EPHESUS

Our tour will start with Ancient city of Ephesus. Once, the trade centre of the ancient world, a religious centre of the early Christianity and today, Ephesus is an important tourism centre in Turkey. Within Ephesus you will be seeing Harbour Street, Theatre, the Marble Street, Celcius Library, the gate of Mihridates and Mazues, Commercial Agora, Latrina, Hadrian Temple, the Scolastica Baths, Trajan Fountain, Curetes Street, Polio Fountain, Memnius Monument, the Temple of Domitian, the Prytaneion, Odeon and the State Agora. Our next stop will be the House of Virgin Mary. Paul VI was the first pope to visit this place in the 1960's. Later, in the 1980's, during his visit, Pope John-Paul II declared the Shrine of Virgin Mary has a pilgrimage place for Christians. It is also visited by Muslims who recognize Mary as the mother of one of their prophets. Every year, on August 15th a ceremony is organized to commemorate Mary's Assumption. After a lunch break we will continue our tour with Temple of Artemis which is one of the seven wonders of the world and the first marble temple of the Ancient world. Like all the other Artemis temples it was faced to the west. The Temple was designed and constructed in 6th century BC. Early construction was built at the expense of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia. Our last stop will be the Isa Bey Mosque built in 1375, is one of the oldest mosques of Anatolia. The high ceiling and marbled columned mosque is one of the most impressive architectural works of Anatolian Beylik period. The mosque’s plan and design was inspired from the Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria.