Kusadasi is the resort destination for many Europeans. Sophisticated hotels on cliffs are juxtaposed with winding town streets that are the bazaar selling cheap leather coats, rugs, “genuine fake watches” and useless touristic souvenirs. Most of the passengers loaded up and on return, the ship store suddenly had even more of this stuff in their own makeshift “Turkish Bazaar” on board.
The real attraction down the road twenty miles is Ephesus. We took a tour provided free by our travel agent. Our first stop was at the house of the Virgin Mary, where she was said to have lived the last years of her life. Our Christian friends were unaware of her connection to Turkey but the story of John taking her there as a promise to Jesus on his deathbed seemed plausible. Recent Papal visits there apparently have validated the theory.
Continuing on to Ephesus, we arrived at a stunning archeological site; considered the best preserved archaeological site in the world. Miriam had visited Ephesus on an earlier trip in 1975 and it has remained an indelible experience all these years. (On that original trip, Stephen instead opted to find a Turkish shoe shine box in the Kusadasi Market for his Dad-the brass box is in our Vermont farmhouse today). Ephesus is amazingly complete with a 25,000 seat amphitheater, baths, a great library and more. Later we visited the Museum which had several sculptures and friezes of great detail. This was an incredible visit. We lunched at one of the cliff side luxury hotels where we enjoyed folkloric dancers of “Whirling Dirvishes, spinning at incredible speed. It was a great ending to our two city introduction to modern Turkey and its ancient heritage.
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