? Re: Terrace Houses near Ephesus

[HRHMadonna]

Would love to hear from someone who has toured Ephesus & the Terrace Houses recently.

 

We toured Ephesus as part of a 14 day land trip to Turkey. We have not, however, been to the Terrace Houses (or Slope Houses) as they were not open when we were there in 2002.

 

From what I have read, the Terrace Houses seem to be an 'add-on' to the Ephesus tours. Do you know if it is possible to tour just the Terrace Houses and skip Ephesus? Or, is it worth it to tour Ephesus again just to get to see the Terrace Houses?

 

Or, do you have other suggestions for this port...In additon to a Turkish Bath...which is a must for moi! :D

 

Thanks!

[cruisemom42]

As far as I know, there is no way to see the Terrace Houses without paying admission for Ephesus as well. Having said that, I did both in 2006 and am looking forward to seeing them again next summer. You could ask for an abbreviated tour of Ephesus as you've seen it before, if you're not too interested in hearing the details again.

 

Another option is a tour of Didyma, Priene, and Miletus. These are 3 ancient Greco-Roman cities of Asia Minor, very interesting to visit and each one is unique. I did all 3 on a private tour last spring that lasted about 6 hours.

 

There are many closer options that you could combine with Ephesus/Terrace Houses, including the museum at Selcuk and the Basilica of St. John. I've heard mixed reviews of the Virgin Mary's house and the village of Sirince, but they are also options.

[boone2]

Just returned from ur Med Ruby tour and visited Ephesus and the Terrace houses. I'm not sure how you could visit the Terrace houses without going through the ruins unless there is a different way in as they are right in the middle of the site at Ephesus. The Terrace houses were spectacular and a highlight for me. We also visited Mary's house and i would advise getting there early, our guide took us there first and he saidthat the day previous the line to get into the car park was about 11/2 hours.

Terry

[CintiPam]

As the previous posters mentioned, the Terrace Houses are smack in the middle of Ancient Ephesus (just up the ancient main road maybe 50 yards from the Library of Celsius), so you cannot get to them without paying admission to see Ephesus.

 

We visited there last September, and were bowled over by the Terrace Houses; definitely a must-see. We then visited St. John's Basilica, the Archaelogical Museum (for Ephesus) and the Isabey Mosque, all three in nearby Selcuk, with a brief stop at the sole remaining pillar of the Temple of Artemis, once one of the Seven Wonders, right by Selcuk.

 

What a wonderful day!

[HRHMadonna]

Thanks to all of you who replied...Since I don't want to miss the Terrace Houses, we shall simply re-visit Ephesus. Thanks so much for you clarifications.

Carol

[larie]

We were in the Terrace houses a week ago and they were spectacular. Best part of the whole day. Ephesus was so crowded but there was nobody in the Terrace houses. I was told the tours were too big to go in. I felt so bad at what all the people were missing. They were truely amazing and a site to see. A word of advice - there are no bathrooms or water to buy once you enter the Ephesus ruins area. Bring some water in, as I wish we had done.

[yahooelvis]

Larie,

 

Did you take a ship's tour or private tour?

[aussie_nsw]

Hi We did a private tour while there and the terrace houses are not to be missed - worth another visit there. We did it by private tour with Kusadasi tours (aske for Emre) and could do it all at our own pace. This tour made this port one of our favourites

[larie]

We took a private tour. I don't think the ship's tours go in the Terrace Houses. It was wall to wall people outside of the Terrace Houses looking at the Ruins. Once we entered the Terrace Houses there was only a handful of people. I wanted to stand by the entrance and start telling everyone what they were missing when they walked by! It is really a shame to see so many people not even know about it as it was the highlight IMO. There were 8 in our group, we hooked up with 2 other couples on the Roll Call Boards. Worked out great.

[cruisemom42]

Some ships do offer the Terrace Houses as a tour. On Princess, they offer a series of tours called their "Elite" tours. The groups are smaller than the normal large bus size. The one offered for Kusadasi includes the Terrace Houses. I believe that as long as you have 2 or more people, a private tour is more cost effective (and of course, you can personalize a private tour to see what you want).

