Ephesus Tour 1

Meet at İzmir Harbor and continue to Ephesus Ancient City After meeting your professional guide at the Kusadasi pier, your Ephesus excursion will depart for the House of the Virgin Mary. It is known with certainty that the Virgin Mary went to Ephesus and lived there for some time. Whether she died in Ephesus is not confirmed, and her final resting place is still contested. In the late 1800s, a stigmatized German nun who had never been to Ephesus, Anne Catherine Emmerich, had a vision of the House of the Virgin Mary and described it in detail to German writer Clemens Brentano, who later published a book about it. In 1891 Paul, Superior of the Lazarists from Izmir, read about her vision and found a little building that corresponded with Emmerich's descriptions. Although the foundations were from the 1st Century A.D., the house itself dates only back to the 5th century A.D. The site was officially declared a shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1896, and since then it has become a popular place of pilgrimage. Popes visited the shrine in 1967 and again in 2006.

– Enter through the Magnesia Gate and begin a slow, downhill walk with your guide into the ruins of this Roman provincial capital. Your route takes you past the Odeon, the Celsus Library, the Temple of Hadrian, the Fountain of Trajan and the Great Theater. The theater had seating for 24,000, which was the site where it is believed St. Paul preached to the Ephesians and is used today for a local spring festival.

The Temple of Artemis, which had been built at first during the archaic period, today it is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

*** Please remember:

– Comfortable walking shoes and clothing, a hat, sunscreen are recommended.

How we meeting? Our Shore Excursion Team or Professional and experienced English speaking licensed guides will meet you at the port with the sign written your Name and Surname.