Ephesus, Kusadasi

This morning we docked before sunrise in Kusadasi. We are in Asia! This is one of Turkey's busiest ports and a prime tourist destination for Turks and foreigners alike. Just before we disembarked another cruise ship pulled in beside us, the Celebrity Equinox. It is HUGE, almost scary. It dwarfs the Louis Majesty, taking it down a few pegs on the majestic scale. The ocean going ships of today are a far cry from the style and elegance of the past but, Holy Shiva, they are big!
I signed up for the shore excursion since the site of Ephesus is about 18 km from the port. These excursions are ridiculously expensive, but are sometimes the best option. Ephesus was one of the great cities of the world, becoming rich as a port city on the Asian trade routes. It was also a center of religious worship in the ancient world, especially of the Great Mother Artemis who had a temple here. It is said to be one of the best preserved of ancient cities. One uses the word 'preserved' lightly here. It is a pile of rubble mostly, with a few re-constructed bits. Still, one can walk along the main thoroughfare of the city and get some idea of its grandeur, but it takes a lot of effort to imagine it. Ephesus must have been a splendid city, opulent and vibrant. During its long history of thousands of years under the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and later the Ottomans, the city went through many transformations. And then there were a number of devastating earthquakes along the way. The coup de grâce to the city's fortunes was the fact that the river, the Meander, silted up and made the harbor unusable. The Meander meandered and the party was over. The seacoast today is five miles away. Sic transit gloria mundi. 
The two biggest monuments of the ancient city are the library (which has been partially reconstructed with the assistance of the Austrian government) and the 24,000 seat amphitheater which is still in use and boasts phenomenal acoustics. After the buses brought us back to the town proper we had some time to explore. There are the narrow lanes of the bazaar, just what one would expect in Turkey, but I was looking for, and found, something else -- a café with free wi-fi. It annoys me that, although wi-fi is available aboard ship, it is expensive. I christen thee the SS Louis Tightwad. I payed a small fortune to ride this tub and I don't appreciate being nickeled and dimed at every turn. But it seems to be the way things are in cruise land.
At this moment I am sitting in a shady spot on the top deck. We are leaving the port. It is a perfect day, the wine-dark sea is glistening in the warm sunlight, the town dazzles on the hillside. What a life! (even without free wi-fi.) In about four hours we arrive in Patmos.