Sailing Past the Pirate's Castle

We passed the fortress on Pidgeon Island as we sailed into Kusadasi harbor. Kusadasi is the closest port to Ephesus as well as other Turkish ruins such as Miletus, Didyma, Priene, Pamukkale, and Aphrodisias. During Byzantine times, the fortress served as a defense against pirate attacks.

I've used textures from borealnz and brenda starr.

Didyma

One of the ports on our cruise was at Kusadasi, Turkey, where there are lots of options for viewing nearby ancient Turkish ruins. Although the most impressive ruins are probably at Ephesus, we were put off by all the photos we'd seen showing hordes of people at that site, so we chose to visit three other sets of ruins instead: Priene, Miletus and Didyma.

Our excursion included lunch and we were delighted when we were taken to the restaurant above, overlooking the ruins of Didyma. We had a wonderful meal that included a huge buffet of delicious Turkish dishes and were then served an entree of sea bass. Afterwards, we walked to the ruins and explored them with our guide.

Photo by Steve Bohn

This photo shows the Temple of Apollo, the main structure at Didyma. By walking through stone tunnels, you reach a lower level of the temple. It's a very impressive sight and fun to explore.