


Classical Turkey: Aegean Coast
From $5,005
Summary
The Greek and Roman cities of Turkey’s Aegean coast were once some of the most powerful in the ancient world, from - if Homer is to be believed - the site of the legendary conflict between Greeks and Trojans, to the World Heritage Site of Hierapolis. The remains of these splendid cities are set in a breathtaking landscape of rugged limestone peaks, plunging valleys, olive groves, pine forests and flower-dotted meadows, with the glittering blue waters of the Aegean Sea highlighting the distance.
Each site we visit offers a memorable experience, but the star attraction is undoubtedly the special access we have to the Roman-era terraced houses of Ephesus, whose painted walls and mosaics are amazing.
Tour highlights:
- Gaze upon the mighty walls of Troy as everyone from Achilles to Alexander the Great has desired to do
- Enjoy special access to the Roman-era houses of Ephesus
- Explore remarkably well-preserved classical cities such as Pergamon, Miletus and Aphrodisias, and discover a range of evocative lesser-known ruins
Today's Price
$5,005
Deposit: $750 Single supplement: $910
Meet your Experts
Isabella Sjöström
Andante Guide Lecturer
Isabella Sjöström is an archaeologist with a particular interest in Anatolia and North Africa. She has excavated in the UK, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Libya, and currently works as a pottery specialist with the Sudan Archaeological Research Society in Sudan.
Your itinerary
Day 1 - Istanbul - Corlu
We arrive in Istanbul and start west towards Cannakale, breaking our journey overnight at Corlu.

Hotel | Divan Çorlu |
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Meals included | Dinner |
Divan Çorlu
Situated in the town of Çorlu, Divan Çorlu offers rooms with free internet access and satellite. All rooms are equipped with air conditioning, a minibar, and tea and coffee making facilities. Some rooms have a seating area. You can enjoy international and authentic Mediterranean cuisine at the Divan Pub.
Day 2 - Corlu - Troy
We take the ferry to Çanakkale and visit the site of ancient Troy. This is a place to quicken the senses. The site of the ancient city has been reused through centuries with both Hellenistic and Roman towns and sanctuaries on top of the Bronze Age mound. Its first excavator, Heinrich Schliemann dug between 1871 and 1879. He had to cut down through nine later levels to get to the second, which he thought was ‘Homeric’ Troy. Following later excavations, we now know that the sixth level (1750-1300 BC) is most likely Homer’s city. Many of the multiple levels seem to have ended in fiery punctuation marks, the result of war or accident. The ninth level carried on in a small way into the middle ages before Troy vanished.

Hotel | Hotel Kervansaray, Assos |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Hotel Kervansaray, Assos
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Day 3 - Assos
This morning, we drive from sea level up to the site of Assos, perched on a prominent hilltop overlooking the Aegean and Sappho’s island of Lesbos. A fascinating history saw this city founded by colonists from Lesbos in around 900 BC. Its great days came in the 4th century when its ruler King Hermias, a student of Plato, founded a school of philosophy and encouraged scholars to move to the city. The most famous was Aristotle who married Hermias’ daughter. Assos lost its importance under the rule of Pergamon and later Rome, shrinking and eventually being abandoned. The site has a fine set of city walls, magnificent theatre and the famous Doric Temple of Athena. We have a relaxing afternoon of leisure time.

Hotel | Hotel Kervansaray, Assos |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Hotel Kervansaray, Assos
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Day 4 - Assos - Ayvalık
We travel to the ruins of Alexandria Troas. The site is little-known today and its remains are an evocative example of lost grandeur, it remains partly enveloped in oak trees. The famous arch of the baths stands intact and impressive, while the remains of a stadium are known along with temples streets and houses. The city’s names are confusing! Beginning as Sigeia, Antigonos one eye, a Macedonian general and successor Alexander the Great, renamed it. He brought together the peoples of five other cities and called it Antigonia Troas. The name was changed by another of Alexander’s generals, Lysimachus, an unpopular character, to Alexandria Troas in 301 BC, but the Alexander in question was not ‘the great’, but King Alexander III!
The city remained important under the Romans and its population may have topped 100,000. Naturally St. Paul visited twice in the first century, the city was a bishopric into the 10th century. Thereafter it declines and vanishes. Surviving features include the agora temple with its columns and reliefs, a partly excavated odeon and superb section of Roman streets.
This afternoon we continue our journey around the coast to Ayvalik, stopping on the way to visit a hidden gem, the small archaeological site of Antandros. This Greco-Roman city is located on the slopes of Mount Ida and was established in the 7th century BCE. It is mentioned in both the Iliad and Aeneid as the city where Aeneas built his ships. Excavations here have been ongoing for some time and there have been some exciting new discoveries. A Roman villa has been excavated with mosaic and fresco decoration in part intact and there are also the remains of huge baths, Roman cisterns and an extensive necropolis. Later we arrive in Ayvalik a delightful coastal port, its Orthodox Greek population was exchanged with Greek speaking Muslims from Greece after the First World War.

