Everyone said this would be one of our favorites on the trip and today was a wonderful day. We booked a private tour guide through Melitours and we were delighted with our guide, Zafer, our driver and the entire tour. It was a long day, full of many Turkish delights. Zafer met us at our ship at 8:00 AM and took us to our air conditioned Mercedes van. After yesterday's cramped quarters on the Santorini tour, this was sheer luxury. We started with a climb to the top of a large hillside to see the reported home of the Virgin Mary in her last years, after Jesus' death. There is not irrefutable evidence that Mary did live here, but lots of things that are fairly convincing. The drive up to the shrine, gave us ample opportunity to see the countryside as we rode through tangerine and pomegranate orchards. We washed our hands in the spring of holy water as well as walking through the house which has been reconstructed in modern times. 
From this stop, we head down into the valley to see the ruins of Ephesus. The history is way too long and too involved to say the least, but what we saw was astounding--ancient ruins from as early as 300 BC-700 AD. These ruins are the largest open air museum in the world. It is difficult to describe what it felt like to walk on the very stones that made the main street through the town. These remains were completely covered with
Some of the most interesting finds are the Terrace Houses that were owned by the wealthy inhabitants of the ancient city of 240,000 people at its height of popularity. We were able to tour the first group of houses that are still under reconstruction. One stop showed us tables full of "puzzle" pieces--all 120,000 of them which were part of the marble walls. No different colors and no puzzle box to use as a guide.
We spent nearly three hours on the site, along with over 10,000 more tourists from the many cruise ships in port. It was hot, but a breeze made it bearable and were told to prepare for the crowds as well as the extreme heat.
From Ephesus, we made a stop at the Turkman Weaving Center, a school where girls are taught how to hand tie the famous Turkish rugs. We tried to tie the double knots as the girls did, but we were all thumbs and certainly were not going to be hired to replace the girls. The guys were fascinated at the process of spinning the silk from the cocoon. Lydia and Joyce knew all about this as they had taught this in clothing classes. 
One of the biggest treats of the day was a lunch at a Turkish country home with many traditional foods. It was cool and refreshing and just the experience we had wished for. When I booked the tour, I never thought we would actually be eating in the owner of the tour company's home, but that is exactly where we were. Meli met with us and shared some of her life stories and about the culture of her country. We ate outside under the shade of the trees which was so relaxing and enjoyable after being with so many people at the ruins. 
From the country home, we went to Selcuk to the Ephesus Museum. Here we were able to see many of the items that had been recovered at the site and placed here for safe keeping rather than left at the site out in the open. Again, more than one person can absorb in the time we had. Hardly believable that we were seeing things that were thousands of years old. 
We arrived back at our ship, tired but happy after a full day of seeing so many sites. We skipped dinner in the dining room and grabbed a quick bite in the casual dining. Tomorrow is another day and even more ruins in Athens.
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