Looking up a future trip to Turkey (Not Cappadokia), I notice they have many excursions from Istanbul to Troy and Ephesus.
Is it the real Troy? Obviously the horse they show is a recreation, but it is legit? What would there be to do there other than expect Brad Pitt to charge the beachhead?
Also, is Ephesus worth the visit? I wonder if it is fascinating or a case of just one interesting photograph making it seem less boring than it is–I asked someone I know who claimed it was a boring place, but he did not elucidate why.
I have been to Ephesus and it’s hardly boring to anyone remotely interested in history.
It is simply amazing how much has been found. Its not just a single building but a city which allows one to get a feel how life was lived there. The terrace houses (extra charge?) are well worth it.
I can’t really say much about what can be found there today. I was at Troy (Canakkale) about 50 years ago, when there was still considerable doubt that it was even the site of Troy, and there was virtually no tourism infrastructure there except a few multilingual signs. I didn’t go there with any intent of seeing Troy, but only because that’s where the ferry crossed.
Is it the real Troy? Well, I can’t really answer that, because there’s a 25K character limit for these here posts.
Is it the Troy where Achilles and Hector fought? Of course not. There was no Achilles, and no Hector. The Iliad is, um, heavily fictionalized. But it’s certainly not a *fake *Troy, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s the very real ruins of a major bronze age city. It was almost certainly called Wilusa, which is almost certainly the same place as Ilion, aka Troy. The location, and the dating of some of its layers, match that of a Trojan War, if there ever was such a thing. Which maybe there was, and maybe there wasn’t. Either way, Brad Pitt wasn’t in it. But it is a very cool place.
What is there to do there? Well, you go there and look at old stuff, obviously. That’s the most fun thing to do in the world! What more do you want? Ephesus is also absolutely amazeballs.
Just another vote for Ephesus. Now if you’re expecting shows and 'entertainment", well, no, it’s pretty much out in the ‘boonies’ now, but if you want to see just how the Roman era made cities and how they lived there, well, you’re not going to do much better.
If you’re remotely interested history, then Ephesus is very interesting and enjoyable.
It’s a huge site, which is constantly growing, due to them working on the excavation site.
It’s advisable to get a guide, who will tell you all sorts of interesting facts about stuff that you’d normally miss.
Most Hotels offer tours with a guide to Ephesus and other attractions.
Ephesus is more interesting than most of the historic sites in neighbouring Greece. I found Ephesus more interesting than the Parthenon. But yeah, it’s the middle of nowhere. About an hour from the port city of Kusadasi.
Well, it’s not in the middle of nowhere in the sense that you have to trek forever from somewhere to get there. I stayed in Selçuk, which is somewhere, and rented a bicycle to go to Ephesus. And I assume that there are other modes of transportation available. Heck, walking should work.
It’s been a very long time since I was there so perhaps I’m remembering the ride from Kusadasi to be longer than it was. I do recall the bus tour guide kept pointing out olive groves and fruit groves. Over and over. Lovely at first, but after a while it became repetitive and kind of amusing: “Oh look! Olive grove!”. I swore the bus was driving in circles.
I will join the bandwagon of awe and support for Efes. It was truly awesome- We had just come from Crete, Santorini, and Athens and Efes wins by a mile! If going to Turkey, Efes and Cappadocia are the only two must-sees far ahead of Istanbul.
It puts the Roman Empire, its reach and influence in perspective far better than anything else I’ve ever encountered and it is massive such that only a few places have many tourists gathered. The small museum and the Basilica of St. John were completely empty but were excellent for more context of the area.
No guide needed- listen to the other guides and Rick Steves’s walk through tour. As well as guide books. If you know anything about Roman culture or history, you can guide yourself just fine.
It depends on whether you like that kind of thing or not.
For me, it makes history very tangible and real. It moves it from generally knowing that yes, people lived in Ephesus and they must have bought food from somewhere or else they would have starved to death to having a much richer understanding because the place where I’m standing was the market. It gave me sense of physicality to a place that I’d heard about. I loved it.
However - that’s not everyone’s thing. In which case, it’s a bunch of rocks with a difficult and confusing parking lot that takes a long time to walk through and can be downright miserable on a hot day.
Pamukkale is very worth it. Even for people who don’t like history, who can go play in the water.
