Thanks to internet, we were able to get information on the places we were going to visit on this cruise. When I googled there were so many sites about private Ephesus tour. After reading the short description of this particular site, I decided to check it out and eventually booked this best private tour we have ever had.
Our guide, the tiny sweet Ebru, greeted us at the Port of Kusadasi where our cruise ship docked. Since we had visited Ephesus in the style of private tour in 2001 and 2005 while traveling by Grand Princess cruises, this time we wanted something different. For the part of Ephesus we opted for only Terrace Houses inside Ephesus, a small part of which has been very slowly restored. Although we didn’t do the whole Ephesus tour, we could see that there had been lots of work done in the past 10 to15 years. Well, archaeological work never ends I guess. As requested to suit our prupose, our transportation vehicle was a comfortable Mercedes SUV which would take us to many local places most cruise ship tourists wouldn’t even have the chance to visit.
After Ephesus Ebru then took us to the cave of the Seven Sleepers on the down slope outside Ephesus where we, like the locals, had our first cup of Turkish tea and a piece of home-made gozleme, a thin stuffed pastry in half-moon shape. How delicious!
Skipping lunch, we went on to visit Camlik Steam Locomotive Museum, an outdoor railway museum where 33 steam locomotives are displayed, one of the largest collections of steam locomotives in Europe. It is also the largest of its kind in Turkey. Cam means pine and the first thing we noticed as soon as we arrived here was the pleasant smell of the air. Indeed, in Camlik no matter where you look at you will see the high-rise pine trees. Such a relaxing place to be. It was ( and still is right now) the season of peach and Ebru thought we might be enjoying this ‘ all-you-can-pick’ organic peach farm not far from the Museum. And she definitely got that right. We had a field day picking and eating peaches, plus a bag filled with peaches to go which we paid only a mere 10 dollars.
As we wanted to see how locals live their life, we then headed downtown of Selcuk. But we first needed to fill our stomachs, what with all this peach-picking used up whatever we had had that morning. At this kebab restaurant we had a platter of mixed grilled kebabs, which included lamb shish kebab, spicy Adana ground beef shish kebab, chicken wings prepared with spicy sauce, and grilled vegetables. Next to the platter, we had the best and most delicious village salad. The whole meal was not only satisfying but also refreshing. Not from from the restaurant was this garden cafe called Ataturk association cafe (ADK) where we saw the majority of customers were old males playing backgammon or Turkish tile game called OK or simply chattering. I asked Ebru why and she told us that there are not many good schools and job opportunities in town for young people hence approximately half of the local population are retired people. My husband couldn’t wait to test his backgammon skill and Ebru invited an old man to join the game. How terribly was he beaten by this old man. Nonetheless, it was a thrilling experience for him.
While we were at ADK, i saw a woman cover her Turkish coffee cup upside down on the saucer. Ebru told me that it was coffee-cup fortune-telling and many Turkish women believe that. I then did something I wouldn’t have done back home. I asked Ebru to take me to a local fortune-teller who then told me my fortune after I had my coffee. So many things she said but I remember one thing in particular because I burst out loud laughing when I heard it. She told me this would be my best private Ephesus tour! How a clever fortune-teller she was. Commercial companies should hire her as a consultant.
Best Private Ephesus Tour Ever
