STEP BY STEP TURKEY (22 DAYS)
ISTANBUL / BURSA / PERGAMUM / EPHESUS / PAMUKKALE / ANTALYA / MERSIN / HATAY / SANLIURFA / HARRAN / NEMRUT / DIYARBAKIR /TATVAN / VAN / DOGUBEYAZIT / EZRURUM / TRABZON / AMASYA / YOZGAT / HATTUSAS / CAPPADOCIA
TECHNICAL PROGRAM (Tour code: 1142)
Day 1 ……………… / ISTANBUL
Arrival to Istanbul. Transfer to hotel. Overnight in hotel.
Day 2 ISTANBULBreakfast. Free day in Istanbul .Overnight in Istanbul.
Day 3 ISTANBUL-BURSA After breakfast, departure for Bursa(green city). Overnight in Hotel.
Day 4 BURSA-via BERGAMA ,IZMIR-SELCUK –EPHESUSAfter breakfast, drive to Izmir. On the way visit to Pergamon and arrive to Selcuk–Ephesus. Overnight in hotel
Day 5 EPHESUS-PAMUKKALEAfter breakfast, visit to Ephesus drive to Pamukkale(Travertines). Overnigjht in Pamukkale.
Day 6 PAMUKKALE-ANTALYAAfter breakfast, drive to Antalya visit to Termesos (Gulluk Dagi) . Arrival to Antalya. Overnight in Antalya.
Day 7 ANTALYA –SILIFKE-KIZKALESI After breakfast, visit to Aspendos. visit to Aspendos theatre is well-preserved theatre of Anatolia.Drive to Silifke. Overnight in hotel .
Day 8 SILIFKE-KIZKALESI-HATAY-(ANTAKYA)After breakfast, drive to Antakya. Overnight in hotel.
Day 9 HATAY (ANTAKYA) SANLIURFA After breakfast, drive to Sanlıurfa. Overnight in Sanliurfa.
Day 10 SANLIURFA-via ADIYAMAN-KAHTA-NEMRUT DAGIAfter breakfast, visit to Harran and Nemrut Dagı. Overnight in Kahta.
Day 11 KAHTA-DIYARBAKIRAfter breakfast, drive to Diyarbakir and visit Diyarbakir. Overnight in Diyarbakır.
Day 12 DIYARBAKIR –TATVANAfter breakfast, drive to Tatvan. Overnight in hotel.
Day 13 TATVAN –VAN After breakfast, visit to island of Akdamar . Overnight in hotel.
Day 14 VAN-DOGUBEYAZIT After breakfast, drive to Dogubeyazit . Visit Ishak Pasa Overnight in hotel.
Day 15 DOGUBEYAZIT-ERZURUMAfter breakfast, drive to Erzurum. Overnight in hotel.
Day 16 ERZURUM-TRABZONAfter breakfast, drive to Trabzon and visit Sumela Monastery . Overnight in hotel.
Day 17: TRABZON-AMASYAAfter breakfast, drive to Amasya . Overnight in hotel.
Day 18 AMASYA-YOZGAT After breakfast , drive to Yozgat to visit Hattusas . Overnighjt in hotel.
Day 19 HATTUSAS-CAPADOCIAAfter breakfast, drive to Capadocia . Overnight in Cappadocia.
Day 20 CAPPADOCIA – KIZIL VADİ (RED VALLEY) UCHISAR/CAVUSIN-GOREMEAfter breakfast, Visit to Devrent valley;with the action of volcanoes and the action of rivers, wind and flood waters, layer of tufa has slowly, but steadily been eroded to produce the rock formations seen today, and known as fairy chimneys. during the daytime alot of different colors can be seen in Red valley. visit the Uzumlu church from IX century. (excursion 5-6h.) Overnight in Cappadocia.
Day 21 CAPPADOCIA-SOGANLIAfter breakfast, drive to Ozluce(Zeylia) underground city. Ozluce underground city was used by christians as refuge to save of the persecution at IV drive to Soganli valley. visit a colorful bond numerous chapels, churches, houses and tombs in Soganli valley. you can see improvement of byzantine art here between VI and XII centuries and dovecotes and daily life of typical anatolian village. daily trek 3-4 hours. overnight in Cappadocia.
Day 22 CAPPADOCIA-Via ISTANBUL/………………..
Transfer to Kayseri airport. Departure from Istanbul .
BURSA
Bursa, that was the Ottoman capital before Edirne, today it is a city of over 1 million people and a continuously developing industrial and commercial center. The remarkable attraction of the city keep your intrest alive all day long.
