Ephesus, Turkey

I would book a private excursion, do you really want to travel in a group of 40 or more and be held hostage at the cruise companies "preferred" overpriced store? I had been on a Celebrity cruise to the Eastern Med last year and I didn't join any shore excursion, the most common complaint I heard from people who participated in shore excursions is that too much time was wasted in stores.

I had made arrangements with Ekol Travel (www.ekoltravel.com), there prices were good and they did a good job.

I recommend visiting the terraced houses at Ephesus.

Hope this helps.

I would definitely agree that you should take a private tour. Ship tours will all take you to a carpet store, perhaps other shopping, and rush through Ephesus. With a private tour you can set your own pace. Besides, Turkey is amazingly cheap when it comes to labor and private tours are comparatively a bargain. You can also visit where Jesus' mother, Mary, resided for a while, which is very near Ephesus.

Yes, I should have also mentioned the House of the Virgin Mary. The tour we arranged throught Ekol Travel visited the House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus and the terraced houses. We were asked if we;d like to go to a carpet demonstration, we declined. We we asked if we'd like to make a lunch stop, this we said yes to and we were taken to a Turkish restaurant which was good, the price of the meal was additional (to the cost of the tour) but it was reasonable. Sorry, I don't know the name of the restaurant. After the tour we were dropped off at the pier and we had plenty of time to browse around the stores before we were back onboard.

Make sure when you do Ephesus that you do the terraced houses too. Those are amazing. The House of the Virgin Mary, is ok but if you miss it, you haven't missed much.If you want to buy a rug, buy it from the state store Dosom, they have prices marked and no bargining. The regular place is under renovation and they have moved it into the Sophia Haig (sp)

Just came back last week and strongly recommend Ekol Travel for the shore excursion. Contact Mrs. Nur
We booked Istambul and Ephesus tours with them. Ask for the guide called Ali in Ephesus.
Don't miss Terrace Houses.
Just be careful if they take you to the rug factory from the cooperative. we had a bad experience since we did not want to buy and the people there got a little upset about it.

SOTO, did Ekol Travel take you to the rug factory? Did they give you a choice? How many people on your tour?

We used Sammy's Travel and were most happy with their private tour. We had the choice of what we wanted to do and it was great. Be sure you walk from the top down, much easier.

We used Sammys as well. We hired driver and guide for day and went all over getting to Ephesus in the late afternoon after the bus mobs has left. The terrace houses are a must see IMHO.
As stated above our driver dropped us off at the top and we strolled down. Best photo shot of the library is about half way down slightly off the main street a great open shot. Also the best shot of the amphitheatre is from the path as you exit the site. Be sure to arrange for your driver to meet you there
and make them aware of time you must return to ship by.

Definitely go for the private tour. We booked one through our cruise ship and I nearly wandered off into another tour, there are so many large ones visiting at any given time. Lost 10 valuable minutes of guide time trying to find our group again. If you have any free time afterwards, check out the shops by the dock.

Did anybody above purchase your visa at port? Was it easy to do? The web sites say it is possible, but I'm just a bit leary about this.

Definitely do Ephesus...it was a highlight of our recent Mediterrean cruise. After Rome and Athens, we thought perhaps we had seen enough ruins, but this was amazing...instead of a column or two here and there, you can really see the remains of a huge city without having to strain your imagination. We were so glad we went. And don't miss the Terrace Houses, although there is an extra admission charge. We had a private guide and driver, which really added to the experience. Not sure if you'd get much out of it without narration. We also saw Isa Bey mosque, which does not allow large organized tour groups.