Our trip ended today in Kusadasi, and we took a plane to Istanbul. From there we flew to Munich and San Francisco. We were gone for about 4 weeks and our minds completely expanded.

It was after this trip that I personally got hooked on traveling. I had done this trip just to humor Tobia, but since then, have been itching to see Europe and the world.

On our final tour day in Turkey, we had a buffet breakfast at our hotel. We took the bus early to Ephesus, and despite getting there early, it was pretty crowded.

Ephesus				Temple to Hadrian
Library of Celsus			Excavated homes with frescoes
Library of Celsus			Theater at Ephesus

We saw the Church of Mary, Library of Celsus, and some excavated homes.

Lunch was at Flower Cafe by the water, and we had our group farewell dinner in Kusadasi.

Farewell dinner

Sidar, Rafet and I

We left Pamukkale and headed off to an early morning tour of Ancient Aphrodisias. I remember seeing the stadium there, as well as a theater, the Temple of Aphrodite, and of course many other ruins. I wish I could remember more from this day, but my note taking was non-existent, and my memory clearly failing me here.

Aphrodisias				Theater at Aphrodisias
		Temple of Aphrodite	Stadium at Aphrodisias	Temple of Aphrodite
	Aphrodite of Aphrodisias	Head of Apollo	Pythagoras	Sokrates

I do have a recollection from this day that in the town of Basaran, after Aphrodisias, we saw a bunch of storks on top of a telephone pole. We actually stopped the bus, got out, climbed atop some random local person’s roof, and took pictures. The person was really so kind.

Stork on top of telephone pole in Basaran

This picture is atop a random local person’s roof

Kusadasi

In the evening, we pulled into Kusadasi and roamed around the tourist area. We had a group dinner, and a belly dancer performed for us.