 

I only mention the ship's tour option because I know some folks are very leery about private tours.

[ILoveScotland]

Add me to the list of people saying the Terrace Houses are a must see. They are incredible to say the least.

[Maxy Mouse]

We are planning to do the port on our own. Can you just amble in?

[cruisemom42]

We are planning to do the port on our own. Can you just amble in?

 

 

Depends what you mean. Ephesus is a good half hour drive from Kusadasi, so you can't just "amble in" from the port. But if you already have a means of transportation to Ephesus, you can buy a ticket to see the Terrace Houses, although I assume that due to the nature of the enclosure, there may be some limit as to how many tickets are available at a given time.

[CintiPam]

We are planning to do the port on our own. Can you just amble in?

 

I am a major proponent of DIY travel, but we took our first-ever private tour during our port day in Kusadasi, because the major history/archaelogy places we wanted to visit are very spread out, and we felt that a guide added a great deal to our appreciation of those places, particularly Ephesus and the Terrace Houses.

 

Also, it is convenient to be dropped off at the top and have transportation waiting for you at the bottom there.

 

Finally, guided tours in Turkey are very reasonably priced compared to other countries.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Maxy Mouse]

We plan to take a cab from the port. I was just asking if some special arrangments were needed to see that seciton of the excivation.

[Judyumcer@aol.com]

We have been to Ephesus a few years ago on a private tour with 6 couples. The Terrace Houses were closed. Can someone tell us exactly what is so special about it? I will make an extra effort to go back next fall . Recommendations for private tour guides. We went to Mary's House. Interesting but crowded. Glad we saw it though.

[little britain]

In Kusadasi we had arranged a private tour with a lady highly recommended on Tripadvisor but only mentioned once here – she is Fatma Acar of Helliantus Anadolu Tours and we cannot recommend her highly enough. She is a bundle of energy, information, enthusiasm that makes the ruins come alive. We had a large van, brand new, with driver for the 4 of us. The cost was €240 for all of us including entrance to the Ephesus site, the terraced houses (not to be missed) and the little museum. She took us to a local restaurant for lunch - €30 for 5 of us including 2 beers, and left us with a small gift of the ‘blue eye’ and a large bag of grapes! What other tour guide does that!? Epehsus was amazing, and we really enjoyed our day, and we believe this was totally down to Fatma.

 

Fatma Acar

Helliantus Anadolu Tours

 

GSM: +90 533 249 58 39

TEL: +90 256 612 70 34

FAX: +90 256 614 58 99

fatmaacarguide@hotmail.com

fatmaacar@ttmail.com

[cruisemom42]

We have been to Ephesus a few years ago on a private tour with 6 couples. The Terrace Houses were closed. Can someone tell us exactly what is so special about it? I will make an extra effort to go back next fall . Recommendations for private tour guides. We went to Mary's House. Interesting but crowded. Glad we saw it though.

 

If you do a search on this forum for Terrace Houses, you'll find dozens of glowing reviews and descriptions. Here's a link to one thread that includes a couple of pics from the site, as well as a link to a review with more photos:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1039165&highlight=terrace+houses

 

To me, these were a highlight due to the high quality of the materials used to build the houses (you'll see mosaic floors, frescoed walls, the latest in indoor plumbing/pipes....); also it's an active archeological site, so you may see workers actually in process of restoring these houses.

[TLCOhio]

Highly suggest doing the Terrance House tour. It gives a sample of what "real life" was like for the upscale families that lived there. It hard to see too much of Ephesus. You will discover new things on each visit. It is unique that you are dropped at the top, walk through the ruins and then get picked up down below at another location. One of the shops had a nice and honest sign that said "Real Genuine Fake Watches". It is a unique and very special site.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[CintiPam]

We plan to take a cab from the port. I was just asking if some special arrangments were needed to see that seciton of the excivation.

 

Yes, there is a separate ticket which you need to purchase for admission to the Terrace Houses, but I do not remember if you buy those tickets at the entrance to the entire site or at the Terrace Houses themselves.

