We had a little bit of a later start this morning, which was nice. It also meant that we were finished sooner, but don’t let me get ahead of myself.

Our first stop was to the Basilica of St. John. Apparently, the body of John is buried still under the ruins, but they have yet to excavate it says our guide…. I’m not sure how much I believe him. The more interesting part was to consider the various locations of Ephesus.

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From the basilica, we headed up the mountain to the supposed house of the Virgin Mary. The story is something like since Jesus told John to take care of his mother John built her a house up on the mountain. It was a simple and small house. Then, some nun seemed to have a vision confirming this was Mary’s house. So, not sure but it was a nice visit.

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After that, we headed to the ruins of Ephesus Antique City where there were a number of amazing sites. The largest outdoor theater was impressive. Also, the temples, library and terrace houses with mosaics of ancient times were quite a sight.

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At first, I wasn’t wholly impressed with the city ruins given my travels elsewhere, but upon hitting the main road to the library I was duly impressed. So, I had to take back my doubting.

After almost missing our tour bus to lunch, we headed to a carpet center for our lunch and a showing of carpets. That wasn’t great, but it is part of the tour.

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Thankfully, we were given the afternoon to relax and be on our own. So after a rest in the hotel, we headed out to explore the city. We walked along the waterfront, stopped in a few stores, had dinner in town to avoid another poor buffet meal, and saw the sunset. Overall, it was a nice change of pace.

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Sadly, we have another long day in the bus tomorrow, but it is our past big stretch on our way back to Istanbul. 🙂

-T 😀