We were already arriving in Kusadasi as I opened the curtains this morning. We’ve been here a couple of times before, but didn’t recall this medieval castle in the harbour.

We didn’t recall this colourful area here either, reminiscent of other parts of the world. My eyes focused immediately on the colour. What if I wanted to paint my house pink? (or white!) The housing in Kusadasi was one of the topics our guide Ahmet focused on as we drove south through the suburbs. Kusadasi has grown at what he described as an alarming rate and the quiet, green coastline he remembered was fast becoming a concrete jungle - or in his words, a beehive. Sure enough, we drove past ten and twenty story blocks of flats, all empty we were told, because of some corruption which meant they did not obtain a lift licence…and who wants to live on the twentieth floor without a lift?

Our first time driving south from the city, we were surprised by how far the suburbs stretched in this direction. We were heading for Priene first, set just above the Meander Valley.

Ahmet explained that all of this area had once been under water, for the River Meander (that’s where the word comes from, we were told) had created this flood plain. Now, a rich agricultural area, the crop seemed to be almost all cotton. Ahmet explained that Turkey is the only European country to be self sufficient in terms of food and claimed the imports to be minimal: mostly coffee!

It was about an hours drive to Priene, which gave Ahmet time for a short history lesson too. He offered four main dates (which I scribbled in my notebook!) 1100BC 350BC 350AD 1100AD I’m sorry but my limited knowledge (and, I’ll confess, interest) makes it tricky to go much further in terms of the history of the place, so I will simply offer a link to a more accurate source!

When Regent described this tour as strenuous, that was a pretty accurate description for the minute we stepped from the bus, we encountered our first challenge: a steep set of uneven and rather taxing steps to climb. By now, the temperature had risen rather, the sun was shining and I’ll admit to finding that first climb tricky, especially since Ahmet had shot off at quite a pace.

As with all similar buildings, additions and alterations had been made by the various groups of people who had been here and Ahmet pointed out the different building styles.

We saw evidence of the water system - the remains of the terracotta water pipes and this junction box, designed to distribute the flow in several directions.

I doubt that we would have noticed the street sign had Ahmet not pointed it out to us, for this whole area was rich with the remains of this ancient city. We did our best to imagine how it towered over the river - now a silted up valley of cotton fields.

Here was all the evidence of a civilised community. Next stop, the theatre. Aren’t those chairs fabulous?

Ahmet stood “on stage” and delivered his soliloquy!

Next stop in this ancient town, was the church, where the pillars and the remains of a pulpit gave a good impression of the basic layout.

A few steps beyond the church and we found ourselves in the Agora, the marketplace, where columns had collapsed, leaving a mass of cog-shaped stones over a huge area.

Here and there, in amongst the “cogs” were fine carvings. How beautiful these buildings must have been.

In the 1960s archaeologists pieced together five of these columns using random stones from the site, to give an impression of how the Temple of Athene would have stood, there beneath the steep cliff face and the Acropolis, the highest point in the settlement. Ahmet explained how the Greeks had used iron rebar methods to construct the columns and there’s evidence to show how they were repaired using Roman methods. They used molten lead to hold the stones together which was not only non-corrosive but also had the added advantage of being flexible enough to withstand earthquakes.

Sad though it was to see the former columns in so many pieces, the stones here gave a better impression of the immense task the original builders must have had to contruct them. Each of these pieces was enormous, must be very heavy indeed and it’s impossible to imagine how they managed to build these amazing structures withoutb modern techniques.

Last stop on this whistle-stop tour of the site was the council chamber. Fascinating to see how it was formed and another good insight to the community who were here two and a half thousand years ago.

From here we made our way back down to the car park, confirming that the way down is no less tricky that the way up!

Driving further along the flood plain, Ahmet pointed out a rocky outcrop which he told us, was formerly an island called Lade, where a naval battle had taken place in 494BC Unfortunately, when the road on which we were now driving was constructed, the road builders had used much of the former island as building material!

Our destination here was Miletus, where the Roman theatre is the main spectacle. Larger than the theatre in Ephesus, the number of seats here is an indicator of the size of the ancient city. Ahmet explained, a Roman family was estimated to consist of ten people. Given that for any important announcement, one representative of each family was expected to attend the theatre, the number of seats there gave a clear estimation of a tenth of the population. Interesting!

We entered the theatre through one of the side arches, constructed in classical Roman style with a keystone. Ahmet referred to this as a “mother stone” - remove it and the family collapses.

Being a little slower on the steep steps here gave me an opportunity to notice small details there!

Once inside, we got a better impression of the sheer enormity of the theatre. some energetic souls made their way down to the stage to demonstrate the acoustics of the structure, which were equally impressive.

We walked around the perimeter of the theatre, admiring the views of the mostly unexcavated city here. Ahmet pointed out the bath house, just across the way and showed us where a ten mile ceremonial way had led to Didyma, the place where citizens would go to consult the Oracle. Beyond that, the other parts of the city await discovery (and funding!)

Taking a last look across the site, we returned to the bus and were off to our final stop: Didyma.

This was the site of the oracle and the Temple of Apollo here was second only to the oracle at Delphi in the ancient culture. Before we entered the site itself though, there was the small business of lunch in a local cafe to enjoy.

Suitably fortified with meze, sea bream and baklava washed down with a local beer, we went over to the site and prepared ourselves for one last blast of history.

As we gathered just inside the entrance, Ahmet began his story with a young woman on either side of him…the tale of Athene, Apollo and Medusa. These beautifully preserved stone carvings were the only ones to remain here - others are in Istanbul and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The temple here was never finished. The plans were overambitious and as the building progressed it was realised that it was not going to be possible to build the walls as high as they had hoped, to match the 20m height of the columns. What is here is impressive nonetheless, though I was flagging a bit by now and my attention span was beinning to wane.

I loved the fine carvings though and would have loved more time to sit and draw, to absorb it all at a slightly less frenetic pace. Never mind - as always with this kind of a tour, it’s more of a taster to discover what to return to later.

We returned to the bus, which was parked right by this water fountain, made to celebrate the old water sellers who worked in the village before mains water was provided.

An hour and a half later, footsore and weary, we returned to our lovely ship in Kusadasi harbour. We were supposed to sit and watch a carpet making demonstration but we ducked out of that one. It had been a long day and we were more than ready for a shower!!