Daily Didyma, Miletus & Priene Tour from Didim – Temple of Apollo

Daily Didyma, Miletus and Priene Tour: Three Great Ionian Sites in One Day

This daily Didyma, Miletus and Priene tour from Didim is a guided day tour through three of the most rewarding ancient sites on the Aegean coast: an oracle sanctuary of Apollo, a powerful trading city of philosophers, and a hillside town admired by Alexander the Great. Hotel pick-up, lunch and entrance fees are included, so this daily excursion lets you focus entirely on the stories behind the stones.

• Temple of Apollo at Didyma: a colossal sanctuary of 118 by 60 metres with 128 columns
• Miletus Theatre: where St. Paul bade farewell to the elders of Ephesus
• Faustina Baths and Harbour Monument: Roman landmarks of a great port city
• Ilyas Bey Mosque: a graceful early Turkish monument among the ruins
• Priene: the Temple of Athena, council house, fish market, theatre and city walls

Didyma was never a city but a sacred oracle site devoted to Apollo, god of prophecy, and it remained an important pilgrimage centre until the spread of Christianity. Its temple is breathtaking in scale, slightly larger than a football pitch, with richly carved columns that reach about 19.5 metres. Miletus, by contrast, was one of the wealthiest Greek cities, founding some 90 colonies and acting for centuries as a leading trade centre of Anatolia. It was home to natural philosophers such as Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, the geographer Hecataeus and the planner Hippodamus, who pioneered the grid street plan here. The city was also known for athletic games, and the flaming tripod later linked with the Olympics is said to recall its harbour lighthouse.

Priene, founded in 350 BC, enjoys one of the finest settings of the ancient world. Ruled in turn by Ionians, Lydians and Persians before Alexander the Great, it became his favourite place to stay in Asia Minor, later passing to Pergamon, Rome and Byzantium until earthquakes and malaria emptied it. This Didyma day trip from Didim involves walking over uneven ground, so bring comfortable shoes, a hat and water.