We visited Kusadasi and Ephesus in a very short few hours that were really fun! We met two couples on the cruise through our travel clubs mix and mingle events! We decided instead of going on the cruises expensive excursions, that we could split a taxi with these other two couples in order to save money, and it was really awesome to have people to travel with. As soon as you walk off the boat into Ephesus you are dumped into a local market that is swamped full of tourists and people from all of the other cruise boats. They do have some pretty neat stuff, and if you know how to barter...you could probably get some pretty good deals! We didn't buy anything there though. From there we started our search for a taxi driver. Of course the taxi drivers right outside the market are very expensive, but if you keep on walking you can find better deals. We found an awesome driver who was willing to drive us all over the city and up to the Mother Mary's home, and over to Ephesus. I think we only ended up paying $40 each couple for the whole day. Which was really good, because he waited for us at each place we got out and visited. I think he probably waited a whole hour while we were exploring Ephesus. It was really great! The first stop we made was the Virgin Mary's House( It's believed that the Virgin Mary had spent her last days in the vicinity of Ephesus and that she had died there). It's really beautiful and peaceful there, you can light a candle outside of the home, and there is even a well that people fill their water with. I enjoyed going there a lot. From there, we had our taxi driver drive us over the Ephesus which was according to Wikipedia: an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometers southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. According to estimates Ephesus had a population of 33,600 to 56,000 people in the Roman period, making it the third largest city of Roman Asia Minor after Sardis and Alexandria Troas. Ephesus is really cool to see, it's crazy to think that there are cities that were thriving and so advanced that many years ago. It was really hot so we left and drove back down into the city.
After we experienced The Virgin Mary's house, and Ephesus. We went to take a swim in the ocean right next to the city of Kusadasi. Then we had to head back to the ship, but on the way we walked through a local market and tried some Turkish donuts, and some other things. Overall Turkey was really fun, although it was really hot! We were happy to have people to experience it with!
Thanks for reading!
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