Kusadasi (day 3 on boat)

Day 3 of the cruise, we were at the port of Kusadasi, Turkey. We originally wanted to do a taste of Turkey tour, but it got cancelled because there wasn't enough people, so we did the best of Ephesus tour instead.

The first stop was the house where they say the Virgin Mary spent the last days of her life. It was quite a peaceful place despite the thousands of tourists that were there.

Next stop was the site of Ephesus 3, built between two hills and used to go down to the sea. It was put in to ruin by earthquakes, and the sea had retreated by about 20km. This photo is the facade of the library, it was really amazing. We had walked for about an hour through the ruins, down a hill with a slippery marble path (stupid Romans weren't concerned with health and safety, rather with how it looked).

This was the arena for Ephesus and held about 24,000 people in it's time. It is thought these arenas held 10% of the population, so perhaps about 240,000 lived in Ephesus. There is still a lot of excavation going on, and they are finding more stuff all the time.

At the end, before we got back on the bus, there was a little show with Cleoplatra and Marc Antony being entertained by these dancers, and then by a couple of gladiators sword fighting to the death. Of course this kept the tourists amused as well, and there was actually no bloodshed.

It was a long day, and some of us had to have a sleep on the way home.