Ephesus

For most of the week, we've been in Istanbul, a truly amazing city. There is so much to do there, and so many things to see that there is no way we'll be able to catch it all on this trip.

Last night, we took an overnight bus to Selchuk, a town just 3km from Ephesus. We left at 10pm and arrived around 7:30am this morning, with our day trip starting at 9:30. We visited the ancient city until about 12:30, after which we ate lunch, saw Artemis' temple (what's left of it), saw Mary's supposed living place, and visited businesses where they make ceramics and rugs by hand. Without morning showers and with a day full of hiking, we were feeling pretty crummy by this evening. Thankfully, we splurged on a nice hotel for the night, where we just cleaned up and ate dinner. We've met lots of neat people along the way, too, which has made the trip fun.

Tomorrow, we lounge around in Kashadasi, where our hotel is right on the sea. We'll take another bus back to Istanbul, stay the night, and fly out to Boston at 6:30 on Sunday morning (11:30pm EST Saturday). And then, it's really time to relax.

We're so looking forward to seeing everyone after about 10 months of being away!