EPHESUS
One of the main points from any trip to Turkey is to visit to Efes (Ephesus), in its commercial Time the richest center of the old world. The City, whose wealth and patronage were the support of its splendid architectonic program, was dedicated to the Artemis goddess. The last form of its enormous warms up, several times reconstructed, you date from century III BC. and is considered like one of the Seven Wonders of the Old World.
APHRODISIAS
Aphrodisias is one of the more beautiful places and interesting of given Anatolia the abundance of its ruins was one of the most important cities of the old region of Caria to decay that its time lived on gold under the Roman sovereignty. In this region, where the first establishment goes back to III the Millenium to of BC.( bronze age) the cult to the goddess of the Aphrodite love exceeded to the cult of Zeus, under the influence of the cult to the goddess mother in Anatolia, as it happened with the Artemis goddess in Ephesus.
PAMUKKALE (HIERAPOLIS)
As far as the natural zone of Pamukkale, one is a surrealistic miracle, something only throughout the world a spectacle of an incredible beauty. This natural formation is the work of limestone thermal source, created by the lime accumulation due to the evaporation of the carbon dioxide gas. The lime layers took indefinable forms creating a visual miracle where natural swimming pools at different levels formed. It is possible to be walked barefoot in thermal waters that continuously wash the terraces.
TERMESSOS
The old city of Termessos was constructed on a plain of 1050 m. high plain between two mountains, about 30 km northwest of Antalya. Well-known like the only city that Alexander the Great did not manage to conquer, Termessos lived his first time of prosperity during the hellenistic period and second, under the Roman sovereignty. During both periods the citizens of Termessos obtained the right to make their own laws. In the inscriptions, the town of Termessos identifies itself with the solimianos, native town of Pampylia After those prosperous periods, the city was left in century V.
THE ASPENDOS THEATER
It is the best preserved amphitheatre than it has subsisted to the present time, with a seating capacity of 15,000 spectators constructed by great architect Zenon during the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (half-full of century II AD.). Faithful to the hellenistic tradition, most of the theater leans in the slope of a hill; almost all the rest of the building was constructed on vaulted galleries. The superior part of the high building of the scene, that completely separates the spectators of the external world, has been recovered and its acoustics has been improved with the addition of some elements. The theater of Aspendos has subsisted to the present time conserving almost all its original characteristics thanks to the fact that the building of the scene or was maintained continuously by being used like caravansary (or put) during the seljuk period.
SIDE
According to Strabon, Side was founded by the settlers from Cyme, an Aeolian city to the north of Izmir . The word of`’side ‘ meant `pomegranate ‘ in the old dialect of this region. According to the inscriptions discovered during the excavations, Side was dominated in century III BC by the dynasty of the Ptolemai dynasty of Egypt and later by the kingdom of Syria; the city gained independent in year 188 BC.; a hundred years later, in 78 BC. Side was annexed by the Galatians. The city was the scene for the Arab attacks and piracy in the following centuries, and after the IIIrd century AD , Side was no longer an active commercial port.
Silifke (Mersin)
Silifke, that was the center of the ancient Cilicia, was founded on III century BC by Seleucos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great .
The famous fortress of Silifke built in the XII century is an interesting place with its cellars, cisterns and towers. Also the bridge over Göksu river with its six arches near the city is worth seeing; according to the inscription of his tablet it was constructed by Roman emperor Vespasiano and his children Tito and Domiciano.
Corycus Heaven- Hell
There are two large caves at the site, situated 50 km north of Mersin. The natural caves, formed as aresult of earthquakes and land erosion and called `’Cennet”( Paradise, heaven) and `’Cehennem’ ‘ (hell). In the mouth of the Paradise, denominated thus by the abundance of trees and bushes that fill it, is a small church in ruins that dates back XII century the other cave has truly frightening look and is named hell.
There are local saying that the sinners and criminals were thrown in here in the ancient times. Closely together of this place are the ruins of the old Corycus along with the remains of the castle.
Tarssus
Following the way towards the East, the native city of Saint Paul is arrived at Tarsus (Tarso). There is a deep well in the place of the former house where Paul was born. The water from the well is believed to have healing powers. According to famous geographer Strabon, the city of Tarso was founded by argonautas during its expedition in search of the wife of Zeus. Tarso was successively put under Persian, Macedonian and Roman the hitites hegemony, asiria,; after the death of Ceasar’s To stop became the Capital of the country governed by Marc Anthony, at where Egyptian queen Cleopatra arrived with her magnificent fleet to be with him.
ANTAKYA (Antioquia)
In the archaeological museum, that is the second more important museum of mosaics of the world you will see the discovered mosaics of an insurmountable beauty in the old Daphne located to a distance of 9 km of Antakya (the old Antioch). On the other hand 2 km of the city the cavern can be visited in where is the church of Saint Peter, well-known like one of the first four churches of the world.
