Saturday -Sunday 16th March

Our hotel for Saturday night had a balcony with a sea view facing due west. We had a lovely sunset looking out. Later that night a full moon came over the hotel to light up the room. The hotel is designed so no other rooms can see into our balcony and it is high up from the beach.

Breakfast is sometimes scrambled eggs, always boiled eggs which are nice as first lunch if the lunch stop isn’t until 3.30! There are different rolls and always long lines of vegetables and salads as well as continental choice of sliced meats and cheese. Occasional porridge but frequently left over soup. And for the very hardy bowls of chilis to start your day with a kick.

So Sunday morning we were off to explore Ephesus. We visited it on a previous tour with my sisters in 2013. The Library is the one ancient bit I remembered from before. But they have added a multimedia presentation of the city through the ages. It was part of the tour but we opted for a lunch at the small cafe next door. I had a ketchup, mozzarella cheese and meat folded in a flat bread – sort of a Turkish Stombolie, Jeff.

It is a long step road down to the library but luckily we get on the bus at the bottom exit having entered at the top.

The work of preserving and restoring the site continues. They are restoring buildings with marble being dug at the site to replace concrete and broken tiles, rubble and mortar.

After Ephesus our next two stops were shopping at the Jewellery centre and at the leather goods centre.

We managed to escape the sales lady at the jewellery centre. There was first an introduction to their processes for designing and making. They specialise in tanzanite from Tanzania a lovely blue stone.

We did not get away as cheaply at the leather shop. The coats are almost all reversible and such thin and soft leather. Judith was just going to try on the fringed wrap that is a deep red one side and gold design on red the other.

But she liked it and the salesmen were effusively complimentary. So in the end we each bought a coat for the other. I bought Judith the gold and red with fringe and she bought me a fingertip length coat with detail/print one side and plain brown the other side.

We are both delighted with the purchases.