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Kusadasi shore excursion - which one?


walkabout07
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Celestyal Olympia has several options for shore excursions in Kusadasi.

We want to see Ancient Ephesus, etc...

 

Do we get shorted on that part of the tour if we pick Ancient Ephesus and Terrace Houses? Or Ancient Ephesus - Hellenistic/Roman? What is the difference in the two tours exactly? Does anyone know? Terrace Houses sound interesting, too...

Any help in understanding what is the included in and missing from each of the two tours would be very helpful. Anyone taken one, the other, or both?

Thank you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were just aboard Celestyal Olympia a few weeks ago. The "Terrace Houses" version of the Ephesus tour is what we did. I can say that, at least with our guide, it was well worth the time. I cannot speak to what the difference would be with the other one. The "Hellenistic..." version was not among the options the week we sailed.

 

What I can tell you is that we enjoyed the drive from Kusadasi to Ephesus, since the distance is so little. You may know that Ephesus was once a thriving sea port, but hundreds of years ago it "silted in." That is, they didn't have dredging technology back then, so this grand city died once the port literally dried up. It is now roughly 5 miles from the sea.

 

The ruins are absolutely fascinating. One of the region's grand sites is the reconstructed façade of the Library of Celsus. It is a photo stop at Ephesus that you will want to take advantage of. You will stroll the forum and see ornate detail from their columns and marble surfaces. We had a professor with us who was reading the ancient greek inscriptions along the way. The terrace houses are a fascinating set of "condos" right in the middle of ancient Ephesus. Much of Ephesus' socio-economic upper-crust lived in these grand residences. Extensive archaeological work has already been done. It is fascinating to see how advanced they were. Ancient frescos, tile work and mosaics are around every turn inside the terrace houses. You will walk through and above, all under a protective cover, as you look into the terrace houses. Archaeological teams are there working as you tour, so you can see what they are doing.

 

You will also go inside the wonderfully preserved theatre there. For any biblical reader, Ephesus is a treasure. Our tour also went to a Turkish rug manufacturer before a return to the ship. We didn't buy anything, but to be honest that was an enjoyable experience as well.

 

Based solely on the names of your two choices of shore excursions, I don't think you could go wrong. But, we took a lot of photos inside the terrace houses. They were fascinating to see.

Edited by CLQ
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Celestyal Olympia has several options for shore excursions in Kusadasi.

We want to see Ancient Ephesus, etc...

 

Do we get shorted on that part of the tour if we pick Ancient Ephesus and Terrace Houses? Or Ancient Ephesus - Hellenistic/Roman? What is the difference in the two tours exactly? Does anyone know? Terrace Houses sound interesting, too...

Any help in understanding what is the included in and missing from each of the two tours would be very helpful. Anyone taken one, the other, or both?

Thank you.

 

To answer another of your questions, I should say that the Terrace Houses portion of the tour might have been 1/4 or 1/5 of the total time at Ephesus. So, it did not short us on our overall tour. We literally walked all of the exposed archaeological site, best I could tell. We went into the Theatre. We had time to pose for pictures, including a fairly good visit at the Library of Celsus.

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http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/turkish-government-shuts-down-important-archaeological-dig-apparently-punish-Austria

 

I'm sure that Ephesus tours will be running wide open. Not sure whether this will affect tours of the Terrace Houses themselves or not, though. Worst case, it gives you even more time to enjoy Ephesus itself.

Edited by CLQ
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  • 1 month later...

Turns out we were on Celestyal Nefeli.

Really enjoyed the terrace houses, but could have spent much longer there... And after Turkish carpet place (which was interesting) we had no time for seeing Kusadasi itself (or buying any souvenirs).

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