Tour Duration :
5,5 - 6 hours
Min.# of guests :
2 guests
Max.# of guests :
N/A
Meals :
No
Refreshments :
No
Walking Level :
Difficult - This tour
involves steep climbs on
loose gravel pathways.
Available for physically fit
guests.
Dress Code :
Comfortable
walking shoes with
rubber sole and a hat
with
sunshade are
reccommended. |
|
Departing early from the pier, you’ll have the chance to visit three important ancient historical cities.
Priene
Situated on a natural platform overlooking the Menderes Valley, you will look out from Priene over long stretches of cotton fields and irrigation channels to the mountains, overlooking a gorgeous Turkish landscape that will no doubt stay with you long after you leave. Less visited than other sites near Kusadasi, Priene retains a great deal of its ancient Greek heritage, which you can explore here in relative solitude. The ruins of many of temples built to the gods, a well-preserved theatre, and a stadium thought to be from the 4th century BC can still be appreciated, contributing to Priene’s reputation as the best-preserved of the Hellenic cities in Ionia, with little of the later Roman influence to be found here.
Miletus
You may ask yourself how it is that Miletus, a city nearly 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the sea, was once a great seafaring city and an important Aegean port. The answer comes in the form of the Meander river, which over the course of the past 3,600 years (or so) has left large deposits of silt, gradually building up the shoreline and distancing the city from what was once its most important resource- the sea. Thought to be the oldest of the Ionian cities, Miletus was home not only to explorers and traders, but to a significant intellectual community, including residents such as Anaximenes, who contemplated the heavens, Anaximander, the “father of geography,” Thales, a pioneer in astronomy and geometry who calculated the height of the pyramids in Egypt by measuring their shadow, and Hippodamus, the ancestor of modern city planners, whose earliest work you can inspect here, as you wander about Miletus’ organized, grid-like pattern of streets.
Didim
Every few years there seems to be a debate over who is going to build the next “world’s tallest building.” It seems that human nature hasn’t changed much in this respect since antiquity… The structure that is the fame of Didim- its Temple of Apollo, took over 500 years to build and still, because of huge costs and engineering setbacks, was never entirely completed. It was the third-largest manmade structure of the ancient world.
At the end of the our you may be dropped off in the center of Kusadasi or return directly to the pier. Note: This tour involves steep climbs on loose gravel pathways. It is a good choice for those who have visited Ephesus and who are relatively fit. |
