TOUR CODE : KUS - 02 PORT : KUSADASI TOUR DESTINATION : EPHESUS, ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, HOUSE OF VIRGIN MARY, BASILICA OF ST.JOHN, ARTEMIS TEMPLE TRANSPORTATION : BY A/C CAR OR MINIBUS DURATION OF TOUR : APPROXIMATELY 8 HOURS MEAL : AT A LOCAL RESTAURANT

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TOUR

Drive from the enchanting little port of Kusadasi to the Museum of Selcuk. Passing by the Basilica of St.John for a short photo stop. (1/2 hour ride). According to a Christian legend going back to the 2nd Century A.D.,St.John the Apostle lived on this hill, wrote his gospel there and on his death was buried there. Leaving the basilica you arrive at the museum of Selcuk where are housed the works of art, especially the statues from the Temple of Artemis brought to light among the ruins of Ephesus and its environs. At the ruins of Ephesus, treading down the Arcadian Way, a fairly well preserved colonnaded street, you see the Vedius Gymnasium, a Hellenic Fountain, the Theatre, the Marble Road, the Commercial Agora, the Temple of Serapis, the Scholatika Baths, the Temple of Hadrian, house blocks on the slopes of Mt.Pion , the Fountain of Trajan, the Temple of Domitian, the State Agora, the Library of Celcus, the Prytaneion, the Private Baths, the Large Fountain, the East Gymnasium, the Magnesian Gateway and the City walls. Lunch will be taken at a local restaurant nearby the ruins of Ephesus. After luch proceed to the House of Virgin Mary. According to the tradition, Mary died at the age of 63 in Jerusalem, where her tomb is still, however the documentation about this is not convincing. After its discovery, the Arcbishop of Izmir declared it a place of pilgrimage in 1892. On 26th July, 1967, Pope Paul VI visited this place and prayed here. It is a one domed building, and at the entrance is a small front hall, at the back of which is an elongated praying chamber with an altar in its apse. On the way back to Kusadasi, a short stop at the ruins of Artemis Temple, one of seven wonders of the world in the ancient times.