Our boat docked in Kusadasi, Turkey by 7:30 this morning. Prior to our trip, I had "shopped" for a day tour that included Ephesus plus three smaller
ancient ruins within an hour and a half south. Only one local tour
company was willing to do it, as it makes for a long day. The tour company,
Ephesus Shuttle, sent a young woman to meet us this
morning, along with a driver.
Ephesus was impressive and we were in "front of the line" as we
arrived early.
We drove south from Ephesus to Priene, an ancient city that overlooked the
sea long ago. The sea silted in over time, and is now agricultural
fields. The ruins are up the side of a hill, with a theatre that will
seat 6500, a temple with a few columns standing and all the others
laying in heaps all around, a large agora, and house ruins. Pine trees are growing all through the ruins.
We
drove from Priene to Miletus, to see another ancient city's ruins.
Miletus has a theatre that will seat 15,000, along with temple ruins,
and a large bath complex. The ruins cover over 50 acres.
Next we drove
to Didyma and we were impressed! The temple of Apollo is mostly standing,
with parts of most of the original 122 columns still intact. It was amazing! We finished our tour with glasses of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.
