Kusadasi, Turkey Shore Excursion and Port Reviews Ancient Cities: Priene, Didyma and Miletus When in Rome, Do as the Romans, so the saying goes. But the 3-village tour took us a world away. Our driver traveled through the Ionia Valley, a fertile agricultural area that abounds in cotton fields, wheat, sesame, black pepper, lemon trees, sunflowers and nuts. This fertile valley also provides rich hunting grounds for birds that enjoy the flooded fields providing a theater for avid birding groups. Textile plants manufacture Levi, Lee and Wrangler jeans in this area. Aydyn, our guide, just guided us through the village of Miletas. It was a workout (not for the weak of heart) to climb the acropolis to view original ruins of the stadium, baths, church, civic chambers and temple ruins. Priene, a 2 BC development was our 10am stop. The ruins included the breathtaking Temple of Aethena, council chamber, arena, Byzantine Church and gymnasium. It was pointed out that the area near Lion Gate was once the edge of the sea. The guide saved the best for last. In Didyam Temple Apollo’s crowning glory were four original 60-foot tall pillars that rose into the cloud studded sky, evidence of a long past ancient Roman-Greco era. Having expended all the extra calories taken on-board our ship with the extreme walking of the day, our 15 tour members climbed aboard the Isuzu mini bus for the 1:30 pm return trip to the port and the R-7 While Aydyn appreciates the significance of the Ephesus ruins he commended us for being the avid sightseers who sought to experience “the cream of the crop” of original archaeology present in remote Priene, Miletas and Didyma. Though his accent made it difficult to understand the narration, Aydyn was an excellent guide and delivered an outstanding tour. If you have any questions regarding this tour e-mail me () at itravel@jps.net I would give this tour a 9.