7 Day Ephesus & Greek Isles April 4th

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

We will be doing 7 day Ephesus & Greek Isles on Legend in April. Any help with port and tour information more than appreciated.

[Roxburgh]

We will be doing 7 day Ephesus & Greek Isles on Legend in April. Any help with port and tour information more than appreciated.

 

We did the Virtuoso tour of Ephesus which was outstanding. If you have not been before or if it has been a few years I very strongly recommend that you visit the terraced houses in Ephesus which are under excavation.

 

 

I have not been to the other ports on your itinerary so cannot comment.

[Spree75]

I not sure which itinerary you are on. I looked up the schedule for the legend and the only cruise that stops by Ephesus is the 9 day Athens to Rome.

 

If that is the one you are on then the only ports we stopped off at last fall were Athens, Kusadasi (Ephesus) and Mykonos.

 

For Ephesus we used Ephesus Shuttle. We got out ahead of the crowds and managed to visit the House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus + Terrace Houses, Temple of Artemis, Archeology Museum, drive by of the Church of John the Baptist, and stop at a rug demonstration and a leather shop in about 6 hours. There was only my partner and myself, the guide, and the driver. The itinerary was completely up to us including the rugs and leather goods. I could have skipped the House and Church and the Temple of Artemis is completely destroyed... but we didn't know these things when we took the tour. Very reasonable price and the tour was great.

 

At Mykonos we did the ship excursion to Delos. I'm not sure if it was necessary but our guide Ariadne was extremely informative and pointed out a number of things that I would have completely missed. Delos is amazing but it does pale in comparison to Ephesus especially coming the day after. There is no protection on the island either so bring sunscreen and a hat. As for the town itself, after returning from Delos we spent the afternoon wandering the town. Easy to get lost but you can't walk to far without hitting the waters edge...

 

In Athens we hired Paul from Athens by Taxi (his sons were our drivers) for a tour of major highlights and a transfer to the airport the next day. Service was excellent and we were dropped off and picked up at the entrance of every single attraction. Although they are not licensed tour guides and cannot escort you through the sites Demetrius gave us plenty of tips on how to avoid crowds and things to specifically look out for.

 

If you're on the Odyssey doing the Greek Isles and Turkish Treasures 7 day cruise then we also stopped off at Milos, Patmos, Istanbul.

 

At Milos we took the ship tour of the geologic treasures. This would have been a great excursion if it hadn't been raining steadily (and pouring at points) all day. The island is extremely different then any of the others and has a number of interesting geological features such as lava tubes dotting the island.

 

At Patmos we decided that we did not want the ships excursion or do the climb up to the Monastery of St John. We ended up wandering the town and I took pictures of the beautiful flowers and the random gardens/orchards that dotted the small town.

 

In Istanbul we arrived a couple of days early and used KSG Tours. Lale Kosagan was our tour guide and she was incredible. She gave us the tours of the old world, a quick jaunt over to the Asia side, and then tour of the modern Istanbul. If you're interested in Iznik pottery and turkish rugs she can also bring you to reputable shops. Lale also shuffled the itinerary on the fly as she got to know what we seemed to be interested in. She added two extra mosques after she saw how interested I was in the Iznik tiles and then we wandered around two other open markets after we had fun in the Spice Market.

 

Hope the suggestions help. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

I not sure which itinerary you are on. I looked up the schedule for the legend and the only cruise that stops by Ephesus is the 9 day Athens to Rome.

 

If that is the one you are on then the only ports we stopped off at last fall were Athens, Kusadasi (Ephesus) and Mykonos.

 

For Ephesus we used Ephesus Shuttle. We got out ahead of the crowds and managed to visit the House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus + Terrace Houses, Temple of Artemis, Archeology Museum, drive by of the Church of John the Baptist, and stop at a rug demonstration and a leather shop in about 6 hours. There was only my partner and myself, the guide, and the driver. The itinerary was completely up to us including the rugs and leather goods. I could have skipped the House and Church and the Temple of Artemis is completely destroyed... but we didn't know these things when we took the tour. Very reasonable price and the tour was great.

 

At Mykonos we did the ship excursion to Delos. I'm not sure if it was necessary but our guide Ariadne was extremely informative and pointed out a number of things that I would have completely missed. Delos is amazing but it does pale in comparison to Ephesus especially coming the day after. There is no protection on the island either so bring sunscreen and a hat. As for the town itself, after returning from Delos we spent the afternoon wandering the town. Easy to get lost but you can't walk to far without hitting the waters edge...

 

In Athens we hired Paul from Athens by Taxi (his sons were our drivers) for a tour of major highlights and a transfer to the airport the next day. Service was excellent and we were dropped off and picked up at the entrance of every single attraction. Although they are not licensed tour guides and cannot escort you through the sites Demetrius gave us plenty of tips on how to avoid crowds and things to specifically look out for.

 

If you're on the Odyssey doing the Greek Isles and Turkish Treasures 7 day cruise then we also stopped off at Milos, Patmos, Istanbul.

 

At Milos we took the ship tour of the geologic treasures. This would have been a great excursion if it hadn't been raining steadily (and pouring at points) all day. The island is extremely different then any of the others and has a number of interesting geological features such as lava tubes dotting the island.

 

At Patmos we decided that we did not want the ships excursion or do the climb up to the Monastery of St John. We ended up wandering the town and I took pictures of the beautiful flowers and the random gardens/orchards that dotted the small town.

 

In Istanbul we arrived a couple of days early and used KSG Tours. Lale Kosagan was our tour guide and she was incredible. She gave us the tours of the old world, a quick jaunt over to the Asia side, and then tour of the modern Istanbul. If you're interested in Iznik pottery and turkish rugs she can also bring you to reputable shops. Lale also shuffled the itinerary on the fly as she got to know what we seemed to be interested in. She added two extra mosques after she saw how interested I was in the Iznik tiles and then we wandered around two other open markets after we had fun in the Spice Market.

 

Hope the suggestions help. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

 

Thank you for taking time to share your experiences. We are on the Legend 7-Day Ephesus and Greek Isles cruise. This of course is part of a longer cruise in that area. On our leg of the cruise we visit Kusadasi (Ephesus) on day 2. Shore excursions offered by SB both half and full day private minivan tours along with the Terrace Houses & Celsus Library Tour, but from what I understand not the evening tour which I believe is being offered on the next leg of the cruise.

We too will be arriving a few days early in Istanbul and appreciate your guide suggestion. I understand that dinning in Istanbul can be very enjoyable but that having wine with dinner can be a "sticker shock", a difficult issue for us wino's, but of course we will make the best of it. Lately the wine reviews regarding SB provided wines have been somewhat less then the best so we are considering purchasing a couple bottles of wine to bring aboard while in Istanbul if you have any suggestions of wine shops that would be very useful. I have attempted to do some on line research but in many cases even after translating the web site to english I still was unable to gain much information as much of the wording still appeared to be in Turkish.

Thank you again for your time and your suggestions.

Shirley