Destination: Turkey
Route: Istanbul (3 nights) / Cappadocia (2 nights) / Pamukkale (1 night), Bodrum (1 night), / Kusadasi (2 nights) / Istanbul (1 night)
Duration: 11 days/10 nights

Land Cost: $2500-$4500

Single supplement: $529

Day 01 Arrival in Istanbul
Arrive at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul. Meet your guide and transfer to The Ottoman Imperial Hotel. This charming boutique hotel is located in the old city center – just within a few minutes walk of all the sites. After check-in, enjoy some time at leisure until the afternoon, when you will meet again with your guide for an orientation tour in the hotel area. Today, we can visit a few places of interest: Hippodrome: The ancient Hippodrome, an enormous public entertainment arena that once seated as many as 100,000 zealous fans witnessing chariot races, executions, and mock battles. Once the center of Byzantine civic life, it is still decorated by the Egyptian Obelisk, the Bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine. Blue Mosque: With its massive central dome flanked by six slender minarets, the Blue Mosque stands as the single most recognizable monument on the Istanbul skyline. Built between 1609 and 1616, during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I, the enormous complex also included a hospital, caravansary, public kitchen, marketplace, schools and the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmet I. The mosque’s immense interior, flooded with sunlight streaming through 260 windows, is decorated with more than 20,000 precious Iznik tiles detailing traditional flowers of Ottoman design. In fact, it is the deep blue glow of the tiles in sunlight that gives the building its name. Also, get a good idea of the neighborhood, including nearby restaurants. Dinner is included and the rest of the evening is yours to enjoy at leisure.

Day 02 Istanbul
After breakfast at the hotel, depart with your guide for a private full-day sightseeing tour of the Old City. The tour includes major historical sites of the city: the Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Turkish and Islamic Art Museum and the Grand Bazaar. Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia): This famous basilica was constructed in the 6th century A.D. It is often described as the greatest work of Byzantine architecture. Once the Church of Holy Wisdom, Christendom’s crowning glory, and now a museum, the church once glittered with mosaics, and art treasures filled every corner. Today, Hagia Sophia is the fourth largest building constructed as a church in the world. It was dedicated to Hagia Sophia which means Divine Wisdom, an attribute of Christ. After this visit stop for lunch on your own at one of Sultanahmet’s many local restaurants, and then continue to the Basilica Cistern.Basilica Cistern or Underground Palace: Istanbul was one of the most often besieged cities in the world and has always needed permanent water supplies. As a result, many underground cisterns were built during the Byzantine Empire. Water was brought to these big reservoirs from far away sources through aqueducts. The largest and most ornate of these cisterns is Yerebatan Sarayi. In its construction, columns and capitals of earlier temples were used and this provides a very decorative appearance.

Istanbul's Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (Türk-Islam Eserleri Müzesi), on the Hippodrome across from the Blue Mosque, is a treasure-house of beautiful objects from the Ottoman (14th to 20th centuries), Seljuk (11th to 13th centuries), and earlier periods beginning in the 8th century. The best art was religious art during the Ottoman Empire, just as it was in medieval Europe. Turkish carpets, illuminated Kur'ans, calligraphy (at which the Ottomans excelled), carved and inlaid wood, glass, porcelain and stone are well displayed. Turkish ethnographic exhibits—a fully-furnished nomads' tent, a 19th-century Ottoman parlor, and others—extend the collection beyond mere beautiful objects shown out of context. The museum is housed in the restored Palace of Ibrahim Pasha, a sumptuous residence built by Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent's Grand Vezir (and intimate friend) Ibrahim Pasha.

Grand Bazaar: The area of the Grand Bazaar was a trade center during the Byzantine period. Two bedestens (domed masonry structures) were built by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror to enrich the economic life in the city. Later on as people needed more places for trade, they added other buildings outside these structures. Today, the atmosphere of the Grand Bazaar is very interesting and has consequently become a very popular place for visitors to explore a labyrinth of streets and passages housing eighteen entrances and more than 4,000 shops. In late afternoon, return to the hotel for some time at leisure before stepping out for your included dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 03 Istanbul
After breakfast at the hotel, meet your guide and depart for a full-day sightseeing tour featuring Topkapi Palace Complex, the Spice Market, and Bosporus cruise by public boat, passing by authentic city quarters located on both Asian and European shores of the Bosporus Strait. Topkapi Palace Museum: Topkapi was the second palace built in Istanbul after the conquest. It was a residence for the Ottoman Sultans and includes a maze of opulent buildings which were at the center of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. This palace, where the sultans and their courts and harem lived and governed, is now one of the world’s richest museums. Next, we will visit the Spice Market which was built as part of the Yeni Cami complex and has since been an exciting covered market filled with the fragrant scent of spices from the Orient. After this visit, we will have lunch on own at one of the near-by restaurants, overlooking Golden Horn Bay, which separates the old city from the modern city center.