Hotel | Bacacan Hotel Ayvalik |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Bacacan Hotel Ayvalik
Bacacan Hotel Ayvalik
Day 5 - Ayvalık - Pergamon - Izmir
We spend the day at the great Hellenistic city of Pergamon, one of the greatest ancient cities in Turkey, whose extensive remains range across a dramatic rocky outcrop. In the aftermath of the conquest of Alexander the city was taken over by the Attallid dynasty whose masterly diplomacy and alliance with Rome brought it to great heights of power and control over most of western Asia Minor. The last king, Attalus III bequeathed the entire kingdom to Rome in 133 BC.
Our explorations include the Acropolis, where a German archaeological expedition discovered the fragments of the altar of Zeus, built by King Eumenes II to celebrate a military. Painstakingly reassembled it is on display in Berlin. The altar is above the extraordinary theatre, more landscape architecture than public building. After lunch, we visit Pergamon Museum and the Aesclepium. This was the shrine of the healing God Asclepius whose cult became one of the most popular in the ancient world. Pilgrims, usually those with some ailment, would visit the shrine, take part in rituals and then be visited by the god in their sleep to be healed. The priests of the temple were also doctors. The most famous of the these was Galen, in the second century AD. We continue to Izmir.
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Hotel | Giritligil Hotel, Manisa |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Giritligil Hotel, Manisa
Located in Manisa, this property has a restaurant, bar, a shared lounge and garden. It offers a 24-hour front desk, business centre and room service. Each room comes with air conditioning, private bathroom, kettle, hairdryer, desk, and a flat-screen TV with satellite channels.
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Day 6 - Izmir - Sardis - Pamukkale
We enjoy a brief brush with the Hittites. This enigmatic but powerful people dominated Asia Minor in the Bronze Age, their power stretched into Syria. The Karabel rock relief, depicts a Hittite king together with an inscription. We then drive inland to Sardis, a city that has always acted as a centre of Power. Initially the centre of the Kingdom of Lydia until about 500 BC it became a Persian administrative centre, the Roman capital of Asia, and survived into the Ottoman empire. We see its massive gymnasium and bathhouse, and the finely preserved Temple of Artemis. We continue to Pamukkale, the limestone ‘cotton castle' of calcite pools with warm thermal springs. Located in the River Menderes Valley, the Roman ruins here remain remarkably well-preserved.

Hotel | DoÄŸa Thermal Health & Spa |
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Meals included | All meals included |
DoÄŸa Thermal Health & Spa
Located in Karahayit, this hotel offers a spacious garden, an indoor pool and an outdoor pool with free parasols and sun loungers. The property offers free WiFi throughout.
Rooms here include a flat-screen satellite TV, air conditioning and a balcony. Featuring a hairdryer, private bathrooms also come with a bathrobe and free toiletries. You can enjoy a mountain view and a pool view from all the rooms.
Day 7 - Pamukkale - Hierapolis
We explore ancient Hierapolis, which benefited hugely from the nearby thermal springs, with its extensive tombs and the oracular Temple of Apollo. Adjacent to the temple lies the Plutonium, a shrine of the lord of the underworld. It conceals a vent which does still release noxious fumes. This would have been used to induce trance like states and is the source of the oracular powers of the temple. The limescale formations with cascading pools and hot springs make this site very picturesque. Enjoy a free afternoon.

Hotel | DoÄŸa Thermal Health & Spa |
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Meals included | All meals included |
DoÄŸa Thermal Health & Spa
Located in Karahayit, this hotel offers a spacious garden, an indoor pool and an outdoor pool with free parasols and sun loungers. The property offers free WiFi throughout.
Rooms here include a flat-screen satellite TV, air conditioning and a balcony. Featuring a hairdryer, private bathrooms also come with a bathrobe and free toiletries. You can enjoy a mountain view and a pool view from all the rooms.
Day 8 - Pamukkale - Kusadasi
We travel east up the long valley of the Menderes River, through magnificent scenery. The river appears named in Homer’s Iliad and was noted in antiquity for the winding course it struck through the hills. We get our own word Meander, for a winding river, from this ancient original. The magnificent site of Aphrodisias was capital of the Roman province of Caria. The mountains surrounding this idyllic site produce very fine white Carian marble and the city became famous for its sculptors. Traces of their work can be seen everywhere, and the stadium of the city is famous for a series of important inscriptions.

