Turkey with all the trimmings

The unsung star of Christmas spent her final years in a far-flung place.

- CATHERINE MARSHALL

Turkey is a favourite at Christmas time – on the dinner table with all the trimmings, and on the outskirts of Ephesus with a story that’s seldom told.

Here among ruins sprawling uphill from the Turkish port of Kuşadasi stands the house where Mary, mother of Jesus, is said to have lived out her final days. “The people built a small village here, and they welcomed the Virgin Mary very warmly, and they built a small stone house for her,” says guide Ayşegül Çakir, who is leading us on a shore excursion with Regent Seven Seas.