After lunch, you will visit the archeological site of Didyma, which is not an ancient city, but a sacred place of worship. Didyma's fame rests on the magnificant Temple of Apollo, a building of awesome scale whose proportions seem more in keeping with the gods than man. Building works in the name of Apollo were started in the eighth or seventh centuries B.C. During the Archaic period the Temple was controlled by the Branchids, a powerful family of priests, and it was under their direction that the Temple rose to fame. In the 6th century B.C., the Temple enjoyed its golden age and was greatly expanded in size. The Persians, who attacked the area in 494 B.C., destroyed the Temple. Alexander the Great helped in the rebuilding and the remains we see today are Hellenistic, dating from his times. In the temple's reconstruction the original foundations were used but the size of the building was greatly increased. The decline of Didyma began in the third century B.C.when the Emperor Theodosius decreed that all soothsayers and their like were prohibited. This was a great blow to the Temple.

The return to Izmir will be along the same route taken in the morning. Shopping time upon your return to Izmir may be very limited based on your ship's departure time. Guests wishing to shop for a prized Turkish carpet should take this into account.