Photo: Francisco Anzola (CC BY 2.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of İzmir, on foot from Karataş through Konak and the Kemeraltı bazaar to the Roman Agora, then up to the walls of Kadifekale on Mount Pagos, the hill of ancient Smyrna. It starts at the Asansör, the street lift Nesim Levi built in 1907 up a cliff once climbed by 155 steps, in the neighbourhood where many of İzmir's Jewish families settled, with Darío Moreno Street and the Bet Israel synagogue. It visits the Archaeology Museum, where the Agora's finest sculpture now stands, and the Ethnography Museum, then Konak Square on land filled in from the sea, the Clock Tower of 1901 and the small octagonal Konak Mosque. In Kemeraltı, the bazaar built over the silted inner harbour, it reads the mosques raised over shops so that trade paid for worship, Kızlarağası Han of 1744, and the synagogues of Havra Sokağı, among them Etz Hayim, held to be the oldest in İzmir. In the Agora of Smyrna, one of the largest Roman agoras known, it visits the West Stoa, the Faustina Gate built after the earthquake of 178 and the great basilica, and climbs past the theatre to Kadifekale.
24 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 438 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 47 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Asansör, Darío Moreno Street, Bet Israel Synagogue, İzmir Archaeology Museum, İzmir Ethnography Museum, Konak Square, İzmir Clock Tower, Konak Mosque.
Salepçioğlu Mosque, Kemeraltı Mosque, Kemeraltı Bazaar, Başdurak Mosque, Kızlarağası Han, Hisar Mosque, Şadırvanaltı Mosque, Kestanepazarı Mosque, Signora Giveret Synagogue, Etz Hayim Synagogue, Bikur Holim Synagogue.
West Stoa of the Agora, Faustina Gate, Basilica of the Agora, Theatre of Smyrna, Kadifekale.
The public street lift Nesim Levi built in 1907 up a quarry cliff that before it could be climbed only by 155 steps.
The tower of 1901 marking Sultan Abdülhamid II's 25 years on the throne, designed by the Levantine architect Raymond Charles Péré.
The han Hacı Beşir Ağa built in 1744 to profit from İzmir's trade, its courtyard ringed with shops on two floors.
The tree of life, held to be the oldest synagogue in İzmir, linked by tradition with the Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews.
The double archway the city built after the earthquake of 178, when Marcus Aurelius helped pay for rebuilding the Agora.
The walls on Mount Pagos, the acropolis where Smyrna's second foundation began, with the legend of Alexander's dream.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 24 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 24 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in İzmir — Smyrna, Kemeraltı and Konak, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
24 narration points, including Asansör, Darío Moreno Street, Bet Israel Synagogue, İzmir Archaeology Museum and İzmir Ethnography Museum. That is about 33 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 24 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.