Cruise 2011 Day 4 – Kusadasi and Ephesus

Photos from the fourth day of the cruise are now online. A sample of the set is listed below. You can see the photos either at Flickr or Facebook (assuming we’re friends on FB).

Port stop number two was also country and continent number two.  We said good bye to Greece and Europe and hello to Turkey and Asia. We docked in Kusadasi and headed out with a private tour we had setup with some fellow passengers via Cruise Critic.  First we stopped at the House of the Virgin Mary. Whether Mary actually spent her final days in this area is up for debate, but it was a very peaceful place.

Afterwards it was time for the main part of the tour, the ancient city of Ephesus.  Simply amazing.  The site is huge, and as incredible as the ruins are, much of it remains unexcavated.  Who knows what they might find as time goes by.  After Ephesus, we made the obligatory stops at a carpet vendor as well as a leather shop.  The carpets were impressive, and I don’t doubt that there were deals to be had, but we weren’t in the market for anything like that. Our wallets and charge cards safe from an impromptu purchase, we headed back to the ship.

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