Today we visited Ephesus, an old city with history from Romans, Greeks, Turks and biblical ties too. After breakfast, we left the ship at 8:30am on a bus. Our first stop was high on a hill overlooking Ephesus, the last home of the Virgin Mary. After the death of Jesus, John the apostle was given the responsibility of caring for Mary and he took her with him to Ephesus. Later she was moved to a home in the mountains where she spent her last days. It was a beautiful place with trees and water. We went inside and walked the grounds before heading off to our next destination, Ephesus.

The bus drops us off at the highest elevation in the city and we walk downhill and exit at lower level which makes traversing the terrain a bit easier. Lots of geezers on the bus including us. Our guide holds an umbrella and we follow him. He distributed earphones so he can talk to us as we walk. Works great. The "marble road" is actually made of marble and can be slippery so Mom watches out. The town is only 1/8 uncovered and it has taken 200 years to do that so there will be more to see someday. We got to the rich people houses called "the terraces" and Mom found a lot of stairs there. She was slow, complained a lot to me but made it to the top and back down. There was a miracle right there. Others were dropping like dead rats. It was very hot with no shade. I'd say about 90f. We went slow and lost the guide for a while. After Ephesus, we went to another church in town where John the Baptist was entombed. Mom sat that one out. Speaking of that, she was sitting on some ruins while I went up to the top and some lady told here to get off because there were dangerous spiders inside. I don't know anything about that.  Next was lunch.

We stopped at a beautiful hotel on the beach for lunch. There were all different kinds of Turkish foods and a Turkish dance presentation. The sea breezes rolled in while we sat on the shaded terrace enjoying our food. An hour and a half later, the bus rolled back in town where we were dropped off at a shopping area adjacent to the port.

Mom went to buy a hat and this guy says €25. I laughed and said no way. €10 would have been more in line. He wanted to bargain and I told him to get lost. He finally said €1 because he was pissed but I refused. I would do no business with him.

We boarded the ship, skipped the fancy dinner and had prime rib in the buffet. Best ever. Went to the show at 8pm. It was a comedian and he was funny. Then off to our room since we were on a tour of Rhodes tomorrow at 9.