Samos and ferry trip to Ephesus.

We arrived in Pythagoreon on Samos on a lovely clear day - the first really warm day of the year. The village is lovely - good shopping, excellent Tavernas and a huge harbour where you can choose to tie up to the town quay or to anchor out off the beach. We decided to anchor while we went to Ephesus as the anchorage was not crowded but was very sheltered and has excellent holding. The town quay, which is curved, has a high probability of anchors getting tangled which would be a disaster if we were not there to fix it.
From the pilot book, we had expected to be able to get a ferry to Kucedasi in Turkey direct from the harbour. It turned out that this has not been the case for some time - but we were able to buy tickets in 'Yacht Services' and arrange a taxi to pick up the ferry in Vathi. The cost of the trip was €75 per person for ferry, coach, guide & entrance to Ephesus with another €10 per person Turkish port tax collected as we got off. The taxi was €20 each way. It wasn't a cheap day but was well worth it. Pythagoreon is a much safer place for a yacht than Vathi.

We were picked up by Aris, a friendly local taxi owner, and taken to Vathi where we kicked our heels until 8.00 when we were allowed through customs onto the Samos Star - our high speed ferry. It whisked us at 25 knots over to Kusedaci in Turkey where we docked beside 3 huge cruise ships. The sea was flat and the journey very comfortable. We had €10 'port tax' extracted (this isn't a visa so the fact that we already had paid-for Turkish visas counted for nothing). Our passports were swapped for a boarding card and we were free to find our coach. Due to a cock-up on the counting front in Greece, we had one too many passengers for the bus so had to wait 20 minutes for a larger one - much to the frustration of Net - our Turkish guide.
After 1/2 hours drive we were there. The cruise ships and probably other tourist repositories make for a very crowded site. Even that couldn't spoil the impact of the place. Even L couldn't call it a 'pile of old rocks'! We were guided from the entrance at the top of the site beside the Odeon (smaller theater), down the ancient main street, to the huge main amphitheater. As we walked we saw very impressive and well preserved ruins which really give a feeling for the size and magnificence of the city.

Here are just a few pictures....

Temple of Hadrian

Library of Cercus

Amphitheater

After Ephesus, we were a captive audience at a nondescript but mercifully cheap restaurant and were then cast loose in Kusedaci. Once we had run the gauntlet of the waterfront bazaar (full of men who all seem to know your home town and have an irresistible desire to sell you a leather jacket) we reached streets full of laid back, friendly Turkish shopkeepers. Having bought loads of apple-tea (unobtainable elsewhere) and chewing the fat for 1/2 hour, we made our way back to the port and back to Pythagorean. After a nice meal in a Taverna, we fell into bed.