The house of The Virgin Mary has received the official sanction from Pope Paul VI in 1967 and later on Pope John Paul II came here in 1979 and declared the House of Mary to be a place of pilgrimage for Christians.

Therefore Christians from all around the world observe a commemoration ceremony every year on August 15th.

The Virgin Mary's House is located just 6km (~3.5mi) from the town of SELCUK which is also very near to Ephesus and it was restored in 1950 and brought to its present state. The statue of the Virgin Mary in the apse facing the entrance is from the beginning of the century.


The spring water near the house is said to have curative qualities. In earlier years this water source was opened to the public, but for sanitary reasons, it does not run openly any more. When you visit this holy place, you might be interested in purchasing a few bottles of this water.

Turks call the Virgin Mary's house 'MERYEMANA EVI' or in short, only by 'MERYEMANA'

In November 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Virgin Mary's house.

Benedict XVI said, "I am leaving half of my heart in Istanbul" after releasing white doves into air in the garden of St.Esprit Church, on his last day of 3 days trip to Turkey.


KUSADASI:  ( Island of birds )

KUSADASI is your gateway to EPHESUS, a city created by the Ionians in the 11th century B.C. and later expanded by the Romans. Now Kusadasi is a very lovely vacation city and for all kind of enjoyment. Kusadasi also known as Turkey's number one touristic cruise port. It is only 12 mi(~19km) from ancient city of Ephesus and 90km(~56mi) from Izmir. The area is both very easy to reach and easy to travel in, with fine roads taking you to archaeological sites.
For more information on road distances, click here to see road distance chart page.

KUSADASI means 'Bird of Islands' and the town takes its name from the little island, whose name is 'The Island Of Pigeon',  GUVERCIN ADA, which is located in the harbor area and during 1960's it connected by a causeway to the shore. The castle on this tiny island was built in 1834 as a military outpost during the Morean rebellion.

This region has been a crossroads of history and has witnessed eleven waves of colonist and conquerors. Every summer thousand of domestic and foreign tourists from all over the world visit this area.

In nearest town of SELCUK's Archeological Museum is the museum to be not missed!

The statue of ARTEMIS 'the Goddess' was the protectors of the city. Artemis Temple is considered one of 'the Seven Wonders Of The World'.

KUSADASI has a very nice and busy marina... one of the largest in Turkey. Many of tourists comes here with their own private yachts, also tourist ships brings many of tourists from Greek islands for daily tours to Ephesus. Information on marinas in Turkey see this section

We can surely say you this that, KUSADASI offers something to delight everyone and YOU too will love it !

KUSADASI was once the stronghold of the pirate brothers of ORUC(Oruc reis) and HAYRETTIN BARBAROSSA(Barboros Hayrettin reis). The pirates' lair was on PIGEON ISLAND(Güverçin Adasi), now connected to the shore by a causeway along which you can walk to the land.

BARBAROSSA (Barbaros, in TUrkish was made 'Ottoman Grand Admiral'(Pasha) by SULTAN SULEYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT, in the 16th century.

It was BARBAROUS, who made THE MEDITERRANEAN a 'OTTOMAN LAKE' and he is especially remembered for his victory over ANDREA DORIA and the VENETIANS at the great naval battle of PREVEZA in 1938.


KUSADASI has now numerous luxuries resorts, hotels, holiday villages, pensions, sizzling discotheques, pubs, old caravansaries and many upscale gift shops. All the shops displays a huge variety of local and national crafts. Leather goods is famous in this area and you can buy fine suede coats and handbags as well as sheepskin jackets. The night life is Kusadasi also very active.

Many stores displays on their merchandise on jeweler, antique and modern Turkish kilims/carpets, embroidered blouses, cloths, copper and onyx items.

Besides the restaurants of the main hotels, there are many delightful harbor restaurants specializing in see-food and fish. Also there are many shady terraces, where you can sit and sip your RAKI (famous national alcholic beverage) or wine and enjoy with famous Turkish d'ordowrs meze.
>> Read more about RAKI...   'The Lion milk'

Whether your interest is for archaeology and history or for relaxing in the wooded hills and scented groves, or on golden beaches besides the sparkling waters of the Aegean Sea, you will find a wealth of everything... all the luxury resorts and hotels too.

Turkish and Greek ferry boats shuttle daily between KUSADASI and the nearby Greek island of SAMOS(Turks call 'Sakiz'). Greek ocean liners sail twice a week between ANCONA,Italy and KUSADASI and once a week between VENICE and IZMIR. In addition to these Turkish Maritime Lines (Türkiye Deniz Yollari) cruise ships stop at Kusadasi regularly while on the ISTANBUL - MERSIN route.

Are you driving from IZMIR?
No problem !   Buses depart from IZMIR for 55mi (90km) trip to SELCUK or/and KUSADASI in every half-hour. Then it is convenient to take a mini-bus (Dolmus) to go EPHESUS. For other destinations, see our road distance chart.

If you are an individual tourist, not included a tour and would like moving around Kusadasi...  like going to areas such as famous beach 'Kadinlar Denizi' or Selçuk, you can hire a taxi cab as well as you can use the DOLMUS SERVICE.

The 'dolmus' (shared taxi) is either a large or a mini-van, which runs to those prescribed places, when they have enough passengers to take off. In Turkey there are numerous private 'dolmus' everywhere, almost to anywhere and the fare is very reasonable.

Sometimes driver might not have enough change so we suggest; before taking your ride on DOLMUS, always prepare yourself with the exact fare.


Did you know this before?
If you visit this area during winter... in January you can watch 'CAMEL FIGHTS' (Deve güresi, in Turkish)In most of the Aegean Region's small towns, throughout the springtime, camel fights are held and this is a traditional main entertainment.

In a open area, such as soccer field or fair ground, the owner's well fed gorgeous 2 camels fights for a female and the public get all the fun with watching them. The loser either submits or run away, while owner of the winner makes the money :)

But sometimes fight becomes too serious and Camels runs into the crowd.   If this happen they promptly separated by their owners. The most spectacular show held in every year in SELCUK during January: Camel Wrestling Festival Of Selcuk. Nearby town SOKE is also quite famous with its Camel fight shows.