Hotel | Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi
Charisma De Luxe Hotel is a 15 minute walk from the shopping and entertainment centre of Kuadasi. The hotel overlooks the Aegean Sea with its own private beach. It boasts a heated indoor pool and sauna. Free Wi-Fi is available in all public areas
Day 9 - Priene & Didyma
We spend the morning at Priene, which is set on a peaceful wooded hillside beneath a towering limestone peak. The Temple of Athena stands as a substantial ruin. The city was never large and was forced to shift its lotion due to the silting of its harbour by the Menderes River. We follow in the footsteps of the Greeks to Didyma. Originally a Carian city it became an Ionian Greek settlement with a huge temple that housed a shrine and oracle of Apollo, famed for its religious festival, the Didymea. The temple was deliberately destroyed by the Persians but was rebuilt following Alexander’s conquest of their empire. A number of significant personalities participated in the festivals. Alexander himself (whose army transposed the Didyma cult all the way to central Asia), his successor King Seleucus, and in AD 129 Hadrian.
We end the day at Miletus, well built with its regular street grid on a peninsula. This was the home of Hippodamus of Miletus, among others, who is credited as inventing regular city organisation, the origin of town planning no less!

Hotel | Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi
Charisma De Luxe Hotel is a 15 minute walk from the shopping and entertainment centre of Kuadasi. The hotel overlooks the Aegean Sea with its own private beach. It boasts a heated indoor pool and sauna. Free Wi-Fi is available in all public areas
Day 10 - Ephesus
Our tour culminates at Ephesus, one of western Turkey’s highlights. Probably originally a Hittite city, it was colonised by Attic and Ionian Greeks. This was one of the richest cities in Asia Minor and continued to thrive through the Roman period.
Ephesus was famed for its gigantic temple and sanctuary of Diana/Artemis, built in around 550 BC it was reckoned one of the wonders of the ancient world and a major example of Ionic architecture. Sadly, a single column now marks its sad remains. Images of the famous cult statue were extensively copied in the ancient world, the goddess hung about with sacrificial remains.
The city is full of fine architecture, including the restored but harmonious library of Celsius. After exploring the city, we visit the museum that houses treasures from the site. Ephesus had one of the earliest Christian communities outside Palestine, formed by the Apostle John. His successor, Paul of Tarsus, visited and lived in the city between AD 53-56. We end the day at the fortifications and Basilica of St. John at Selçuk, an extensive church built by emperor Justinian over the tomb of John, in the sixth century. This was in the town that replaced Ephesus in medieval times.

Hotel | Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Charisma De Luxe Hotel, Kusadasi
Charisma De Luxe Hotel is a 15 minute walk from the shopping and entertainment centre of Kuadasi. The hotel overlooks the Aegean Sea with its own private beach. It boasts a heated indoor pool and sauna. Free Wi-Fi is available in all public areas
Day 11 - Kusadasi - Izmir
We drive to Izmir, where the tour ends, and we make our independent onward journeys.

Meals included | Breakfast |
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Tour dates & prices
Included in your cost:
- Expert Guide Lecturer
- Professional Tour Manager
- Local travel aboard a private air-conditioned coach
- Meals as per the itinerary, tea or coffee with dinner
- Accommodation
- Entries to all sites as per the itinerary
- All taxes & gratuities
- Field notes
Tour Departure | Tour ID | Departure date | Return Date | Guided by | Price | Deposit | Single supplement | Offer | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 October 2023 | AAEG231003 | 3 October 2023 (Tuesday) | 13 October 2023 (Friday) | Isabella Sjöström | $5,005 (ex. flights) |
$750 | $910 | Book your trip | |
15 April 2024 | AAEG240415 | 15 April 2024 (Monday) | 25 April 2024 (Thursday) | Isabella Sjöström | $5,250 (ex. flights) |
$750 | $1,000 |
$5,110 save $140 |
Book your trip |
26 October 2024 | AAEG241026 | 26 October 2024 (Saturday) | 5 November 2024 (Tuesday) | Isabella Sjöström | $5,250 (ex. flights) |
$750 | $1,000 |
$5,110 save $140 |
Book your trip |
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