Liman Şehri Kuşadası (Port City)
We arrive in Kuşadası, after a bus ride of about 100 miles.
Day 12. Ephesus and Farewell Dinner.
Day 13. Breakfast at the hotel and early morning bus ride to İzmir for departing flights. Sadly, the tour is over. One last day to enjoy İzmir on our own.
Kuşadası'nı Keşfetmek (exploring Kuşadası)
Day 11 - continued. We arrive in Kuşadası. Yaren provides another quick orientation, this time showing us Kuşadası and we head out for hanging out on the beach, walking around the city, or just lounging on the roof top at the hotel. Dinner is on our own.
A little beach time
Dipping back into the waters of the Aegean Sea, at a free public beach, located just down the street from the hotel.
Smartest Dog in Turkey
This dog has it figured out. Life on the beach. Find a shady spot and enjoy life.
Enjoying the roof top at the hotel.
Lots of group members here and a perfect sunset over the sea.
Dinner on our own.
Stopped in at a local restaurant - Üsküdar Çaycısı. Time for some Mexican food. The food was so good, went back the next day for lunch!
Mexican food - YAY!
I'll drive a long way for a good burrito, or taco, or nachos. Mexican food, my favorite. Found in Kuşadası - mission accomplished!
Late night shopping.
Kuşadası is a cruise port, so there was a lot of late-night shopping, probably the most I've ever seen anywhere. The bazaar went on and on for what seemed like forever. It was a great chance to find some last minute souvenirs and to enjoy more time outside around the port neighborhood.
Meryem'in Evi (Mary's Home)
Day 12 - Ephesus - Mary's House
Ephesus - pièce de ré·sis·tance
Okay, so that isn't Turkish, I know, it is French, but it perfectly describes our visit to Ephesus. And to top it all off, it is right before the end of our tour and our last day of sightseeing. What a finale!
Walking down Ephesus street
I'm at the back of the group in the right side of this picture. What a magnificent street to see.
Exploring the ruins and the incredible frieze
I'm not looking at my cell phone, I promise!
The group enjoys taking in the ancient relics
Here the group members explore to see what is below the glass floor.
Mary's House (Yes, that Mary)
This was a fun side trip to a building that is thought to be Mary's house. If she did live here, it would be a miracle because it was so tiny. There were 6 of us that jumped into a taxi and rode a short distance to Mary's house. Does any taxi driver in Turkey know how to drive safely? Whew! Speaking of miracles, I thought it was a bit of a miracle that we made it there and back. As you can see in the picture, it was all in good fun, and we were laughing and joking the whole time we were in the taxi. The same taxi driver waited for us at the very crowded Meryem'in Evi to return us to our group. There was so much traffic into Ephesus, that the taxi driver was kind enough to drop us off at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, where we would meet up with the rest of the group. Shout out to Yaren for setting this all up for those of us that wanted to make this quick side-trip and making sure we met back up with the group.
Ephesus Archaeological Museum
This is another fantastic museum. Turkey definitely has the greatest assortment of archaeological museums in the world. Notice the little, tiny red horse in the lower right corner that Yaren put in front of this model. Very clever, indeed!
Lunch on our own
Today I'm joined by a cat at lunch at Üsküdar Çaycısı.
Repeat Offender
As mentioned above, I returned to the scene of the crime and had another meal at Üsküdar Çaycısı. This time it was nachos!
Buddy Gift Exchange
To be completely honest, one of things I was most hesitant about when booking a Rick Steves tour was the buddy system. I didn't want to have to worry about keeping track of anyone else, and I didn't want anyone keeping track of me. It almost kept me from hitting that reservation button. But it really was a great system! Instead of the tour guide (Yaren) constantly worrying about where everyone is, the buddy system kept us all connected and together. Yaren didn't have to walk around with a silly number or flag waving over her head so that we would all stay in line and follow her every step. With the buddy system, you can wander off track, just make sure you let your buddies know, and they'll let Yaren know when she does the world-famous "buddy check". This keeps everyone accounted for. Best of all, you make a few friends. On this tour, we had a buddy gift exchange at the end of the tour. Just a small trinket to show appreciation. Everyone had a lot of fun with this gift exchange.
Farewell Dinner
Dinner at Antep LI - this was the final time together for the group. In the morning everyone would go their separate ways. It was fun to reminisce about the last two weeks and everywhere we had been and everything we had done. The restaurant was a nice walk to and from the hotel in what I would consider perfect weather. It was also our last chance to feed some cats and dogs along the stroll back to the hotel.
Son (The End).
Day 13 - The tour is over, the group departs for İzmir airport for one last bus ride, or travel onward on their own.
The Carnival Pride Cruise Ship Greeted Us in the Morning.
Up bright and early to head to Izmir on the tour bus with a few other group members that were heading to the Ismir airport for departure. The Carnival Pride cruise ship wasn't there late the night before, but it was here this morning. Everyone said their good-byes and headed their separate ways. The tour was now officially over and all that remained was a day in İzmir and a long day or two of air travel to get home.
Gallery of Pictures #1
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Some of my favorite pictures from Kuşadası divided into two galleries, scroll down to see the second gallery of pictures...