Ephesus Guides

[trvlfan]

I contacted Levent several weeks ago to inquire about an October Ephasus tour and he replied quickly and was totally upfront in telling me he had another tour already booked that day but could arrange an associate whose credentials he supplied. Subsequent, communications have also been quickly and completely replied to. Given my experience, to date, I have been very satisfied, but some of these posts are beginning to give me concern.:confused:

 

We have a booking with Levent on October 8th at Ephesus - just curious, was that the day you inquired about? We just received a specific confirmation from him stating that he would be our guide both in Istanbul (Oct. 3) and Ephesus (Oct. 8). Does anyone else have him booked on these dates?

 

Apparently entry fees have doubled at all the Turkish sites, so our original quoted prices were increased as well...

[bunkylunk]

Our Ephasus tour is not until October 23rd

[Travelcat2]

We have a booking with Levent on October 8th at Ephesus - just curious, was that the day you inquired about? We just received a specific confirmation from him stating that he would be our guide both in Istanbul (Oct. 3) and Ephesus (Oct. 8). Does anyone else have him booked on these dates?

 

Apparently entry fees have doubled at all the Turkish sites, so our original quoted prices were increased as well...

 

Hi -- sent a note to Levent last night -- we did get an "auto" response, but he has not contacted us yet. I'm going to try one other person while I'm waiting. Glad that you got him for both Istanbul and Ephesus. We're doing Istanbul on our own (probably will get lost:-)

[ddoc]

on August 18th and 19th. At that time, he told me he was ill for a previously booked tour and that he felt very bad. He did a wonderful job. Don't hesitate to use him.

[trvlfan]

on August 18th and 19th. At that time, he told me he was ill for a previously booked tour and that he felt very bad. He did a wonderful job. Don't hesitate to use him.

 

DDOC: Thanks for the feedback - I believe we too shall have an excellent tour, and will report back our experiences.

[fishinglady]

We just got back & used Ali with Ekol tours, and had a wonderful day! He was very flexible and personable. We went to a rug factory, though we were a little skeptical. We had one of the best meals of our trip and the tour was very interesting.... We then went to Sirince, which we loved, and wished we'd had more time for. The tour was definitely a good value for the money. Also the Terrace Houses in Ephesus are extra $ but well worth the money......

[margbem]

We are booked with Ekol for their 4 hour tour. Is that what you did? Also, where did you have your fantastic meal? Thanks.

[porky113]

Hi -- sent a note to Levent last night -- we did get an "auto" response, but he has not contacted us yet. I'm going to try one other person while I'm waiting. Glad that you got him for both Istanbul and Ephesus. We're doing Istanbul on our own (probably will get lost:-)

 

We just got back and used Levent...we had an excellent tour in Ephesus. He picked a great lunch spot. I would skip the Turkish rug place as well as the leather goods unless you are serious on bying the goods.

Ed

[fishinglady]

We actually ate at the rug factory - 10 euros each for a wonderful sampler meal..... We did the 8 hour tour - Ephesus, then the rug factory, then Sirince. There are a couple of restaurants in Sirince which also looked good, and we loved Sirince - lots of little shops....

[JannieAnne]

I have booked Levent ex Izmir for Ephesus Oct 4. Here's hoping we get HIM! I'm pretty sure we will as he has given me a description of himself and his mobile number. (We have two seats left if anyone wants to join us - off Queen Victoria.)

[Travel to Ports]

I have booked Levent ex Izmir for Ephesus Oct 4. Here's hoping we get HIM! I'm pretty sure we will as he has given me a description of himself and his mobile number. (We have two seats left if anyone wants to join us - off Queen Victoria.)

 

At this point I am very pleased that I have reserved DIRECTLY with guides Kagan Kosagan for Istanbul on 4 June and Hulya Terzioglu for Kusadasi/Ephesus on 5 June. Although nothing is a certainty, I now absolutely understand the weakness in this EKOL ravings here as EKOL will not reserve a specific guide for your group, and if you do not want to waste your time with a rug demonstration (my understanding is that rugs may be priced 400% over cost, you better do your research at home way before) and I must question whether a variety of expensive/no menu/no price lunch "options" for full-day tour provide guides with a commission. Pretty much part of business transactions in that part of the world. Our planned tours in Istanbul and Kusadasi May 2008 that we had to drop due to family illness four days prior to departure were fine for Kusadasi (4-5 hours) but both 10-passenger vans experienced problems with the EKOL Istanbul 8-hour tours. Something I don't want as a "memory." Also, folks note that most admission charges in Turkey doubled August 1, 2008, so expect most of last year's rates and descriptions will change.

Best of luck,

David

[littlebluebook]

how much does a tour with a private guide cost? There will be two of us, and we definately want a guided tour but would like to miss things out such as the leather factory and the virgin marys house, but this town sounds like a good place to visit. Do we need to find other people, or is it comparable with tour excursions from the ship?

[clrohr]

We had the best cruise excursion of our 20 day cruise on Ms. Noordam, a month ago! We used Sammy's Travel http://www.*****************/main.asp The tour we wanted didn't exist but they had no trouble customizing our wishes. In a 7 hour tour we: visited Virgin Mary's House, Ephesus, the terrace houses, had a delicious lunch at an authentic Turkish restaurant, and shopped at a rug dealer. The rug dealer he took us to never put pressure on us to buy anything. They treated us like we were old friends! The tour was $55 per person, US Dollars for each of us-there was 8 of us. Lunch was an additional $12 which included local beer. We didn't plan on stopping for lunch in our original itinerary but we became hungry and our guide was very helpful in helping us select a wonderful restaurant. Travel was in a brand new Mercedes mini van-fully air conditioned!

 

Feel free to email me at clrohr@aol.com with additional questions

[trvlfan]

how much does a tour with a private guide cost? There will be two of us, and we definately want a guided tour but would like to miss things out such as the leather factory and the virgin marys house, but this town sounds like a good place to visit. Do we need to find other people, or is it comparable with tour excursions from the ship?

 

Our 5 hour tour with Levent (have not taken it yet) was quoted for $150 per person, as there were only 3 of us - total of $450. Obviously the more in your group, the price gets split downward - so if you look at our price ($450) and the price mentioned by clrohr ($440 for 8 people @ $55pp), you can see they are pretty close. It is costly to do a private tour with only 2 people - or 3 for that matter ;-)

[Host Karen]

I have booked Levent ex Izmir for Ephesus Oct 4. Here's hoping we get HIM! I'm pretty sure we will as he has given me a description of himself and his mobile number. (We have two seats left if anyone wants to join us - off Queen Victoria.)

 

The only appropriate place to discuss tour shares is on your roll call. Please post this there.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com