edndot

We are going to Greece in September for about 3 weeks. One place I am eager to see is Ephesus. I will also be visiting Samos and Ikaria, with emphasis on Ikaria (family friends). How many days should I spend on Samos? How many days should I spend on Ikaria? How shall I get to Ephesus...from Samos or Ikaria?

brotherleelove2004

The ferry to Kusadasi leaves from Samos, Not Ikaria. If you want a guided tour of Ephesus you should have no trouble finding one already organized as a day trip from Samos.

hambo

Hi there. We did the day trip from Samos to Ephesus last August and would thoroughly recommend it. The boat trip from Samos Town to Kusadasi takes about 75 to 90 minutes. On the tour we took there were buses to meet the boat on arrival - passengers were directed to buses according to the language they spoke. Each bus has a guide who will take you for a 2 hour tour of Ephesus. On return to Kusadasi there was a stop for a "Turkish" lunch and then approximately 2 hours to spend in Kusadasi. If you wanted to spend more time in Ephesus I am sure you would be able to arrange your own guide. Enjoy the trip.

brotherleelove2004

Hello Hambo-

Hambo, I'm curious about something that's come up in conversation before. Because it was a "day trip" did you have to surrender your passport at any time, or were you treated like a normal tourist who had to pay an entry fee when you arrived in Kusadasi? Also what did the guided tour cost per person?

stanbr

Hi brotherlee. I think this is the first time I have seen you ask a question.
You are usually being helpful to others answering their inquiries.

At Kusadasi the customs people took our passports and issued us a day pass which was stamped. On departure we gave them back the day pass and got our passports back. All very smoothly handled.
There was a tax of course payable on arrival. I can't remember how much it was.

One can book the fery ride and tour to Ephesus at a travel agent on Samos. Fairly expensive as both the Greeks and Turks charge hefty landing fees to the tour company. Nevertheless it is a trip well worth the price. Ferry ride was about $50US per person if I remember correctly.

Once in Turkey we opted to take a taxi to Ephesus and ended up on an adventure with visits to additional historic sites and towns, including a visit to the taxi drivers home and ended up with a couple of rugs ( we opted to avoid the bus to escape the manditory rug shop tour. That didn't work out quite as we expected. It appears everybody has a brother in the rug business. Oh well, they look nice in our bedroom)

One thing you should be aware of, be sure to get Turkish currency. It never occurred to us and the taxi driver had to lend us several million lira to get into Ephesus. Once inside there was a new attraction, recently discovered terraced homes. Unfortunately there was an extra admission charge to get into these and they didn't take Euros at the time. We regretted not being able to get into these sites.

brotherleelove2004

Thanks for that info. I loved Ephesus and I too bought a carpet!!

Maria_H

Hmmm, it's about 14 years since we went to Ephesus (from Turkey) - but we too bought a carpet there! Upon arrival in the car park, we were greeted by a man who we assumed was collecting money for parking. Instead he asked us if we needed a guide book, said we looked hot (it was over 40C) and led us to his brothers air-conditioned carpet shop where he gave us apple tea. We looked at the carpets and said we'd think about it (we did want to get one at some point). They then lent us a guide book, which meant we had to go back to return it. He told us "a carpet is like a woman - it doesn't matter how much it costs, if you want it you must have it" and offered us a form of credit by filling in several post dated credit card slips! We didn't take them up on the credit but ended up with a rug, rather cheaper than he'd asked on the way in.

The moral of the story - if you don't want a carper, don't even look! They are very persuasive.

brotherleelove2004

I managed to hold off buying one until the end of my 4 weeks in Turkey. I made friends with a carpet dealer in Bodrum and by the time I left I'd chosen one and bargained down to more than half of what the original price was. I had a great time with the bargaining process and more than once we laughed at how inept and transparent I was about it but all the same I got my price! All that good experience didn't go to waste, because my last stop was back in Istanbul, where I'd started, and I spent some time in the Grand Bazaar bargaining for jewelry and made some fantastic deals. By the time I left Turkey I had quite a pile of trinkets for my friends back home and felt like an old camel trader. Such fun!

hambo

Hi there edndot. The information supplied by stanbr is spot on. You do have to surrender your passport on arrival but there is no hassle and it is readily available on your departure. Unfortunately I cannot remember the cost of the day trip except to say we thought it was good value.