URFA`’City of the Prophets’ ‘
Mardin that is a city constructed on a hill that almost dominates the plain of aerial Mesopotamia to Vista, is offered like a very typical unit of the urbanization of the Southeastern region with its houses without tile roof. In Urfa they deserve a visit the mosque Ulu Cami of century XI constructed during the time of feudal Saltuk and the old Madraza, at the moment turned Museum. The syrian Monastery Deyrulzafaran located to a distance of 10km. of the city, is another interesting site that is worth the trouble to visit. Urfa, that is well-known as the City of the Prophets’ ‘ ‘ is a region that lived all history on Anatolia the city that was called Edesa during the time of Alexander the Great, was dominated by the seljuks during century XI; during the two First Crossed (1098-1146) it was administered by 4 French counts; and I form part of the Ottoman empire in century XVI moment at which its name was changed by the one of `’Ruhá’.
BALIKLIGOL(the lake of the Fish)
This man-made lake was formed by joining the Halil-ül Rahman and Ayn-el Zeliha lakes by channels, where thousands of carps swim. The carps which swim in the lake are believed to be sacred. The mosques of Halil-ül Rahmen and Rizvaniye near the same pool are also worth seeing.
HARRAN
35 kilometers from the Akçakale you turn towards Dogulu, after another nine kilometers you find yourself in the highly interesting town of Harran. The first thing to strike your eyes is a collection of mud brick buildings with cone and dome shaped roofs that are scattered over the dry plains.This placed known as Carh in history is of great importance. The Sim cult, which was one of the two main Mesopotamian civilizations settled and developed in this area. Stars and planets were really important in the Sim beliefs. The Sim people also worshipped the moon. It is known that the famous Sim temple was in Harran, but unfortunately there are no remains left today. During the Caracalla, much under te influence of this belief cult, urged that the religion be attached to the Roman palace. Mark Antony refused and had Caracalla executed.
MOUNT NEMRUT
(Kahta – Adiyaman) Alexander the Great, the emperor of world, moved through Anatolia in the IV th century BC, after he conquered Macedonia and other regions, in order to to save the town of Anatolia of the Persian hegemony. It is date is also the principle of the hellenistic time. The ideal of Alexander was to become universal emperor and also mixing the races. With it is idea of helenizar conquered earth, Alexander forced to thousands of his soldiers and officers to marry with the women of the areas they conquered . As a result of this effort, during the period between centuries I BC and AD. The Kingdom of Comagene was founded on the region at the moment called Adiyaman and thus a hellenistic mixed culture arose – Persian. Antiochos I, the most important king of civilization, commanded to construct tumulus for himself on Mount Nemrut, one of elevated summits more of the region, with the height of 2100m. and made fix the circumference of this tumulus of 50m. of break, taken of small stones, like a sanctuary adorned with blocks of stones and colossal statues of divinities, whose heads measure 2m. of stop. Antiochos made carve not only the statues of the greco-Persian Gods like Apollo, Tyche, Heracles and Zeus, but also its own statue, since it was seen like a deity. The Nemrut mount, that in some cultural means is considered like the eighth wonder of the world, has a mysterious beauty that fascinates all the visitors.
DIYARBAKIR
The archaeological excavations have revealed to us that the history of this region under numerous civilizations go back to VII BC the millenium. The city of Diyarbakir, whose older denomination is its Persian name Amide, lived successively under sent of the civilizations Mitanni, Persian, Roman, byzantines, Arab, seljuk and Ottoman hurri assryians, urartians. The walls of ciudadela have subsisted to the present time done of carved basalt that they were constructed at the end of century IV by Constanz..
VAN
The old city of Tushpa was one of the most important cities of the old region of Vaspucaran. The present city of Van, located to a height of 1700 m., extends in the Eastern border of the lake Van, greatest of Turkey, where the winter lasts 6 months. Urartu is region gained great importance during the time of the civilization and the city of Van reached a high level of civilization. Urartian got weak as a result of Scthian and Cimmerian attacks in the VII century BC. and by the 6th century BC they fell under the rule of Medes. LaterPersians, the Macedonians (Alexander the Great) the pontos, the seleucos, the Romans, the Byzantine, the Armenians, the seljuk and to starting in the XVI th century by the Ottomans.
