Kusadasi & Ephesus

We docked early this morning in Kusadasi, Turkey and by 7:30 we were on the tour bus to ancient Ephesus – these early morning’s are killing us. The origins of Ephesus go back to around 300 BC and it grew at one point to a city of 240 000 people, third largest city in the world. Like Delos, they’ve been digging out the ruins after years of agricultural activity on top on them and like Delos, most of the city is still buried.

This was the first ancient site we’ve been at, where we actually saw archaeologists hard at work. They have a multi-million dollar project on the go right now where they’ve roofed a 40 000 square foot area to protect it from the elements as they recover the original structures. Once finished, it will showcase the finest existing examples of Ephesus homes and business’.

Presently, the three main attractions at this site are the towering library, the 24 000 seat amphitheatre and the fabulous marble streets. They are shown in that order below.




After the archaeological tour of Ephesus, we returned to our port city, where we went to an excellent rug demonstration. The rugs here, as in other places we’ve seen them, are works of art and priced as such. Needless to say, no rugs will make it home to Canada, but Dawn did add some gold to her repertoire along the way.

As you wander through the streets of the bazaar, every shop has one or more aggressive hawker positioned in the street, waiting for anyone to show the slightest interest in their product. And of course, nothing has prices posted, so bargaining is a must.
I haven’t spoken much about wine on this trip, but it’s actually been a pretty wonderful wine education. As well as emptying half of the ship’s wine cellar, we have picked up local wines at each port. Whites have been our prime drink due to the temperatures – high 30’s today, by the way. Even a predominantly Muslim country like Turkey, because of their secular nature, are producing and consuming some pretty good wines. The wines of the Greek islands were also very good – Santorini in particular - but they really like their vin santos – sweet aperitif and dessert wines – not our favourites. Bottom line is – it’s been a great wine trip! Surprise!
We’ve noticed lots of stray dogs and cats at every destination. The dogs mainly sleep, but the cats, today especially at Ephesus, are looking for a spot in your suitcase.