Kuşadası is a resort town in the province of Aydın on the Aegean coast of Turkey, 90 km (56 mi) south of İzmir, and 71 km (44 mi) from the inland provincial capital of Aydın.
Kuşadası is near the ancient city of Ephesus and to other places of interest including Miletos, Didim and Pamukkale, and a short distance across from Kuşadası  lies the island of Samos (Greece).

 

Highlights: Ephesus  - House of Virgin Mary - The Basilica of St. John- Şirince

 

Ephesus:
Ephesus was a city of ancient Anatolia. During the period known as Classical Greece it was located in Ionia, where the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes) flows into the Aegean Sea. It belonged to the Ionian League. Ephesus hosted one of the seven churches of Asia, addressed in the Book of Revelation of The Bible), and the Gospel of John might have been written here. It is also the site of a large gladiator graveyard. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), and both were destroyed by the Goths in 263. The emperor Constantine rebuilt much of the city and erected a new public bath. The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614. The importance of the city as a commercial centre declined as the harbor slowly filled with silt from the river. Today's archaeological site lies 3 kilometers south of the Selçuk district of İzmir Province, Turkey.

 

House of Virgin Mary:
The House of the Virgin Mary is a Christian and Muslim shrine located on Mt. Koressos (Bülbüldağı, "Mount Nightingale") in the vicinity of Ephesus, (7 km from Selçuk). It is believed by many Christians and Muslims that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by Saint John and lived there until her Assumption into Heaven according to Catholics or Dormition according to the Orthodox.

 

The Basilica of St. John:
In the 4th century Byzantines build a small church over his tomb and finally in the 6th century Justinian I build a cathedral which was destroyed by the Arab raids between 7th and 8th centuries. Today his grave is recognized as a shrine by Vatican.

 

Şirince:
Today the village is a perfect synthesis of Turkish and Greek culture as of the 1920s: after the Independence War, people exchange between Greek and Turks has occurred and all those typical Greek houses, though they kept their original outside characteristics, have received the local layout inside. All the narrow streets of the village belong to the women, selling handcrafts of all kinds and olive oil and wine.