The Ancient City Of Ephesus & House Of Virgin Mary

After your cruise docked to Kusadasi port, on your meeting time, your guide will be waiting you in the arrival guest terminal with a sign that your booking name indicated. After he/she welcomes you and after getting on your private van, your unforgetable day in Turkey stop starts.

First of all you follow the way to Selcuk town which is 15 miles from the town of Kusadasi where The Ancient City of Ephesus which is the best preserved ancient city in Anatolia so far discovered and the other important historical sites such as; The House of Virgin Mary, The Basilica of St. John, The Temple Of Artemis and The Grotto of the Seven Sleepers exixts.

After 20 minutes driving, you reach to the Ancient City of Ephesus and your magical experience through a history starts…

Your first stop with your guide will be the visit to the House of Virgin Mary.

The House of Virgin Mary is located up on a mountain that it is beleived to have been the place where she lived and spent the last years of her life close by to the Ancient City of Ephesus whereas St. John the apostale lived and passed away in this city.

At the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jeruselam, he entrusted mother Mary to St. John who was one of the beloved apostales of himself. After that, as the tradition says, St. John the apostale wanted to take Mary to safer place and he chose to come to the region of Ephesus in between 42 -48 AD back than. They both spent their last years in this area.

This place was officially declared a pligrmage site of the Roman Catholic Church in 1896. Pope Paul VI visited the shrine in 1967, Pope Jean Paul II in 1979 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

Even mainly a pligrimage site for the Catholics, with its wonderful spot and peaceful energy up on the mountain in a forest areas, became a respectful place for the millions of people all around the world in which religion they belong to it does not matter…

After the visit in the House of Virgin Mary, your next stop will be The Ancient City of Ephesus.

The ancient city of Ephesus was founded by the the Amazons, the great female warriors in history. The name of the city is thought to have been derived from “Apasas” (name of a queen of Amazons) which sounds very similar to “Ephesus”. The name of the city “Apasas”was a city for the “Kingdom of Arzawa (belongs to the Hittites civilization from the 2nd millenium BC.)” which means “queen bee” or “city of the Mother Goddess”.

Ephesus was inhabited from the end of the Bronze Age, but the location was changed owing to the silting up process of the river Cayster and because of various rulers. Carians and Lelegians were the city’s earliest inhabitants(7000 BC.), Ionian migrations began around 1200 BCE and Ephesus is chiefly known as an Ionian Greek city. Altough there had been a lot of civilizations passed through the region of Ephesus even with its different settlement areas(4 times changing the location of their city), the city that we visit today with all the ruins as being the best preserved ancient city in Anatolia so far discovered is the 3rd location of Ephesus as a Greko-Roman city dating back to the 3rd C BC.

Starting from the upper gate of the city you are going to be following the impressive marble streets of Ephesus with the explanations of your guide who makes you feel like having a journey back to the antiquity and especially to the Roman times as like taking a time machine back into those days…

First of all you start with the administrative part of the city where you see the ruins of The State Agora, Roman Baths, Basilica, Buleterion(Odeon),Prytaneion buildings. After ending the Administrative part of the city you reach to the Domitian Square where you see the ruins of Temple of Domitian, Pollio Fauntain,Memmius Monumet,relief of Nike(Victoria) and then the ordinary life of Ephesus starts where the massive buildings keeps welcoming you as well.

One of the most well known main Street in the city “The Street of Curettes” where you face the jewel of Ephesus which is “The famous Library of Celsus”  comes with a panaromic unbelievable view.

This amazing view is going to be a “Wow” for you. Then you start walking on the Street of Curettes on a collonaded marble street as following the ruins of Gate of Hercules, ruins of the shops which were located behind the columns, The Trajan Fountain, The Scholastika Bath Complex, The Teracce Houses(the residentials of the wealthy families who lived in the city- Has an extra enterance fee), The Temple of Hadrian, Latrines(public toilets of the Romans),Brothel, famous Library of Celsus.

Before you enjoy your time in the famous Library of Celsus, you’re going to be a guest of the wealthy Roman families for a while… Another impressive highlight that located inside the ancient city of Ephesus as the Teracce Houses visit you have.

You are going to be feeling the luxurious lives of the whelthy Roman families who lived in Ephesus. This place is like peacing togather an anormous jigsaw puzzle by the restaurators who are working inside.

Those houses are very well preserved because of being covered with earth thousands of years. 7 seperated residentials discovered being protected by a recent special roof contruction above them.

Inside the houses you are going to get really impressed with the decorations made by the Romans for the floors and the walls containing lots of fabulous mosaics and the intricate frescos with amazing colorsations which had been used all the natural dyes that they obtained from the vegetables and herbs.

After being the guests of the rich Roman families, you continue your walking through the city.

Next the famous Library of Celsus comes as being the “Crown of Ephesus” today… Known as the 3rd largest library of the ancient World after the library of Alexandrea in Egypt and the library of Pergamon.

The Library of Celsus will be the ending of the first main Street and then the second main Street for the city comes as the Marble Street. The Street extends from the Library of Celsus till the famous big Grand Theater of Ephesus which is known as one of the largest example with its seating capacity in Anatolia so far discovered. On the way to the big grand Theater, you are going to get shocked seeing the first advertising in Ephesus on a marble peace on the floor showing the direction of… (?) Wait to learn from your guide about the funny story of it…

The impressive Commercial Agora(Market Place) which used to be the heart of the city as being the trade center of the Asia Minor for the Ephesians comes with an impressive view from a teracce on the Marble Street.

The last highlight comes as the big grand Theater of Ephesus with the capasity of 25.000 people which firstly was built as a Greek theater then later coverted into a Roman style. The Theater of Ephesus was the place where St. Paul the Apostale preached to the Ephesians.

You are going to feel the amazing acoustics inside the theater and you are going to be able to imagine that once there used to be the gladiator fights and wild animal fights were being held in the spot where you are standing today.

After the Theater one last main Street comes as the Harbour Streeet(the Arcadiane).The end of this Street was the location of the ancient port of Ephesus which is today about 7 km away from the city itself. Here is another shock for you that after imagining Ephesus was used to be port city and that much silted up by the River Cayster in thousands of years…

Following the way through the Harbour streert, some more ruins will be pointed out by your guide as the Theater Gymnasion, some examples of the Sarcophagi(tombs),Church of Mary and the Harbour Baths…

As ending your tour inside the ancient city with impressive informations and wonderful pictures that you had, you are not going to be taken to the upper gate back again to exit; you are going to exit the ancient city togather with your guide from the lower gate and meet with your private van in the parking area.

After you end the tour in the ancient city of Ephesus, you continue to your programme with the visit to the Basilica of St. John which is the place where the Apostale John was buried after his death and the place where we see the ruins of a basilica from the 6th C AD which was built at the same place where the tomb of St. John exists.

Then then your next stop comes about the historical part in your program as visiting The Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Artemis was the greek name of the goddes in mithology that in Rome she was called as Diana. Artemis was the protector mother godess for the Ephesians sos he was also totally different than the cllasical mithology. The godess of fertility, birth and the nature…

Even from the temple itself not much ruins left, this site is something not to miss as being one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as being the house of the protector mother godess of the people back in the paganism times, as being the 2nd settlement area for the Ephesians and as facing an impressive view from the location of the temple with some other impressive historical buildings such as The Isa Bey Mosque, The Basilica of St. john and the Ayasuluk Castle…

After finishing the visit in the Temple of Artemis, the same way you drive back to Kusadasi where the port is, and ending our services as saying goodbye to our guests with unforgetable memories and with the wishes to welcome them back again…