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Day 1
Istanbul
The day of your arrival. Depending on your arrival time in Istanbul,
you may visit ther Grand Bazaar on your own. We come together for an orientation meeting and welcome dinner in
the evening. Overnight at
charming Erguvan Hotel
or a similar lodging
in Istanbul’s fascinating Old City, the
Sultanahmet.
Day 2
Istanbul
 Today
we tour glorious Istanbul,
capital to three great empires – Roman,
Byzantine and Ottoman. It
is the only city in the world that stands on two
continents, Europe and Asia. We
visit world famous sites such as the Roman
Hippodrome, the exquisite Blue Mosque and Topkapi
Palace, the home of Ottoman Sultans for 400
years. We visit the Harem, the Treasure and the other
sections of the Palace.
In the
afternoon
we see the great church of
Haghia Sophia
and Justinian’s Basilica
Cistern.
After a short resting at the hotel we walk
down through the
Spice Market and take an early evening
boat trip along the beautiful Bosphorus. We have
dinner at a fish restaurant at the sea front. Overnight at
Erguvan or a similar hotel .
Day
3
Istanbul
We
tour the ancient shrine of the Life-Giving
Spring - known locally as Balikli Kilise (Church
of the Fish), the ancient city walls and St.
Savior in Chora, a Byzantine church with its
magnificent mosaics and frescoes. Lastly we
visit the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent,
one of the marking figures of Istanbul. Overnight at
Erguvan or a similar hotel .
Day 4 Cappadocia
We
take an early morning flight from Istanbul to
Kayseri and transfer to
Hotel
Surban in the town of Urgup, our base for
the next two nights. We then tour the town of
Urgup and its traditional rock carved dwellings.
After lunch we drive to Uchisar to visit the
region’s famous rock-cut apartments and then hike in the beautiful Love Valley.
Afterwards we visit rock-cut churches of Goreme.
Overnight at Surban Hotel.
Total driving today: 100 km (62 miles).
Day 5 Cappadocia
At around dawn, you can have an optional balloon tour over Cappadocia.
It costs US $220 per person.
After breakfast we hike the lunar terrain of the Red Valley and visit
Cavusin town. Then we drive to Avanos, the
pottery center of Cappadocia, for lunch and
pottery experince . In the afternoon we explore
the “fairy chimneys” of Pasa Baglari and the
beautiful rock carved town of Zelve.
Overnight at Surban Hotel.
Total driving today: 41
km (25 miles).
 Day 6 Cappadocia
This
morning we visit another beautiful valley with
naturally sculpted “statues”. We
then drive to
the Monastery of Ayios Archangelos and the
beautiful Soganli Valley. In the afternoon we
explore the underground city of Kaymakli. So far
more than 70 underground cities have been
discovered in Cappadocia, many of which are
connected to each other. Overnight at
Surban Hotel.
Total driving today: 143
km (89 miles).
Day
7
Konya
We hike in Ihlara Valley and visit a grand
medieval motel dating from 1229: The Sultanhani
Caravanserai. We continue to Konya, ancient
Iconium, the city of Mevlana Rumi, who founded
the Order of famous whirling dervishes. We visit
Seljuk madrasas and Alaaddin Hill and overnight
at
Hotel Ozkaymak
in Konya.
Total driving today: 302 km (188 miles).
 Day
8
Konya,
Psidian Antioch, Lake
District
We visit the mausoleum of Rumi and his
Order’s shrine then drive to Lake District of Turkey. We stop at Beysehir to see a Seljuk
mosque with 700-year old wooden columns. Then we
continue to Pisidian Antioch where St. Paul
turned to Gentiles, visit the impressive ruins
of Antioch
and drive to beautiful Lake Egirdir, another natural reservoir of fresh water.
We check in to the hotel and explore the Seljuk monuments
in the town.
Total driving today: 271 km (168 miles).
Day
9
Pamukkale
A short drive
brings us to Isparta, the city of roses. We may
buy rose products
 there. We then continue to
Hierapolis (Pamukkale), one of the therapy
centers of the ancient world, famous with its
ruins and natural white travertine pools. We
visit the ruins of Hierapolis and enjoy the
self-built travertine pools. We
overnight at a thermal hotel in Pamukkale that
has a natural hot spring pool.
Total driving today: 235 km (146 miles).
 Day10
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias was one of the school of sculpture
with widespread fame in ancient times. We visit
the beautiful antiquities including the best
preserved ancient stadium of 30,000 seats. We then
continue to Selcuk, a nice town near Ephesus.
Overnight at Nilya
in
Selcuk or
Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi.
Total driving today: 275 km (171 miles).
Day11
Ephesus 
Starting early in the morning,
we tour
glorious Ephesus,
one of the best preserved ancient
city in the world.
Ephesus was a cosmopolitan
trading center of 250,000 inhabitants. It was the capital
of
Roman Asia and there St. Paul
preached the
new religion of
Christianity. We see
the marble
paved
avenues, wonderfully
preserved
homes, temples, theaters, baths, markets,
brothels, libraries and
gymnasiums which bring
us back to the splendor of the ancient world.
Afterwards we visit the ruins of the great
Temple of Artemis, the largest ancient temple
ever built and one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World. We then continue to the forested
hills above Ephesus to visit the House of the
Virgin Mary. The present structure dates from
the Byzantine period but was built over the
foundation of an older building believed to be
Mary’s last dwelling place.
Lastly we visit the Ephesus
Museum with its statues of Artemis and gladiatorial artifacts.
Overnight at
Nilya in
Selcuk or
Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi.
Total driving today: 79 km (49 miles).
Day12
Priene, Miletus, Didyma
Today we tour
brilliant
cities of ancient Ionia:
Priene - home of Bias, one of the seven sages of the archaic
age - and Miletus where Thales, the father of
ancient Greek philosophy and another one of the
seven sages was raised. Lastly we visit Didyma, the
oracular temple from the Archaic Period.
One of the huge colums of the temple costed
40,000 drachmae when daily wage
of a labour
was 2 drachmae. Overnight at
Nilya in
Selcuk or
Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi.
Total driving today: 203 km (136 miles).
Day13
Pergamum
We drive
to Pergamum, where the first page in the book in
the history was written. We visit the Acropolis
and then the Asclepion, one of the most important
medical centres in antiquity. We continue to
Yesilyurt or Adatepe village to overnight at Cetmihan or
Hunnaphan, nice countryside hotels.
Total driving today: 352 km (219 miles).
Day14
Assos,
Troy
After check out of the hotel we
drive to Assos. Its fascinating 6 C BC doric
temple on the top of the hill,
Hellenistic ruins and magnificent location
overlooking Lesbos Island make Assos a natural and archaeologic beauty.
We then continue on driving to Troy. Troy
is one of the most important sites of prehistory
with its nine superimposed ruins dating from
different eras. The most impressive ruins are
relatively well preserved city defense system
and houses of the Iliad’s Troy.
We stay at
Ida Kale Resort
or
Tusan Hotel by Dardanel strait.
Total driving today is 118 km ( 73 miles )
Day15
Gallipoli, Istanbul
In the morning
we take a ferry and get accross the Dardanel
strait to visit the battle fields and war
memorials of Gallipoli where nearly half million
soldiers died during the World War I. Then we get back to the
Asian side again and drive 200 km ( 124 miles )
to Bandirma where we take 3:30 pm ferry to get
accross the Sea of Marmara. We check in the
hotel by 6:00 pm. Overnight at
Ayasofya Konaklari.
Total driving today is 234 km
( 145 miles )
Day16
Depart
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Hotels only :
410 euro - US $645
Balbius Travel