Kusadasi - Blue Waters and Ancient Civilizations

Turkey

We reached Kusadasi after a MARATHON of traveling. Beautiful, cool blue waters were exactly what we needed after five flights from Cape Town to Johannesburg to Paris to Bucharest to Istanbul and finally to Izmir followed by an hour ride from the airport. Thanks to the recommendation of our hotel owner Sezgin, we made our way to a local beach at Milli Park rather than the packed tourist beaches that are closer to the city. The 25km bus ride cost us a measly 7 lira each ($3.50) and was quite entertaining as we packed at least 20-25 people into a 12 passenger bus. Every time we thought the bus had to be full, we would pull over at a random, deserted spot on the road and add yet another person. I'm not sure that we ever actually turned a person down, we simply ran out of people to pick up! After passing the first beach, which was insanely crowded with locals, we found a quiet spot on a cliff near the second beach where just the two of us could enjoy our small peace of paradise. We spent a perfect afternoon bathing in the beautiful waters and exploring ways to climb in and out of the water from our cliff location. Sammar found her adventurous side and discovered a climb out of the water up the side of a shear cliff back to our bags. Over thousands of years the sea has eroded the base of the cliffs forcing you to find hand holds to pull yourself up out of the water while simultaneously finding a foot placement that won't rip your sandal or bare foot to shreds, all while timing the small waves so you aren't twisted sideways or thrown into the rock. We finished the day off with some delicious tavuk doner (chicken shawarma) for a whopping 3 lira, delicious!

The main reason that we came to Kusadasi was to visit Ephesus, an ancient Greek city that was built in 10th century BC and was home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Unfortunately, we hardly noticed the remains of the Temple as we trudged through Ephesus on a boiling hot day. In retrospect, despite the fact that we got some cool pictures and enjoyed learning a more about ancient Greek and Roman cities, Kusadasi/Ephesus is not really worth going out of your way to visit. 

Next stop: Cappadoccia with the full Rajjoub family!