Priene

My original review, written right after the trip, vanished into cyberspace somehow. The guide, Kemal, was truly our hero - the guide we were supposed to have had gotten sick, and Kemal was filling in for him on his only day off for 2 weeks. Priene was beautiful! High on a hill - if you're not prepared to walk up and down steep paths and steps, don't try it. 3 of us were on the trip 1 stayed at the cafe where the van was parked, and we other 2 went up with our guide. The ancient Greek city used to be a seaport, but the sea is now a long way from there - lots of green where the water used to be. The ruins include the offices for the bureaucrats of long ago, a temple to the Egyptian gods, a temple of Apollo that eventually became a Christian church, an ampitheatre, and the incredible temple of Athena, which once had 60 columns. Germans did some restoration there in the 1880s or thereabouts, including setting up some of the columns again, and digging down along one side to show the foundation for the temple. It was well worth the effort to get up there to see it! The stone houses were interesting to see, but that's a driveby. Lunch was at a little restaurant in Karine on the shore, with a table under a tree on a grassy verge and the beach right below us, with lots of ducks and geese and fish to watch, and the restaurant's cat happy to greet visitors and hoping for a handout. Can't remember what all we ate, but the food was delicious. Our guide explained what we were eating, and if necessary, how to eat it. We could have included time at Ephesus if we'd wanted, but, as we'd been there before, all we wanted was a half hour with the souvenir section, so one of our group could find some particular souvenirs. We were absolutely delighted with this alternate way to spend the day. Highly recommended.