After meeting our professional guide at the Kusadasi pier, our private Ephesus excursion will depart for the House of the Virgin Mary. It is known with certainty that the Virgin Mary went to Ephesus and lived there for some time. Whether she died in Ephesus is not confirmed, and her final resting place is still contested. In the late 1800s, a stigmatized German nun, who had never been to Ephesus, Anne Catherine Emmerich, had a vision of the House of the Virgin Mary and described it in detail to German writer Clemens Brentano, who later published a book about it. In 1891 Paul, Superior of the Lazarists from Izmir, read about her vision and found a little building which corresponded with Emmerich's descriptions. Although the foundations were from the 1st Century A.D., the house itself dates only back to the 5th century A.D. The site was officially declared a shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1896, and since then it has become a popular place of pilgrimage. Popes visited the shrine in 1967 and again in 2006.

In the ancient site of Ephesus, the greatest port city in Asia Minor during the years of the Roman Empire, you will walk with your guide as they bring to life the many famous sites of Ephesus including the Forum, the Odeon, the Library of Celsus, and the Thermal Baths of Scolastika. You will also view the remains of the main Agora and the Great Theater, which was built in the Greek era and reconstructed in the Roman period.

Returning to the town of Kusadasi, you will have the option to end your tour in the shopping area, where you can attend a Turkish carpet explanation and shop, explore the shops filled with jewelry, carpets, leather ware, and copper goods, or both. Turkish salespeople expect you to haggle and quite often you can get 10-15% off the listed price. Treat it as an adventure. The cruise pier is a 5-10 minute walk from the main shopping area.

Guests not wishing to attend the optional carpet shopping will be taken directly back to the pier.