Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Instanbul to Athens Private Guides?

bw333

By bw333,
in Oceania Cruises

Recommended Posts

Dick in Falls Church

Dick in Falls Church

Posted
Posted

Don't know exactly where you will be, but a few years back, we had a private tour of Istanbul one day, and Ephesus the next (out of Kushadasi). Worked up a group of 8 of us (some from Cruise Critic Roll call, and others from seatmates on board. We used Kagan Kosigan, and found him excellent. Fluent English, flexible to meet client wishes, and just nice guy.

When we went to Ephesus, he worked it so that we where the tour buses weren't. Actually went through the city itself during noon hour, after the morning buses left and before the afternoon tours started. We were by ourselves, except for a group of Japanese tourists who whizzed by us shooting pictures like crazy.

 

We would love to go back and have him as a guide for a week or two in Turkey.

 

You can find him by googling, or let me know and I'll dig out his address.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Toranut97

Toranut97

Posted
Posted
Don't know exactly where you will be, but a few years back, we had a private tour of Istanbul one day, and Ephesus the next (out of Kushadasi). Worked up a group of 8 of us (some from Cruise Critic Roll call, and others from seatmates on board. We used Kagan Kosigan, and found him excellent. Fluent English, flexible to meet client wishes, and just nice guy.

When we went to Ephesus, he worked it so that we where the tour buses weren't. Actually went through the city itself during noon hour, after the morning buses left and before the afternoon tours started. We were by ourselves, except for a group of Japanese tourists who whizzed by us shooting pictures like crazy.

 

We would love to go back and have him as a guide for a week or two in Turkey.

 

You can find him by googling, or let me know and I'll dig out his address.

 

Kosagan is his last name -- we toured with his wife. Lale, and it was fabulous. Can't say enough good about them.

kagan kosagan <kosagan@yahoo.com>

 

They have a website too:

 

http://www.ksgtours.com

 

In our opinion you cannot go wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted

Ditto for the Kosagans - we have used both Kagan and Lale and they are a joy. Personable, knowledgeable, great language skills - you name it.

We still receive holiday cards from them many years later.

BTW - the "g" is silent, so HIS name is pronounced "Kan Kosan"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CintiPam

CintiPam

Posted
Posted

I will be the contrarian and recommend that you do not use a private guide for Istanbul. All of the major sights for a one-day port visit are concentrated within a few hundred yards of each other (Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrom, Basilica Cistern); the excellent modern and efficient tram stops right outside the port gates and will whisk you to the Sultanahmet Square in 10 minutes or so, while buses, taxis and other vehicles fight the terrible traffic in central Istanbul. Also, both the Eyewitness Guide and Rick Steves' Istanbul guidebooks are excellent, with the Rick Steves book (actually written by two local guides; perhaps the Kosagans?) providing great sight tours and walking tours of the area.

 

On the other hand, your Kusadasi port day (for Ephesus) is one place where a guided tour is really helpful because the sights (Ancient Ephesus, including the fantastic Terrace Houses, Archeological Museum in Selcuk, St. John's Basilica, etc.) you will wish to visit are some distance from the port and each other. It also is great to start at the top of Ephesus and walk down to a waiting van, plus I have not located any really good guidebooks for this area. We used EKOL Travel, our very first private tour from a cruise ship, and had a wonderful day with guide Ali.

 

Whatever you decide, guided tours are very reasonably priced in Turkey versus western Europe, and you will enjoy your visit to this part of the world.

 

Regarding Athens, none of these taxi drivers are licensed guides and you are paying a lot for a taxi ride for the day; if you want a licensed guide who actually can enter the sights with you, try athens walking tours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted

CintiPam,

You are certainly correct about Istanbul.

Getting a guide there would be the easy ("lazy") way out, albeit more expensive, for those who are not inclined (or do not have the time) to do a lot of research ahead of the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CintiPam

CintiPam

Posted
Posted
CintiPam,

You are certainly correct about Istanbul.

Getting a guide there would be the easy ("lazy") way out, albeit more expensive, for those who are not inclined (or do not have the time) to do a lot of research ahead of the time.

 

Perusing one excellent guidebook (I simply love Rick Steves' books, particularly his museum and art emphasis) to make the best out of each day of a port-intensive cruise is to me not a biggie, but I certainly understand your point.

 

I just feel that it is much more enjoyable to go at your own pace when in a place where the ship is docked right in the center, everything is labelled in English, everyone speaks English in the area you are visiting, and the sights are all within a few flat blocks of each other.

 

Happy New Year to all the followers of the Oceania board!:)

 

Pam

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dick in Falls Church

Dick in Falls Church

Posted
Posted

Re Istanbul

We used Kagan the first trip there, and as I said before were very satisfied.

Went back to Istanbul on a later trip, and did our own thing. Because we had gone with Kagan, we were able have a better idea of where to spend our time the second trip--where to return, where to find something new, etc.

 

My wife does not get around as well as she did, which makes a guide advantageous for us, at least the first time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mura

Mura

Posted
Posted

Istanbul being Istanbul, if you just stand around on the street a willing guide will appear!!

 

The first stop may be his cousin's rug store, of course ...

 

It's more a case of fending them off. Or at least that was the case when we were there 10 years ago!