 

However, I do know that you need Turkish Lira for purchasing admission. Many government-run sites will not accept Euros (or US dollars), although vendors are happy to do so.

[knuts1]

we were just there and i strongly sugest getting a guide as there is way too much to see to do on your own and we used Nejat Incedogan and he had an an associate do our tour as he had gotten hurt and he was wonderfull and you really need to do the slope houses!!

[WebStir4]

I just returned from a Greek Isles cruise on Royal Carribean.

 

We took a half day tour with Hello Ephesus and the tour guide's name is something like Selin. We entered ancient Ephesus and in the middle of it was the Terrace Houses. I doubt if you can see the Terrace Houses without going to Ancient Ephesus.

 

There are seven houses, which they are presently putting back together again. I would definitely recommend helloephesus.com to see ancient Ephesus and the Terrace Houses. Our tour guide was extremely informative. People on our cruise, who took public transportation and then rented the audio guide, said that it was difficult to understand the audio guide at times. We were well informed about everything we saw and what to look at. People who took the tour through the cruise ship did not see the Terrace Houses. YOU HAVE TO SEE THE TERRACE HOUSES. I felt like I was back in the Vatican Museum looking at the floor tiles again! In fact, we were more impressed with Ancient Ephesus and the Terrace Houses than we were with the Acropolis in Athens.

 

I collect magnets from different places that I have visited. Our tour guide even advised me where to purchase the magnet, because the price was better and she is correct. This was at the beginning of the tour, so I asked her to advise me on which magnet to get because I did not know which sights I was going to see. She said that I will see all the sights on the different magnets and she was correct about that too.

 

We were asked at the end of the trip if we wanted to go to a carpet, ceramics, or leather factory. If you do not to go, they will take you back to the town, which is right by the cruise ship terminal. We asked our guide to recommend a good place for lunch with traditional Turkish food. She recommended Oz Tra (something like that). We were the only people in the restaurant that were not Turkish and the food was very good.

 

Even if you don't eat in Turkey, go see the TERRACE HOUSES!

[KirkNC]

We are big DOYO people but did use Levent on our stop at Ephesus. It was worth the extra cost as he takes the time to explain many things that on your own you would just miss. The Terrace Houses were the highlight. You buy tickets at the houses themselves, very uncrowded (unlike the rest of Ephesus). It was incredibly hot the day we were there, 117 degrees! But Levent provided ice cold water bottles when we arrived so we did not suffer too much. The houses provide a great insight into how the people actually lived and are more intact than outher parts of Ephesus. The tile mosaics were unbelievable.

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

Kirk

[Hlitner]

I will add my 2 cents (or Euros) to this informative thread. There is a seperate ticket office for the Terrace Houses (located right outside the Terrace Houses...which is inside the main Ephesus area). We have visited the ruins at Ephesus 3 times. The first time was on a Princess cruises tour (typical cruise tour offered by all the cruise ships), the second time was totally on our own, and most recently (this past April) we hired a private guide (through EKOL). We specifically asked our private guide (we had a guide for just the two of us) to go into more depth than one would normally expect on a typical tour. Although we normally prefer doing things on our own (we even used the local Turkish van/bus when we went to the ruins on our own) we thought it would be interesting to see if a private guide was worth the extra expense. We got very lucky because our guide had 2 college degrees and happened to be an acquaintance of the curator of Ephesus. Hence, he was able to offer us a perspective that went well beyond what we had learned on our previous two visits. Based on this experience we strongly urge cruise visitors to Ephesus to use a private tour (based on CC info and our experience we can recommend either EKOL or Hello Ephesus) and be sure to specifically request the Terrace Houses as part of your itinerary. Be aware that many of the tours sold by cruise lines do not include a visit to the Terrace Houses (IMHO this is a crime!).

 

Hank

[CintiPam]

[quote=Hlitner;21990278 Be aware that many of the tours sold by cruise lines do not include a visit to the Terrace Houses (IMHO this is a crime!).

 

Hank

 

It is my understanding that there is a 12- or 15-person limit per group permitted to enter the Terrace Houses, too small for many cruiselines to handle.