We are taking a Mediterranean cruise in a few weeks and will have one day in port at Kusadasi, Turkey. The excursions offered by the cruise line are all half day, and include options of visiting Ephseus, or other nearby ancient sites - House of the Virgin Mary, Selcuk.... We will pick one of those half day excursions - not looking for inputs on that....

My question to this group is what would you do with a free half day in the port/resort town of Kusadasi? We are highly mobile, happy to walk, happy to browse, happy to sit and people watch, sip, and eat...happy to get pampered....
Any ideas?

Kusadasi in winter may be rather calm. It's known world wide as a beach resort.
If you are interested in archeological stuff, you can visit much more than Ephesos. Any taxi driver can drive yoiu to other first class archeological sites.

Suggest you look for a private full day tour instead of taking of taking the one offered by the cruise line. A simple online search will throw up several operators, most off very similar tours. You’ll pay much less and will have a much more personalized experience. Usually lunch is included, you can opt out of the carpet factory if you’re not interested.

As neckervd mentioned above, many world class sites around Kusadasi, Ephesus being the most magnificent. The Selkuk museum is a must-see IMO, please check as it had been closed for renovations sometime back.

Great inputs, thank you. The theme of the whole cruise is antiquities so we will certainly get our fill and trying not to overdue it. A tour to Ephesus is included no extra charge but Selcuk is a separate tour with $$$, so booking a private tour for a group of 4 might could be a good idea. We'll need to decide if we want more archeology, or if spending time doing something different like enjoying kebabs or endulging in a turkish bath, or otherwise enjoying some slow time outside if it's a sunny warm day....