Day 5 Part 2: House of the Virgin Mary and Kusadasi

We left the Carpet Shop and drove about a half an hour to a restaurant for lunch.  it was a large cafeteria style place that was well- prepared for large tour groups.  There were at least 3 bus loads of people arriving at the same time as us.  The menu was limited but everyone enjoyed visiting and eating lunch.  After lunch we had a three-hour drive to Kusadasi.  We drove through Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey.  Most of us used the bus ride to catch up on our sleep.

Sleep Cam

Suleyman suggested that we visit one more attraction before heading to the hotel and we are so happy that he did.  We arrived at the House of the Virgin Mary  (Meryem Ana  in Turkish) near the end of the day and most of the tour buses had already departed. The house was discovered in the 19th century by following descriptions of the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a Roman Catholic nun.   Catholic pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by St. John and lived there for the remainder of her life. The shrine has been visited by many Roman Catholic Popes  Outside the shrine is the "Wishing Wall" where people can tie or attach their personal wishes or intentions.  There is also a water fountain nearby where people believe that the water has special healing powers. 

A statue of Virgin Mary

House of the Virgin Mary

Healing waters

The Wishing Wall

Wishing Wall

Shopping for Souvenirs

Our hotel was a short drive  from the House of the Virgin Mary and  on our way we saw the port where we will be boarding the cruise ship on Saturday.  We were also informed that our accommodations had been changed to the Arora Hotel in Kusadasi.  It included 3 swimming pools, beach access, a large deck with music, a disco and a Turkish Bath.  After checking in we had some free time to check emails and a few of the parents booked appointments at the Turkish Bath.

Dinner was served buffet style and there was a large selection of food, but it was very congested.  Once again we found that we needed to be more aggressive that usual when standing in line to keep other people from cutting in front of us.

After dinner some of our group joined the DJ on the deck and showed off their Saskatchewan dance moves!!!

Students

And some of the Moms!!!