Ephesus tours

[lilybug]

In checking the "O" tours for Ephesus, the full day "Best of Kusadasi" includes the House of the Virgin Mary, but no mention of Terrace Houses. They have a 4 hr. tour "Ephesus & Terrace Houses" but it doesn't mention Mary's house. Has anyone been on either of these tours? We would like to see both Mary's House and Terrace Houses. Is it possible to get your own tour and see both? We are on only 2, would anyone recommend just getting a driver to take us to both? Are they a long distance apart? Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Benita]

None of the sites are too far apart. We hired a guide through EKOL at http://www.ekoltravel.com If you go on their web site and click shore excursions under the Turkey tours, you can click on their offerings from Kusadasi. We eleced to take the Ephesus and Temple of Artemis and added the Terrace Houses. You can take one that includes Mary's House as well. We had been to Ephesus and Mary's House before. The prices were far better than on O's tours, and there were just the 2 of us with a guide, driver, and minivan. We used them for Istanbul as well.

[Charliesmom]

I second Benita's recommendation of Ekol Travel. Our Ekol guide was wonderful and it made a difference having a driver as well as a guide. We were only two people and it still cost less than O's tours. And we think it was probably better.

 

Roberta

[Obiwon]

We used Levent Solmaz www.leventsolmaz.com last November and he was great! There were just two of us and he took us in his private car. A very peronsable tour guide. The Terrace Houses were the highlight of the whole day, be sure to see them. We did not see Mary's House and had heard mediocre reviews on it.

[lilybug]

Thanks for all the information! Who knows if Mary really did live in that little house, but I feel I can't go there and not see it. I've had my heart set on seeing it and then have read such great reviews about the Terrace Houses. I will contact EKOL... thanks everyone.

[Aruba]

This will be my first visit to Ephesus, but what I've heard from people who have been there is in line with what Obiwon wrote: the Terrace Houses may well be the hightlight of the day while the supposed "Mary House" may seem more touristy/less authentic. I'm looking forward to judging for myself, but that's what I've heard...

[owl61]

The so called Mary's house is not an interesting site , but it is relatively expensive to walk through the room of a tiny structure. On the other hand the terraces houses are very interesting. If you have to make a choice from a purely site point of view there is no comparison.

[NYLady]

I was interested in your questions about Mary's house and the terrace houses because they were on my tour a few years ago and Mary's house was such a non-event I had forgotten all about it...

[john2003]

Absolutley you must see the Terrace Houses. They have done a wonderful job of the excavation. We used Ekol and they were excellent.

[Penzance]

We, and another couple, hired Kagan Kosagan with van and driver for a lovely tour of Ephesus,the Terraced houses and the museum. We also stated that we did not want to drive further to visit the House of Mary and definately no carpet stores. He was very agreeable to all and his rates were very reasonable.

[CA traveler]

that is good to hear. we hired him for Ephesus also. We have one of his guides, Deniz, for our tours in Istanbul.

 

Susan

[xxxbass]

Lillybug, I have a group tour of Ephesus currently for 6 people but can be for 8. We do see the Terrace Houses which everyone say are the highlight, but do not see Mary's House which few people seem to rate very high. Instead of Mary's house we go to the Museum. The cost, per person will be $60./per person if we are a group of 8. If you are interested please email me at mile370 at comcast dot net and put black sea tours in the description so I do not delete you. If you are interested we also have 2 places left for Stalins Dacha in Sochi. Michael

[xxxbass]

Lillybug, I just realized that neither you nor I indicated which sailing we are on; obviously they have to match for our tours to be useful. We are on the July 7 Istanbul to Athens Black Sea cruise. Michael

[Penzance]

Susan: We had Deniz for our walking tour and with our car/driver tour on another day, both in Istanbul. She was very good and gave us much detail of their culture and history.

[CA traveler]

I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed your tours with both Deniz and Kagan. I am looking forward to this trip. We have never been to this part of the world.

 

Susan

[HawkeyeCruisr]

We were just in Ephesus and used Ekol. Just days before we had been in Istanbul and used Kagan for 2 days of touring. Kagan is the best!! He gives you great information on history and culture and is a very congenial guide. After our Ekol day in Ephesus, we wished we had been able to get Kagan for that tour as well.