AKDAMAR ISLAND It is a small island located to a distance of 4km. of the border and to few kilometers of the town of Gevas on the highway of Van-Tatvan. On the small barren island the church of Ahtamar, a small masterpiece of famous architect Manuel rises the Monk, constructed during century X by the king of Vaspucaran, Gagik I. The red clay stone was used in the construction of this church and it has domes, a cruciform plan, and three entrances. A chapel in the 13 th century and a large front section in the 14 th century were added to the church. During Armenian patriarchy was mved here in the 10 th century. The outside walls are decoreted with scenes from the Old Testament. The figures look like sculptures under the sun light, in the shade these figures seem almost to disappear. The inside walls of the church have frescoes from the Bible. Byzantine influence is clearly seen in the wall pictures.
DOGUBEYAZIT
The palace of Ishak Pasha, on the foot of the Ararat mount the palace of Ishak Pasha Saray, located near Dogubeyazit, in the Eastern end of Anatolia, was constructed in 1784 by the sanjaco (governor) Ishak Pasha on a filled up land of 7600 square meters, since in the region a sufficiently high space for the accomplishment of this project did not exist. It is masterpiece constructed of red clay stone and it resembles the palaces of Topkapi and Edirne. The high one minaret of its mosque is visible from very far.
ERZURUM (Teodosiópolis)
The city of Erzurum, located 2 000 meters above sea level, Erzurum is like an open air museum with the abundance of historical buildings. The history of the region of Erzurum goes back until the paleolitic period. Between historical works of Erzurum the most important building can be mentioned: the Yakutiye Medrese, built by Olcayto and A mongolian governor in the 14 th century, significant for its outer decoration and stonework and Çifte Minare (double minaret) constructed during the reign of sultan Aladin Keykubat and finished after his death;a its side, medreze and Tomb of Hatuniye;l Ulu Cami (Great mosque), a masterpiece with seven naves and two domes, constructed during the reign of sultan Aladin Keyhusrev; the tomb of Emir Sultan; and the museum with its collections of more than ten thousand artifacts.
SUMELA TRABZON
The more important historical place of Trabzon is without a doubt the Sumela Monastery. The monastery is located above a valley inside the Pontic mountains and reached after a pleasant ride with incredible beauty of nature. After arriving until certain height by automobile, it is possible to be continued to climb until the monastery up a winding footpath that zigzags between the forests. While one approaches the monastery, has the sensation to be living in an unreal world and is astonished before the monastery that seems as if it had lowered from the sky to stick to the flank of the cliff. Until now it has been impossible to understand how the man managed to make a so colossal construction in a so steep place, using the average technology of the 6 th century . The Monastery of Sumela, that acquired its present form with the annexes constructed during century XIV, is one of the more important historical and tourist wealth of Turkey. do not forget to drink the cold water its sacred source,
AMASYA
Located to a distance of 322km. of Ankara on the highway of Ankara – Samsun, the city of Amasya, was, throughout its history, an important scale in the route of the Silk Road between Istanbul and Iran. Amasya is located on both sides of the Yesilirmak river at a narrow point and it leans against steep rocks where a hellenistic fortress was located. The royal tombs carved io the rocks from the Pontus era can be noticed. The old city of Amaseia was an important commercial and cultural center also during the time of the Pontus. Amasya, that was the native city of famous geographer Strabon, this city has attracted the attention of many civilizations throughout history due to its strategic situation.
Hattusas (the present Bogazkale) the capital of the Hitites Empire, the most important civilization of Anatolia of the prehistoric period, located to a distance of 299 km of Ankara. It is historical zone; this extraordinary city resist the ravages of time alone on a plain and it is a visual feast for the visitors with its forts, city walls, temples and the remains of other settlements.
The rock sanctuary of located Yazilikale very near of Bogazkale greeted along with all its hitites deities to you. The Tuz Lake (salt lake) on the highway of Ankara-Cappadocia the second greater lake of Turkey and the greatest salt lake of the world.
PRICE
In 2 pax p.p. Driver /Guıde ………. xxxx Euro
In 3 pax p.p. Driver /Guıde ………. xxxx Euro
In 4-5 pax p.p. ……………………….. xxxx Euro
In 6-7 pax p.p. ……………………….. xxxx Euro
In 8-9 pax p.p. ……………………….. xxxx Euro
In 10-12 pax p.p. ……………………….. xxxx Euro
In 13-18 pax p.p. ……………………….. xxxx Euro
SUPLEMENT PERIOD 05 July 2011 / 25- August -2011 190 Euro
SINGLE SUPLEMENT: 250 EURO
INCLUDING:
- ACCOMODATION AT 4*HOTELS or Special Hotel – HB Half BorD
- GUIDE SPEAKING ENGLISH
- TRANSFER BETWEEN HTL-APT-HTL
- BUS DURING PROGRAMME (Mercedes Sprinter, VW Volt, Minibus, A/C.and refrigerator ) NOT INCLUDING:- MUSEUMS Entrance fees not included, FLIGHT TICKET,LUNCH
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