Ephesus, House of Mary, and Temple of Artemis

The best way to get to these sites is to fly from Istanbul to Izmir.  A day is perfect to spend seeing the sites.

We stayed in the city of Kusadasi. It was a small, but very lively town by to Aegean coast of Turkey. We loved Kusadasi and unfortunately we didn’t get to stay long, but it is absolutely a fun town filled with shops and restaurants. And the view of the ocean is wonderful.

We loved our guide Octavio. He called us Vietnam and China the whole time because we told them that is where we are from.  Octavio was such a wonderful guide, he was funny, knowledgeable, more than willing to take our picture, and he speaks several languages almost fluently (English, Turkish, Spanish, and French).

Ephesus

Ephesus was once an international commercial trade center.

House of the Virgin Mary

This is where the Virgin Mary may have spent her last days.  There is also several water fountains which are considered “holy.”  Each fountain will bring you good health, wealth, fertility, etc…So of course Lisa and I drank from every single one, we need all the help we can.

These two ladies were on our tour and it reminded me of what me and Lisa will be like in 40 years. Lisa never gets sick, but I do, which is why I bank I will have a cane by then.

Isabey Mosque

Temple of Artemis

The Temple of Artemis is almost non-existent.  Many of the parts have been taken and sent to be housed at other museums around the world.  Literally, a few stones are all that remains.

Downtown Area

After finishing the tour, we were dropped off in town to explore.  It is a beautiful central area, but I did feel very out-of-place. There were hardly any women in the gathering places. It was all men sitting around having conversations, playing games, and reading newspapers.