 

The problem with Ekol is that you are assigned whatever local guide is available and some are better than others. I know many people have been quite happy with Ekol (which is why we booked them in the first place) but we were not as satisfied. It turned out our guide was just weeks away from knee surgery and was unable to accompany us into sites where there were steps or hills. Instead, she tried to give us all of the information on what we would be seeing and sent us on into the sites on our own. This was fine for the Temple of Artemis and the House of the Virgin Mary, but we felt we missed out on some details at the Terrace Houses. While we were in the Terrace Houses, we found ourselves eavesdropping on guided tours to pick up information. Lame in all senses of that word.

[lilybug]

We are on July 19th.

[Aruba]

The problem with Ekol is that you are assigned whatever local guide is available and some are better than others. I know many people have been quite happy with Ekol (which is why we booked them in the first place) but we were not as satisfied. It turned out our guide was just weeks away from knee surgery and was unable to accompany us into sites where there were steps or hills. Instead, she tried to give us all of the information on what we would be seeing and sent us on into the sites on our own. This was fine for the Temple of Artemis and the House of the Virgin Mary, but we felt we missed out on some details at the Terrace Houses. While we were in the Terrace Houses, we found ourselves eavesdropping on guided tours to pick up information. Lame in all senses of that word.

Uh oh, that's not good. They should have arranged for a guide who was physically up to the challenges of walking in Ephesus. We booked an EKOL tour of Ephesus for July 5. Hope we don't have a similar issue.

[playhouse]

In checking the "O" tours for Ephesus, the full day "Best of Kusadasi" includes the House of the Virgin Mary, but no mention of Terrace Houses. They have a 4 hr. tour "Ephesus & Terrace Houses" but it doesn't mention Mary's house. Has anyone been on either of these tours? We would like to see both Mary's House and Terrace Houses. Is it possible to get your own tour and see both? We are on only 2, would anyone recommend just getting a driver to take us to both? Are they a long distance apart? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

 

Hi, Are going on the July 6th on Nautica. If so I have booked a private tour of Ephesus seeing both sights. So far 6 others have joined. Let me know if you are inteerested

[Myth or History?]

Great times! It will be my 9th time to visit Ephesus. I really love to be there delving into B.C.s with Informative Guides of the ephesus tours.com. I usually won't visit the same place twice but Ephesus is excluded. The place you visit and people you spend time with really matter.

[8mma]

I went to Mary's house in June and really enjoyed it. I brought back water from the spring to give as gifts to friends back home and they all treasured it (the best free souvenir ever). I was not expecting much and the grounds were nicer than I thought they would be.

The terrace houses were of course wonderful and you can do both easily together. Enjoy!

[amer_can]

If you are going to do Ephesus under no circumstances miss the terrace houses and Mary's house. Our tour company would be hard to beat. It was very much more than the cruise tour could offer, included lunch and both the above venues and way, way less costly:). There were 6 of us, not hard to arrange and a great experience. If you want I can give you the name.

[pier]

We used Ekol for Ephesus and Istanbul and were very satisfied. Ekol was far less expensive than Levant Solmaz, whom we had originally hired. The link below will give you the best, most informative discussion I have seen regarding guides to Ephesus and Istanbul.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1221993

 

I agree with you all--the Terrace Houses were the highlight of Ephesus! They are not to be missed.

[cbb]

We took a ship's exc for Ephesus & Terrace Houses and it was fabulous. The guide was amazing. There was a couple right behind us who had a private guide and all 3 began to listen to our guide. At one point one of the couple turned to the guide and began to ask a question just as our guide began to answer the very same question from a member of our group. Upon completion of the explanation the private guide looked at the couple and said (no lie!) "exactly what she said." The couple had paid for a private guide and ended up in our larger group for the remainder of the Terrace House tour!

[TKS]

 

I agree with you all--the Terrace Houses were the highlight of Ephesus! They are not to be missed.

 

I also agree the Terrace Houses are special. One of the nicest things about that portion of the tour is that you are never walking on the actual excavation, always on elevated walkways.

 

I have been amazed at ancient sites all over the Med that allow tourists to walk all over ancient tile floors and even get close enough to touch ancient frescos and paintings. Because of the care taken at Terrace Houses the excavation and study can continue without contamination and damage caused by the many thousands of feet that pass through each year. Congratulations, Turkey, for taking this step to preserve your rich historical legacy!