Our day in Kusadasi, Turkey, and the surrounding region began as nearly every day of our cruise had to that point: with a brilliant sunrise promising a warm, beautiful day ahead. High on a hill overlooking the bustling port loomed a towering statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered as the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Most of our time here, however, would be spent exploring sites that dated back nearly two millenia.

Our first stop was at the House of the Virgin Mary, nestled into a remote, forested mountainside near the town of Selçuk. Roman Catholics and Muslims (who honor Mary as the mother of the prophet Jesus) recognize this as the final home of Mary. Pilgrims visit a small stone building of just a few rooms situated over the reputed homesite and then pass on to springs (from which they may draw holy water) and past a wall onto which they may attach petitions to the Virgin. And then, of course, one runs the gauntlet of merchants hawking icons, rosaries, religious booklets and more mundane souvenirs like postcards and t-shirts. Frankly, I found nothing terribly sacred about the scene, but the setting is lovely and the cool shade beneath the trees was refreshing.

Mosaic floor detail in Ephesus

I have long wished to visit the ancient city of Ephesus, and I was not disappointed (except in not having enough time to explore it further at my leisure). The excavations and restoration are ongoing, with only a small part of this amazing city — in the ancient world second in size only to Rome — actually unearthed. One catches glimpses of detailed statuary, lovely mosaic tiled floors and complex plumbing systems (with hot and cold running water), and over it all stands the three story façade of the Library of Celsus and the 50,000-capacity amphitheatre. We later visited the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selçuk and saw more items from daily life which had been unearthed in the ancient city.

I’ve added a return visit to this fascinating place to my travel wish list, but by the time we left, the sun had become intense and the heat reflecting off all that stone was more than I wished to further endure. I easily managed to ignore the wares offered at most of the booths we passed on the way back to our bus (pictures with belly dancers and camels, jewelry and, my favorite, “Genuine Fake Watches!!”), but the cold, fresh-squeezed fruit juice could not be passed by and tasted like heaven on earth.

We had one more place to visit before we returned to modern life; more on that tomorrow.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor