KUŞADASI

   This soult-western corner of the Aegean is a region with something to delight everyone. Whether your taste is four archaeology and history or for relaxing in the peace of wooded hills and scented groves, or on golden beaches beside, the sparkling waters of the Aegean, you will  find a wealth of everything in this  compact region.
   The area is bolt easy to reach and  easy to travel in, with fine asphalt  roads taking you to archaeological  sites and beaches.
 Moreover, this is an area in which  you can stay in comfort in one of  the many good hotels and motels.  Thus, the region offers a holiday  not only rich in beauty and interest  but one full ease as well.

THE CRADLE OF IONNIAN CIVILIZATION

   Like the rest of Turkey, this region has been a crossroads of history and has witnessed eleven waves of colonists and conquerors .
   The civilized history of the region goes back to the 12th century B.C., with the flight of the Ionians from Greece to Asia Minor in the wake of the Dorian invasions. It was in Ionia, as this region was then called, that a civilization of extraordinary philosophic and scientific sophistication was born, which was to have a profound effect on the course of European thought. It was also from this region that the graceful Ionic style or architecture originated .
   From the 7th to the 6th centuryB.C., the area was seized by the Cimmerians, Lydians from the Persian yoke in 334 Bç.C, by Alexsander the Great. After this death
the region was administrated by one of this generals, Lysimachus, andafterwards passed into the hands of the Kingtom of Pergamon to the north.
   After the foundation of Constantinople as the capital of theRoman Empire in 330 A.D, the region fell under Byzantine rule. In 1304 the Seljuks captured the area from
the Byzantines, and at the beginning of the 15th century the rule of Ottoman Turks was finally established.

PLACES OF INTEREST IN KUŞADASI

   Now a charming little harbour town, Kuşadası was once the stronghold of the pirate brothers Oruç and Hayrettin Barbarossa. The pirates lair was on Güvercin Adası
( pigeon Island ) now connected to the shore by a causeway along which you can walk to the fortness. Hayrettin Barbarossa was made Turkish Grand Admiral by Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century. It was Barbarossa who made the mediterranean a Celsus Library and the theatre seatling 25.000 are only some of the beautiful edifices that bear witness to the city's fomer glory. The city is closely associated with early Christianitiy. The Aposties John and Paul preached here and in 431 A.D
the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated from the Double Church of the virgin  in Emphesus.
Another site visited by Christian pilgrims is the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, just beyond the Magnesian Gate at Ephesus.

THE HOUSE OF THE VIRGIN MARY

   The house where the Virgin Mary is said to have spent her last days is set 7 km. outside Selçuk, amidst lovely wooded hills. The foundations of the houses date back to the 1st century A.D., but the house itself is a restored Byzantine dwelling. It is likely taht the Virgin came to Ephesus, since she was entrusted by Christ to St. John, who is known to have preached in Ephesus.
The site was claimed to have been the Virgin's last home by the visonary German nun Katherine Emmerich, and it has been recornized by the Vatican.
Every year on the 15th of Augusta special Mass is celebrated at the house.

 House of Virgin Mary