 

P.S. I do agree that Istanbul is easy to do on your own. We just took cabs to where we needed to be -- on that trip (with Renaissance) they put us up in the Meridian which was not near the tourist sites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CintiPam

CintiPam

Posted
Posted
:) I booked the Hotel Amira in Instanbul. I might take your suggestions and do Instanbul on our own. I will look into Ephesus-good to know places are spread out. Great tips-thanks again. Brigitte

 

Looks like a wonderful place to stay. We spent three nights at the Sirkeci Konak two years ago pre-cruise (and one more night aboard ship before it sailed), and you definitely are making the right choice to stay at a small boutique hotel in the Sultanahmet area when visiting Istanbul for the first time. The Amira is ranked first on sister website tripadvisor, and I find TA reviews (if more than just a few) extremely reliable. (I am active on a daily basis on the Athens and Istanbul forums of tripadvisor, so I feel that I continue to learn a great deal about those two cities in particular.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BlindCreek

BlindCreek

Posted
Posted

We also had a wonderful experience with Levent Solmaz in both Ephesus and Istanbul. His knowledge of the sites, of Turkey, and the historical implications of all was impressive. He is personable, honest and above all a great ambassador for Turkey. We highly recommend Levent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bowie MeMe

Bowie MeMe

Posted
Posted
Don't know exactly where you will be, but a few years back, we had a private tour of Istanbul one day, and Ephesus the next (out of Kushadasi). Worked up a group of 8 of us (some from Cruise Critic Roll call, and others from seatmates on board. We used Kagan Kosigan, and found him excellent. Fluent English, flexible to meet client wishes, and just nice guy.

When we went to Ephesus, he worked it so that we where the tour buses weren't. Actually went through the city itself during noon hour, after the morning buses left and before the afternoon tours started. We were by ourselves, except for a group of Japanese tourists who whizzed by us shooting pictures like crazy.

 

We would love to go back and have him as a guide for a week or two in Turkey.

 

You can find him by googling, or let me know and I'll dig out his address.

We had his wife LaLa and she is fabulous plus the best shop advisor ever. She took us to an artist who does religious verses on leaves and it was one of our best experiences ever -- designed a masterpiece for our daughter that was very special. Warning! we ended up with 6 beautiful rugs and 2 wonderful scarves (and I NEVER shop on vacation past trinkets). A guide in Istanbul pre cruise is a wonderful thing. The tour was exactly for us and to our taste and at our pace. We saw so much and understood what we saw. Much that we asked about was explained in great detail and to what we wanted to know not just what the guide knew. The very best thing though was that in the caotic traffic of Istanbul our car (actually a van) was alway just a hand raised or phone call away and we were off -- inspite of huge crowds, Ramadan activities, and unexpected problems (sometimes the attractions just don't open or the other cruise ships busses were just dumping hundreds of folks).

 

We just got holiday greetings from Lala and Kagan at kosgan@yahoo.com

email and their website is www.privatetoursinturkey.com

Turkey was wonderful. For Ephesus we took Oceania tour (in fact we took the whole package of tours because it was a bit cheaper) and found the guides and tours outstanding. Ephesus might have been my favorite on our itenirary but they were all so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jancruz

Jancruz

Posted
Posted
We had a wonderful experience with Levent Solmaz who was our guide in both Ephesus and Istanbul.

http://leventsolmaz.com/

 

Within Greece, we highly recommend Georges Taxi.

http://www.taxigreece.com/

 

Hope this gets you started :D

 

Stan and Jim, I was one of the first to use Georges Taxi in Athens almost 10 years ago..I have found in the last year or two he is more expensive and less amenable to what you want to do so I have changed guides..just my opinion

Jancruz1

Link to comment
Share on other sites
StanandJim

StanandJim

Posted
Posted
Stan and Jim, I was one of the first to use Georges Taxi in Athens almost 10 years ago..I have found in the last year or two he is more expensive and less amenable to what you want to do so I have changed guides..just my opinion

Jancruz1

 

Jan-

 

We had just the opposite experience. The last time that we were in Athens (June of '09) we had 5 days with George, and he was amazing!

 

Not only was the service punctual, cheerful, hygienic and friendly, but George did all kinds of behind the scenes organizing for us too!

photo1.jpg

For example,we were anxious to visit the Corinth Canal, a tour which is operated only seasonally and primarily patronized by Europeans. George

ran interference for us with their hard to reach office, organized the timing, and even brought extra Euros with him, in case they would not take dollars.

 

How refreshing to have such an experience.....especially when he could not have been earing any kind of commission. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pier

pier

Posted
Posted
Pier-

 

Lets face it, ANY of these guides might need to cancel because of an illness, death or any other tragedy. After all, we ARE only human.

 

 

I'd book Levant again in a heartbeat

 

 

Levant didn't cancel because of an illness, death or tragedy. We canceled him because he put us with another group at the last minute instead of honoring his original agreement. I had to tell two other couples who had planned to go with us that there was no room for them. Levant also wanted to switch us to an "assistant" whom we knew nothing about for one of the days we had booked with him in Istanbul, again using "family problems" for his absence. The truth was that he had booked another group for that day. He has pulled this on other people. It's upsetting to have to look for a guide at the last minute when you've counted on one that you've booked months in advance (we booked him 6 mos. in advance). There are so many good guides who are honorable that it makes no sense to use him. Also, he's more expensive than the other guides, and some of his fees--$90 for a ride from our hotel to the airport when the customary charge was 25 euros--raise eyebrows.

 

Other people were treated in a similar fashion by Levant. I suggest that you read the thread re: guides in Ephesus and Istanbul to the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GJH123

GJH123

Posted
Posted

Just another vote for EKOL, we were fortunate to have Ali as our guide in Ephesus. He was very knowledgeable, responsive, and accommodating. In Istanbul, we booked two days with them and airport transport. Excellent tour of all the historical sights without waiting in line. At the bazaars, our guide simply waved away the solicitors outside the shops. Also went to the Kempinski Palace Hotel for a restroom break as he chose for us not to use the public facilities at the Dolmanbache Palace (what a kick!) and then to a local non-tourist restaurant for lunch, where we enjoyed talking to him and our driver about contemporary Turkish life, customs, perceptions, and culture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...