Priene-Didyma -Miletos

You will enjoy the very interesting ancient cities of Priene, Miletos and Didyma. Even the drive to these ancient cities will fascinate with its great panorama. We arrive in Priene, on the slopes of Mount Mykale, famous for being among the first cities in the world to have a grid plan. The city is under the shade of pine trees, we will walk through its 4th century BC Anatolian-Greek buildings like the well-preserved theatre, bouleuterion (council chamber), gymnasium, stadium, a later-built Byzantine church and the remains of the grand temple of Athena, a work of the architect Pythius who also built the Halicarnassus Mausoleum in Bodrum. After that visit we will have short drive to Miletos known for its great Roman bath, Faustina Baths, one of the most impressive bath buildings in Anatolia. As we walk through its other ancient buildings like the well-preserved Roman theatre and the harbour buildings, our guide will mention the city’s cleverest people in the ancient times who made great contributions to the fields of geometry, astronomy and architecture, like Thales the founder of science and Isadora, the architect of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Then we will drive to Didyma for lunch and visit the great temple of Apollo.  The Temple of Apollo or Didymaion was equal in importance to the oracular temple at Delphi in Greece. You will see the magnificent 120 giant white-marble columns and two tunnel ramps. The building was the oracle centre of the ancient world. Finally you will see an impressive gigantic Medusa head which fell from the frieze of the temple coastal.