast we decided to make the most of the late afternoon and have a swim. Henk, Brian, Carol, Sue and Mike were brave enough to enter the chilly water. 

We ended our wonderful day in Kusadasi with drinks on the front porch of the hotel overlooking the harbour. It was a very pleasant evening with our fellow travelling companions. The large cruise ship, "Celebrity Reflections", made its way out of the harbour at sunset.