In our 4th day of our Greek Odyssey Cruise in Holland America, we visited Kusadasi Turkey. Kusadasi is a small town located west of Turkey and is also known for its beautiful beaches. Also, Kusadasi is one of the main cruise destination in Turkey, and the most popular for tourist is the classical ruins of Ephesus. Today, our tour includes the visit to the House of Mary and the ruins of Ephesus.
While our ship was docking to the port, we can already see the beautiful hills that say Kusadasi. We get off around 7 am and head straight to the bus. We saw some locals welcoming the tourist by performing their local dance at the entrance of the port. Our first destination is the House of Mary and the travel time was 40 mins to get there.
House of the Virgin Mary in Kusadasi Turkey
The House of the Virgin Mary is a shrine located in Mt. Koressos near the ruins of Ephesus. It was discovered in the 19th century by the reported visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. While the Catholic church was never recognized the authenticity of the house, the pilgrims never stop visiting this location since it was discovered.
After we visit the shrine, we gathered in a small chapel to attend the mass with Fr. Robert, a priest who takes care of the whole place.
After mass, we visit the well that was known to cure diseases. We pour water from the well with our plastic bottle and tried it. The water in the well is clear and they said is clean so we tasted it.
Beside the well, there was a 30-foot wall, and in that wall, there was a lot of paper hanging with prayers and petition inside.
They believe that you can write your prayer, petition or message on the paper and hang it on the wall and the Virgin Mary will receive that message. We spent about 2 hours in that vicinity then we head to the Ruins of Ephesus.
Ruins Of Ephesus In Kusadasi, Turkey
Ephesus is an ancient city that is well-preserved until today in Kusadasi, Turkey. Also, it mentioned multiple times in the Bible and Saint Paul and Saint John visited these place in the first century A.D.
They spread the word of Jesus and winning most of the people to convert in Christianity. We spent about 3 hours in Ephesus with our tour guide whose very knowledgeable in about the history of Ephesus.
This is the place where St. Paul preached in thousands of people that gathered in this area and later on captured but was escaped.
This is the Colosseum in Ephesus and the excavation is still on going until today.
Carpets Are Beautiful In Kusadasi Turkey
After the tour in Ephesus, our guide brought us to a carpet store which we have some free drinks and sandwich. The owner of the store introduced himself and present some of his beautiful and expensive carpets in Kusadasi. Of course, we don’t have that rich to afford those carpets. Their carpets are ranging from $500 to $50,000.
Shopping At The Port In Kusadasi
When the presentation at the carpet store was finished, we still have some time for shopping and eat lunch. For your information, Kusadasi was one of the ports that you can buy cheap branded products. They called it genuine fake products.
Kebabs Was The Bomb
Before we head back to the ship, we decided to try one of their restaurants. I pull up my cellphone, check which restaurants have better reviews and tried it out.
Öz Urfa Kebab House is the name of the restaurant and we didn’t make a mistake for picking this restaurant because their Kebob and the bread was the bomb.
I even tried their local beer called Efes and it tastes good too.
Heading Back To The Ship
After we ate our meal we walk about 10 mins to head back to our ship. We checked out a couple of stores and bought some fresh cashew and some Turkish Delight. Overall, our tour in Kusadasi, Turkey was fun and memorable.
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