Kusadasi

In continuation of my honeymoon traveling posts starting from Athens, our next stop was Kusadasi.

Kusadasi is a port city in Turkey and is an easy driving distance away from the Basilica of St John, House of Virgin Mary, and the ancient city of Ephesus.  I grew up in church and I have to say that it is quite a remarkable experience to witness and see these places with your own eyes.  This is a place where people visit for pilgrimages and crusades.  Not so much to actually vacation.

The Basilica of St John is the place where John the Apostle resided for a number of years and was buried.  John also wrote a portion of the book of Revelations here.  I am not a history buff but that is the small tidbit that I remember from what the tour guide told us.  

The picture below on the bottom left is what is left of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It's a trench with 1 column remaining.  Can you imagine that?  There used to be a massive, beautiful building there that was bigger than the Parthenon and that is all that is left of it... basically nothing.

Going to bathroom used to be a social activity.  You can see that the toilets are lined up together with no dividers or separation between one sitting area to another.  That sounds super uncomfortable not only because nothing was private but also because you were sitting on stone.  How lovely.

Now on to Ephesus.  It was really crowded the day that we went.  There was a sea of tourists....  I didn't take a picture of this but I did see a group of Korean tourists.  They were crazy.  The old women had the long white sleeves and gloves, black visors, sunglasses.....fully covered in the steaming heat.  I regret not taking of picture of it.  It was too hilarious.

This is a famous theater where Paul the Apostle preached the gospel.  

We also stopped by the House of Virgin Mary which is supposedly the house where the Virgin Mary resided in her last years.  They did not allow pictures so I didn't capture images of the actual house but you can sort of imagine a small, cozy, stone house.

When we were done with all the sight seeing, we went to a Turkish rug making demonstration.  Gorgeous, gorgeous handmade rugs.  I wanted one but did not have $30K of cash to spare.

 

When in Turkey, I did as the Turkish do and drank some Raki.  Whew!  This stuff is very strong and tastes like licorice.

When we went walking back to the port, there were tons of shops.  I came across this.  How ghetto fab!  Does anyone want an imitation LV bed set?

I snapped this picture on the cruise ship as we were sailing out.  The next stop was Santorini.  It is one of my favorite places on the planet so stay tuned!