Kusadasi and Ephesus

Today is Day 15 of our 17-day Turkey tour.  We are disembarking from our gulet at Marmaris and go on the bus to Kusadasi.  Marmaris is well-known for its honey but its main source of income is international tourism.  It is a port city and tourism on the Mediterranean coast along the so-called Turkish Riviera.  It is a popular site for sailing and diving.

Beautiful sunset at Marmaris

Marmaris Seaport

Sailing and Dive Boats

Map of Turkish Riviera

Just outside of Kusadasi we stopped for lunch, then went to the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selçuk.  Our guide wants to visit the museum first, then go to Ephesus early in the morning to avoid the crowd of tourists from the cruise ships.  This museum holds the pieces from the Ephesus excavation site.

Entrance to the Ephesus Museum

A Sarcophagus 

Statues

Another statue

We arrived at the beautiful Charisma Hotel in Kusadasi in mid-afternoon.  This is the most beautiful hotel that we have stayed in.  Being the last hotel on the tour, perhaps this is how OAT want us to remember - a beautiful hotel.

Charisma Hotel (from their website)

Looking from the balcony

Looking towards the ocean

Not only the hotel was nice but the meals were very nice as well.  We had a very generous buffet dinner and breakfast.  The rooms were just as beautiful.

Like other towns along the coast Kusadasi is also a very popular tourist town.  A 10-minute walks takes us to the shopping and restaurant district.  

Our final destination is Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is one of the largest and best-preserved cities in the world.  It was under Greek and Roman rules in the early days.  It is mentioned several times in the Bible.  It took us an entire morning to visit most of the site.  Below are some of the photographs of the site.

Library of Celsius

More Excavations Going On

We arrived there at about 9am and by 10am the crowd was starting to swell.  We heard that there were 5 cruise ships arriving in Kusadasi that day.  When we left the parking lot it was so full that some buses had to wait outside.  This is indeed one of the most popular attractions in Turkey.

We had lunch at a restaurant in Selçuk and after that we took a stroll at a nearby street that are full of restaurants and gift shops.

We had free time at the hotel in the afternoon.  In the evening we gathered at a local seafood restaurant a short walk from the Charisma Hotel for a farewell dinner.

Very early the next morning we were bused to the airport in Izmir where we'd fly to Istanbul.  Most of us are going home to the United States.  We continued on a short trip to Athens and Santorini, followed by anther 3 days in Istanbul.  It was a long one-month trip, starting in London, Turkey, Athens, Santorini and finally back to Istanbul.  Except for some minor hiccups in transportation, everything went smoothly.  At all the airports we were spoiled by the airport lounges that we have access to.  The October weather was perfect for travel.