Next stop was Kusadasi in Turkey. The only reason to be here is that Ephesus is just 30 minutes by bus away. The town prospers from the big ships that disgorge high spenders into the main street; I saw the hinterland from the bus to Ephesus, and things look a lot less rosy out there.

Ephesus was a booming port city in Roman times - the second largest city in the Empire, and the base of operations for St. Peter. Then the harbour silted up and now the sea is several miles away - the whole reason for Ephesus existing went away, and so did all the people. By the mid 600s AD it was just a rock mine.