Ephesus and The Ionian Coast

Ancient Greek civilisation reached its high-water mark on western Turkiye’s Ionian shore. This lovely olive-strewn stretch of coastline between Izmir and Bodrum has some of the finest classical ruins in the country and was once home to some of the greatest philosophers and mathematicians of the ancient world. The ruins of ancient Ephesus are considered to be the finest in Turkiye and rank amongst the greatest in the Western World. The city was the most important settlement on the Aegean in Roman times and was home to the great Temple of Artemis one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ephesus’s importance made it the focus of the missionary zeal of St Paul who spent the years 51 to 53 AD in the city.

Located in the verdant hills above Ephesus, the charming Ottoman village of Sirince is the most attractive base from which to explore the surrounding region. Priene’s ruins stand below the great rock of Mount Mycale and are arguably the most superbly sited in Ionia. The city was built on a grid according to the model of one of the world’s first town planners, Hippodamus of Miletus. Priene’s Temple of Athena Polias is considered the epitome of Ionic architecture. Miletus is the oldest of the Ionian cities and once flourished as a major trading centre. The town was home to several notable ancient philosophers and mathematicians and is now chiefly of interest on account of its large Graeco-Roman theatre. The Temple of Apollo Branchidae at Didyma is breathtaking in its scale and was the third-largest temple in the Greek world. It was once famous for its oracle. Little-known Euromos has a lovely rural location and a Temple of Zeus that is considered to be one of the best-preserved Roman temples in Turkiye.