Kusadasi (Priene, Miletus, Dydima), Turkey -- March 1, 2015
Normally, when people travel to Kusadasi or Ismir the one main site to visit would be Ephesus for sure. We had done that twice in the past, on a cruise and then on a land tour, and determined that we would do something different this time around. After much research, I came up with the three ruins that we could get to within the time frame allowed on the day we dock at Kusadasi. For one thing, most tours take people to Ephesus for the day on private or group tours. The couple of tour companies that have tours for Miletus, Priene, and Didyma were either too expensive or they only do one of the three sites with half day going to Ephesus. I finally came up with a tour company that I have never heard of--Castle Travel, which gave me a quote that I thought was a real bargain. There was nothing about this company on Cruise Critic and the reviews on Tripadvisor were mixed. Castle would provide a mini-bus with 12 seats, a guide and a driver, for a whole day tour for $280USD. Same price whether it was for one or twelve people. I figured that if we can find more people joining us that would be great, if not, it would still be OK for the three of us. We were able to set our own itinerary that fits our needs. I specifically told them that we did not want any shopping and lunch stops because we wanted to spend more time exploring the sites and it was OK with them.
We were not able to get anybody to join us through the roll-call and the M&G because everybody else wanted to go to Ephesus, so we ended up with the whole bus all for the three of us. I am so glad we did this though because we had an amazing day and it was worth every penny! I highly recommend Castle Travel to anyone who would be interested in arranging a tour like ours. (Castle Travel: info@castletravel.com.tr , Contact Vedat Cakiroglu, Tel: (+90 256)613 44 45) They also have an office in Toronto, Canada.
NCL Jade docked at Kusadasi, Turkey.
A nice terminal with many shops inside. It's also very walkable to shops and restaurants in town.
Bulent, our guide, was waiting for us holding a sign with my name at the terminal exit even before we got out. We bumped into Dave, a fellow CC'er, he said he saw our guide waiting and he already told him that we were on our way out.
Bulent giving us a lesson on the history and the background information of Turkey as we were driving from the port to Priene.
We passed some small towns and villages on the way.
Priene: Entrance 5TL pp.
Priene was an ancient Greek city of Ionia. It was on the coast originally, but today it is an inland site up on the hill. It was said that it was a peninsula with two harbors but because of it's size it never was an important city. Alexander the Great had a lot of interests in this city and intended to make Priene a model city. I believe he contributed to the construction of the Temple of Athena there. The people who lived there were quite wealthy and the city was very well designed.
It was definitely a walk uphill when we got there.
This is definitely not a popular site. We only saw two European tour groups when we were there. Probably because Germany and Britain are the two main countries contributing to the excavation of this site.
Looking back on the path.
Then it got a little harder with some uneven steps.
Horses relaxing nearby
City wall
The stage of the theater
Front of the stage
Original column supports
replacements
Seats for the VIPs
Sanctuary
Temple of Athena
The five columns were erected in 1965 using the rubble there and are about 9 feet shorter than the original columns.
Our wonderful guide, Bulent. He has a personal interest in Priene. He said every time he goes there, he feels like he had lived there in the past. We learned a lot because of his enthusiasm of this place.
A well-constructed stairway between the Temple and main street.
Main Street
Residence of Alexander the Great
Street with water drainage. It was said that 1/3 of the houses here had indoor toilets because they had a good water system.
Chair for the tax collector on Main Street.
The bouleuterion, where citizens met to discuss major issues in public, kind of like the city council. This bouleuterion was built like a small theater with a wooden roof originally.
Carved signs of Christians can be seen in many places.
Leaving the site through another gate.
Our mini-bus at the parking lot. There's a clean restroom nearby also.
Miletus: Entrance Fee 10 TL pp.
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Antolia near the mouth of the Maeander River. Over the centuries the gulf silted up and Miletus lost its harbor and became an inland town just like Priene. I was especially interested in visiting Miletus because of its place in the Bible.
In the New Testament (Acts 20:17~38) Apostle Paul met with the elders of the church of Ephesus near the end of his 3rd missionary journey on his way back to Jerusalem by boat. He made his farewell speech to the elders. Miletus is also the city where Paul left Trophimus, one of this traveling companions, to recover from an illness (II Timothy 4:20). That means Paul probably visited Miletus at least two times. Paul's successful ministry in nearby Ephesus resulted in evangelization of the entire province of Asian (Acts 19:10~20; I Corinthians 16:9).
Unfortunately, we did not spend enough time here and only got to see the theater and the Roman Baths at this vast site.
Getting tickets to Miletus
The theater that could seat 10,000 people.
Bulent clapping his hands to demonstrate the acoustic of the theater.
The hole as umbrella holder, opened for shade.
People with 'season tickets' got to carve their names on their seats.
One of the tunnel entrances to the theater
The backside of the theater
Roman baths
This was the second largest Roman baths in Turkey, after the one in Perga.
A full view of the theater. A small cafe on the right hand side. We had some fresh squeezed promegranade juice there.
Inside the courtyard of the cafe where the restrooms are.
The cat literally jumped onto ChC's lap when he sat down on the bench.
Didyma (Temple of Apollo)
This was one of the greatest Apollan oracular temples in existence. People came from far and near to receive a divine oracle from Apollo and the priestess would pronounce some words that could be interpret many different ways. That was the kind of fortune telling that people would put their trust in regarding their lives.
This huge white marble temple must have been an awesome sight when it was still intact with 122 gigantic columns standing. Now there are only 2 left among all the rubble. Just looking at the giant pieces of rock made me wonder the effort that people went through to look for and get to their gods. In Acts chapter 20, in Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, we could see the differences in Paul's ministry from what the religious practices then. Paul proclaimed the Gospel without pay, freely to all who would listen.
City of Didyma
Entrance to the ruin
What was left of the Temple.
One of the Medusa heads.
What was left of the 122 columns at the front porch.
There are only two marble tunnels that go down from each side of the porch to the huge enclosure which held the sacred spring.
The enclosure, called the Naiskos, housed the cult statue and the sacred spring used in the oracle.
The priestess would drink from the spring to produce an oracular pronouncement.
The priestess lived inside this enclosure until they were freed to get out.
Walking back from the enclosure to the front porch through the marble tunnel.
We then took a walk around the back of the temple. A giant column had fallen and stabilized as it fell.
Bulent took a 20-minute lunch break as we were walking around.
After we exited the site, we met up with Bulent and ready to go back to Kusadasi. This statue around the street corner depict the vendor selling a drink that was similar to 'coke', according to Bulent.
The empty seats behind us on the bus. It was pouring rain on our way back to port.
We had asked the driver to drop us back at the port by 3:30 so we could walk around town a bit before all aboard time. Good thing it stopped raining so we could stay out a little longer. We got some TL from the money exchange across from the port so we have enough for the next couple of days in Istanbul. All the money exchange places are dependable and they are all the same. The shop keepers really pushed hard as we walked past their stores which made me want to leave the area quickly.
I suppose they opened their stores basically for the cruise ship at this low season. As we were walking by they would ask us what time our ship leaves so they could plan on closing their stores for the day.
No, we did not eat there. We were looking for a famous kebap place, but it was closed already.
It was much better walking along the promenade than the shopping area.
Beware of the vendors here also. A pretzel seller was going to sell us two pretzels for 10TL when they were suppose to be 1TL a piece.
Then it started to drizzle so we went back to the ship for a late lunch at the Great Outdoors.
After dinner at the Grand Pacific we were all very tired and decided to call it a day.
We had a great day here at Kusadasi!
Paul's Farewell to the Ephesian Elders
Acts 20:17~38
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
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