4-Day Mini Group Tour to Ephesus Izmir - Pamukkale - Pergamum

Kusadasi to EphesusYour tour guide will meet you at your hotel. After greetings, you will be driven to Ephesus region.First stop will be the House of Virgin Mary. It is written in the bible that Jesus entrusted his mother to his beloved desciple St. John the evangelist. After the crusifixion of Jesus, St. John and Mary escaped from Jarusalem because of the torture to early christians and came to Ephesus and spent her final years at Ephesus.It is time to visit famous ancient city of Ephesus walking through history along marble streets lined with wonderful public buildings, among them The State Agora, Odeon, Memnius Monument, the Temple of Domitian, , Polio Fountain, Curetes Street, The Trajan Fountain, The Baths of Scholastica, Hadrian Temple, Latrina, Celcus Library, the gate of Mihridates and Mazues, Commercial Agora and The Grand Theater are two of the most impressive buildings in Ephesus. Grand theatre was built in 3rd century B.C and it was later expanded to 24.000 spectators by the Romans in the 1st century A.D.We will complete our tour after visiting Temple of Artemis where is the one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The temple was dedicated greek fertility goddess Artemis and built in 3rd BC. According to its giant size and being the first temple made of marble, a Greek poet named Antipater listed it one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.Drive back to Kusadasi and drop you off to your hotel.

Kusadasi - Izmir - Kusadasi08:30 a.m. After breakfast, pick up from hotel and drive for Izmir around an hour.First we enjoy a panoramic ride of Smyrna (modern name is Izmir), the third largest city in Turkey and one of the sites of the Seven Churches of Asia [Rev. 2:12-17]. Smyrnas is a city scarred with a bloody history of trade and warfare. We ascend to Mount Pagus where we visit the Citadel of Lysimachos, commander of Alexander the Great, erected in the 4th century BC.The core of the late Hellenistic and early Roman Smyrna is preserved in the large area of Izmir Agora Open Air Museum at this site. Research is being pursued at the sites of both the old and the new cities. This has been conducted since 1997 for Old Smyrna and since 2002 for the Classical Period city, in collaboration between the Izmir Archaelogy Museum and the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir.We will also stop for a photo break at the historical clock tower of Izmir.Drive back to Kusadasi and drop you off to your hotel.

Kusadasi - Pamukkale - Kusadasi08:30 a.m. After breakfast, pick up from hotel and departure to Pamukkale. This drive will take around 2,5 hours.Arrival to Pamukkale. Discovery of Travertine terraces and Hierapolis. The travertine terraces at Pamukkale are one of the most spectacular natural wonders we ever have seen from various mineral springs in a vast white cliff side, about 200 m overlooking the plain, calcite-laden waters have dripped down over a series of terraced levels and created a fairyland of bizarre solidified cascades and shell-shaped basins. It looks like creations from snow or like balls from cotton, which gave the scenery the Turkish name Pamukkale (cotton castle): Moreover the water in the basins is changing its color according to how the light enters.Drive back to Kusadasi around 2,5 hours and drop you off to your hotel.

Kusadasi - Pergamum - Kusadasi or to Izmir Airport08.30 a.m. After breakfast, pick up from hotel and departure for Pergamum.Pergamum, actually called Bergama is one of the sites of the Seven Churches of Asia [Rev. 1:11; 2:12]. Here we explore the impressive Acropolis, the steepest theatre in the world, see the Altar of Zeus which is mentioned as the «Throne of Satan» in the book of Revelation, the marble columns of the Temple of Trajan and the Library which was foremost in the world and was long a rival of the equally famous Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Its wealth of volumes was estimated at over 200,000. It inspired the invention of parchment.After the Acropolis, we will continue with the Asklepion, famous medical centre of classical times. At the base of Pergamon Acropolis, there was a healing complex built in the 4th century BC in honor of Asclepius, the God of Healing. With its advanced architectural layout and the treatment methods employed, it earned the title of the most important healing center in western Anatolia. Remains of Asklepion's surviving ruins belong to the arrangements promoted by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. Asklepion shows the feature of being a sacred area in earlier periods than its foundation date. However, its development started after the 4th century BC.Drive back to your hotel in Kusadasi or drop you off to Izmir Airport where is on our way back to Kusadasi.