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Izmir Shore Excursion: Day Trip to Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary
1 day
Full Day
Instant confirmation
About this activity
Your Izmir shore excursion starts as you make your way from the Izmir cruise port to Ephesus, stopping along the way at St Johns Basilica, built in honor of the saint, who wrote his gospel atop Ayasuluk Hill where the basilica is located. See the 4th-century tomb where his remains are said to be housed.
Continue to the ancient city of Ephesus, an important center for early Christianity. In the Book of Revelation, Ephesus was one of the seven churches addressed by Christ in a vision. It is here that you will find the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Your guide will also show you the Great Theatre, the Library of Celsus and many other temples during your Ephesus tour.
Enjoy a lunch of authentic Turkish cuisine, and then visit the House of the Virgin Mary, where she spent the last days of her life. Authenticated by Pope Paul VI in 1967, St Mary’s house is a place of pilgrimage for many believers.
Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Izmir port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
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Continue to the ancient city of Ephesus, an important center for early Christianity. In the Book of Revelation, Ephesus was one of the seven churches addressed by Christ in a vision. It is here that you will find the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Your guide will also show you the Great Theatre, the Library of Celsus and many other temples during your Ephesus tour.
Enjoy a lunch of authentic Turkish cuisine, and then visit the House of the Virgin Mary, where she spent the last days of her life. Authenticated by Pope Paul VI in 1967, St Mary’s house is a place of pilgrimage for many believers.
Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Izmir port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
Included
- Cruise port pickup and drop off
- Lunch
- Local guide
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Worry-Free Shore Excursion Guarantee
Not included
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks, unless specified
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- In the event of any museum closures, an alternative similar museum will be visited
- At time of booking, Cruise Ship passengers must provide the following details under Special Requirements: Ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Not recommended for children aged 4 and under
- Children 18 years and under must be accompanied by an adult
Features
Tourism
100%
Cultural
65%
Aquatic
40%
Reviews
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This tour was rushed, we had to pick up someone from the airport after being picked up at the cruise port. The House of the Virgin Mary was amazing to walk through. Bring coins to make a donation to get candles to light also bring a pen and paper to write your prayer request and place on the wall. We then headed to Ephesus which was huge with a lot of history! If you have difficulty walking this is not the tour for you! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable was very rushed and would often walk off without us! We then spent about 20 min at the burial site of John the Baptist then off to lunch at Carpet Factory. The lunch was very good, drinks not included, then spent probably an hour learning about how handmade carpets are made then taken in for the sales pitch and given free drinks then. Be prepared for the sales pitch and beautiful carpets that keep on coming. Leaving to go back to the cruise ship halfway there we dropped off our guide then dropped one of our people at the airport and continued on.
The Tour was excellent. The House of the Virgin Mary was impressive and Ephesus' ruins are really majestic. The guide was excellent in both places and very respectul of the first place, as she was not Catholic. Forcing the tourists to go to the rugs' factory is of very poor taste. Even though it is called "voluntary" you are forced to go, hear the explanation and resist the factory's employees pressure to buy a rug.
The best excursion we have done in a long time. The guide was amazing, food was great, and all of the spots visited were worth seeing...although I don't know how we were able to do so much in just one day!!! We arrived in port and 2 people did not show so we waited an extra 20 mins for them. Our guide felt very bad that we had to leave and then later received a call from them...she made the right choice. This left us with a virtually private tour of 7 people for a much lower price then Carnival. The next port we scheduled a Carnival excursion and it was cancelled due to low interest...the "only" had 12 or 14 people according to the Carnival Excursions desk...I think I will be booking all excursions with Viator from now on.
My husband and I loved our guide Oya. I thought we would be on a large bus with many tourists but there were only 10 people on our tour. Oya is a wealth of information and she is beautiful and funny too. We had a delicious and healthy lunch in the middle of a grassy area at table under a canopy set with linens and dishes. We had a choice of wine and beer along with other drinks. Being inside the House of Mary was remarkable and Ephesus was breathtaking. I had never heard of it before my visit and now I know it was a magnificent Roman city visited by all the "Bible writers" John, Paul, Luke and Matthew. Cleopatra and Mark Anthony walked the same streets I did!!
Very good tour The tour young woman who was our guide was outstanding The mini bus we went on was spotlessly clean and with only ten people in the group it felt like were at times getting one to one explanations on any questions we had Lunch was good I would from my experience recommend this tour