And then there were seven

Our tour guide had informed us that there were seven cruise ships arriving in the area for our day around Ephesus so we needed to get an early start. At 7:30am we were all in the bus and ready to roll. We could already see that three of the cruise ships (Including Navigator of the Seas) had arrived at Pammukale so we knew it was going to be a busy day.

We arrived at the Ephesus archaeological site shortly after 8am and the crowds were already horrendous. However our tour guide did his best to show us as much of the ruins as possible including the temples, library, toilet block, 30000 seat amphitheatre and much more.

As we were doing several things in the area that day we passed the road leading up to Ephesus many times. Later in the day the queue of buses was 7km long. Glad we got there at 8am!

The next part of our day deviated from our original itinerary. Our next stop was to a rug weaving school where we were shown the process used to make Turkish rugs and learned about the different knots and materials used. That was actually quite interesting and I think we all learned something from it. The did try to sell us rugs shortly after but I wasn't phased because I'd appreciated the rug making lesson.

By this stage it was around 11:30am and our tour guide gave us an option of what to do next. He knew that the priest in our group wanted to see the remains St John's Basilica, but that the rest of us would appreciate the Archaeological museum more. His suggestions was to drop most of us at the museum and then take the priest to St Johns and collect us when they were done.

We disagreed. We knew St John's was not going to be a long stop so we suggested an alternative, we all go to St John's before lunch, go to lunch, and then visit the Archaeological museum after lunch. Surprisingly we managed to get the tour guide to agree so off we went.

As described by our Tour Guide, there wasn't much left to the ruins of St John's basilica. However, despite the site being completely off our itinerary he still guided us around the site pointing out important sections and describing the history of the building.

After another tourist hall lunch we went to the Archaeological museum. This had some interesting items that had been discovered at the Ephesus dig and various other archaeological sites in the area.

The next stop for the day was one I was not impressed with. We had been led to believe that we were to stop at a leather market where we could pick up a few leather items for good prices. I was looking forward to seeing if I could find some sandals, and Andrew a new wallet. Instead we were led to a room at the back of this Leather "complex" where we were given a private fashion show of various designer leather jackets. We were then taken to the store section of the complex where we could try on the jackets and buy them. It was a very expensive place and not at all what we were led to believe we were going to see. It also took ages to get out of there!

It was after the visit to the leather place that the 3 couples who were travelling together left our little group to return to Istanbul. It was sad to see them go but it was time for them to end their travels and head back home. The remaining 7 in our group piled back on the bus and we headed to Pammukale.

The hotel at Pammukale was actually quite nice. It had a large pool and a hot spring pool which Andrew and I promptly made use of upon our arrival. It was the first time on the tour so far that we'd arrived early enough to use the pool, and after such a long hot day it was lovely to have a swim. Although the hotel is inland, sitting in the pool, looking back at the buidings, it was hard not to imagine the sea being just on the other side. The hotel just had that beachside feel to it.