Ephesus-Mimas Yolu

About Ephesus-Mimas Yolu

The Ephesus-Mimas route is the popular name for a network of walking and cycling routes that trace some 8000 years of settlement history across the İzmir peninsula. It takes its name from Ephesus, today's Selçuk, and Mimas, the ancient name of the Karaburun peninsula, and passes through the districts of Selçuk, Menderes, Seferihisar, Güzelbahçe, Urla, Çeşme and Karaburun. Walking routes The walking network is made up of 49 tracks with a total length of 709 km. It starts in front of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and ends at Mimas, in Karaburun. Along the way it links six cities of ancient Ionia: Ephesus, Kolophon at Değirmendere, Lebedos at Ürkmez, Teos at Sığacık, Klazomenai at Urla and Erythrai at Ildırı. A sea-based blue route connects Karaburun with Phokaia, today's Foça. Cycling, olive and vineyard routes The cycling routes total 773 km and were planned with EuroVelo standards in mind; the 190 km section between Çeşme port and the Temple of Artemis follows those standards. An olive route, named after ancient trees and olive presses, runs through Güzelbahçe, Çeşme, Seferihisar, Menderes and Selçuk, and a 151 km vineyard route links Selçuk, Seferihisar, Menderes, Urla, Karaburun and Çeşme. The routes were created by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality with volunteer mountaineers, walkers, cyclists, olive growers and vine growers, and are signposted. Visit İzmir describes individual tracks, such as Şirince to Çamlık and Gökliman to Zeytinler, as walkable in most seasons outside the hottest periods. A free route guide in Turkish and English was published by the municipality.