“No shopping tour to Ephesus, Virgin, Mary’s house”
I recently organised a tour for myself, my husband and his brother and sister-in-law who came over from Melbourne, Australia to see us in the UK.
As they had never been to Greece we booked a holiday taking in Athens and some the Greek Islands. As I had been to both Greece and Turkey before, I persuaded them that it was worth heading to Samos and then crossing over to Turkey to see Ephesus — certainly a “must-see” for anyone exploring that part of the world! My concern was that we would have very little time in Turkey and that in my own experience, as well as endless reviews online, most tours to Ephesus included an almost obligatory shopping trip.
This was fine for people who wanted to shop (there are some lovely things to buy at very good prices) however we wanted to spend every minute exploring the historical sites rather than sit in some shop drinking apple tea and looking at wares. I did some searches on Google for “Ephesus without shopping” and up popped “No Frills Ephesus Tours” and thank goodness it did! From the outset, Christine was very helpful in providing me with the various options available.
As our ferry from Samos would arrive after the usual tour start time of 9am she put together a private tour just for the four of us at an exceptionally reasonable price. We had some difficulty getting in touch while travelling and I also went into holiday mode and got some dates wrong but Christine was very patient and called me in Greece to make sure we had the correct details.
On arrival in Turkey we were met by Christine’s husband Mehmet and we later picked up our highly knowledgeable guide Oktay. Mehmet and Oktay provided us with a jam-packed, informative and well-organised tour which took in the Temple of Artemis, Ephesus, the Virgin Mary’s house and a visit to the museum in Kusadasi. All our tickets were pre-bought so there was no waiting in queues and the price also included a delicious buffet lunch. Oktay was a qualified guide with an obvious passion about his subject and he managed to be both informative and amusing.
We were very glad we were receiving his personal attention when we saw some of the huge groups being herded around Ephesus in a very non-personal way. We were totally overwhelmed by the places we visited and are still talking about it a month later. All in all we had a fantastic day and when we got back to the ferry, the four of us agreed that the tour had been one of the absolute highlights of our whole trip.
We cannot recommend them highly enough — nothing was too much trouble, our expectations about what we would see was exceeded and the level of service was professional and friendly. There is so much to see and enjoy in this part of the world that we are already planning to go back — and we will definitely use No Frills Ephesus and its sister company Sea Spirit Travel when we do so.
The only tiny quibble I have is the name of the company — because this tour certainly offers plenty of frills! Well done for catering to those in the market who don’t want to just climb off a cruise liner and shop!
Ephesus Tour from Samos, Greece — www.nofrillsephesustours.com
