Up at 7:00 am and breakfast an hour later. We met Carole at the departure point for the tour to Ancient Ephesus & the Virgin Mary’s House Lee and her were taking today. After I saw Lee safely off I met LeVerne back in the Lido restaurant. Had a coffee or two then LeVerne and I struck off into town for a short stroll to get a feel for the port before the girls get back at 1 pm. Strolled along the seaside walk around to the fortress on Pigeon Island. It wasn’t open to tour inside so we settled for a walk around the perimeter.

      
      
      
click picture to enlarge

During the walk back to the ship we stopped in at a sidewalk café for a coffee. We ordered what we thought were going to be regular coffees, but they served us Turkish coffee. Small, hot, strong and full of grounds but we managed to sip them down. After that it was back to the ship and up to the cabins to wait for the girls to finish their tour.

  
click picture to enlarge

The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos in the vicinity of Ephesus in Turkey. The house was discovered in the 19th century by following the descriptions in the reported visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), a Roman Catholic nun and visionary. Christian and Muslim pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by Saint John and lived there for the remainder of her earthly life. The shrine has merited several papal Apostolic Blessings and visits from several popes including Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.

      
      
    
click picture to enlarge

Ephesus was a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC by Attic and Ionian Greeks. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. Ephesus came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

      
      
      
    
  
click picture to enlarge

At around 1:00 Lee and Carole arrived back so we all went up to the Terrace Grill on Deck 8 for a burger. After that it was back into town for a bit of browsing and shopping. Not much of interest to us other than a couple of boxes of Turkish Delight. LeVerne on the other hand was able to find a very nice take-apart cane to add to his collection. We ended our excursion into town with a little people watching and as beer at a sidewalk café on the main shopping street. After that it was back to the ship for cast off and dinner at 5:45.

    
    
    
click picture to enlarge

After dinner we all wandered over to a Turkish Bazaar which was being held on the ship. Not much there so Lee and I headed down to the casino to try our luck. Carole and LeVerne went to watch a movie at the theatre. After an hour or so of breaking even at the slots we went back to our cabin to do some reading. Off to bed by 10.