Layers of Smyrna
The Agora of ancient Smyrna
Roman arches and underground galleries hiding in plain sight in the middle of the modern city.
Not yet checked by the Smileys team — prices and hours may have moved.
Why do it?
Izmir is Smyrna, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Mediterranean — and it's remarkably easy to live here for months without noticing. The Agora fixes that: a Roman-era marketplace right in the middle of town, whose vaulted basement galleries survived under the city and are strikingly intact. You walk in off an ordinary street and drop two thousand years.
The Smileys Take
It's a short walk uphill from Kemeraltı, so fold it into a bazaar day rather than making a separate trip. The lower galleries are the highlight — cooler, quieter and more atmospheric than anything at street level. You'll likely share the whole site with a handful of people, which is a kind of luxury no big-name ruin can offer.
Explore nearby
Do it with people
Nothing is scheduled around this in Izmir yet. When a host plans it, it shows here — the calendar and hangouts are the places to look meanwhile.
More like this
There's always more Izmir.