Further, we will embark on a ferry boat and start our cruise of the Bosporus Strait. The Bosporus is a narrow, navigable strait between Europe and Asia connecting the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea. It is about 20 miles long and varies between one-half and one and one half miles wide. This boat ride takes you past the late Ottoman Palaces, Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi, as well as beautiful wooden mansions and modern villas of the 19th & 20th centuries which form this elegant section of the city. After the boat trip we will transfer to the hotel for dinner and an evening at leisure.

Day 04 Istanbul/Cappadocia
After breakfast at the hotel, check-out and transfer to Istanbul Airport for a domestic flight to Cappadocia. Upon arrival you will start your tour of breathtaking Cappadocia. Kapadokya is the ancient and modern name of a remarkable region in Central Anatolia. It is a geological wonderland which is sometimes described as covering a triangular area between Kayseri, Nigde, and Kirsehir, or more specifically, a smaller triangular area from Urgup to Avanos to Nevsehir. Renowned for its awe-inspiring natural rock formations - which were utilized for everything from housing to churches and even complete underground villages - Cappadocia is as magical today as it was when early farmers discovered the fertile powers of the volcanic ash that covered the area thousands of years ago. You will first visit Goreme. The open air museum of Goreme consists of steep cliffs and many hidden churches dating from the second half of the 9the century and later. After lunch on your own at a local restaurant we will continue to Uchisar, where you will visit Uchisar Fortress. Uchisar is the name of a town and the fortress in the town. This 60 meter-high fortress was not built but carved out of a natural hill dominating the area with a breathtaking view of all the surrounding Cappadocia formations. After this visit, we will check in at our hotel, to have an included dinner and evening at leisure. Overnight: at Uchisar Kaya Hotel in Cappadocia

Day 05 Cappadocia
This morning we will continue to explore Cappadocia. First we will visit the remarkable underground city of Kaymaklı. Beginning in the second century AD, as successive armies swept across Asia Minor, the residents of Cappadocia created uniquely defensible communities by digging approximately eight stories down into the volcanic tufa stone. Next we will visit Pasabag – a site of natural beauty, where you can take the best pictures of the remarkable landscape of tufa cones.

Then we will drive to the town of Urgup, where will have lunch on our own. After lunch we can visit the Turasan Winery. Cappadocia is one of the main wine production areas in Turkey, and Turasan winery (found in 1943) is the biggest producer in the area. Here you will have chance to try local wine. After this visit we will proceed to Avanos, a small town famous for its pottery and carpets. It is built along the banks of Kizilirmak (Halys) River, the longest river originating and ending within the borders of Turkey. Here you will visit a pottery workshop, and try your skills in this traditional centuries-old Cappadocian craft. Also visit a local carpet workshop, where you will have a chance to learn about all aspects of this traditional Turkish craft, from silkworm cultivation, to spinning, dyeing and the traditional patterns and weaving techniques. In the early evening we will return to the hotel. Overnight: at Uchisar Kaya Hotel in Cappadocia

Day 06 Cappadocia / Konya / Pamukkale
This morning we will check-out and depart for Pamukkale via Konya. Upon arrival in Konya (ancient Iconium), one of the oldest cities in Anatolia, you will have lunch on your own at a local restaurant. After lunch, we will visit Mevlana Tekke, the most famous monument in Konya and the object of pilgrimages from all over the world, since it is the tomb and shrine of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes. The tomb was converted into a museum after the Proclamation of the Republic. In the museum there are items which belonged to Mevlana and other dervishes as well as valuable samples of hand-painted kerchiefs, handwriting, ornaments, wooden works of art, instruments for Mevlevi music, carpets and kilims. The most appealing section of the tomb is the Kubbe-i Hadra (Green Vault) above the graves of Hz. Mevlana and his son Sultan Veledin. The inside of the structure, built by Architect Bedreddin during the Seljuk Period in 1396, is coated with green tiles. The inner walls of the tomb were embellished with plaster relief and designs. The sarcophagus of Hz. Mevlana is one of the superior samples of wooden crafts of the period. After this visit we will leave Konya and continue to Pamukkale, arriving late in the day. Pamukkale (Hierapolis): has always been a very popular settlement where the hot springs were believed to have healing powers, so the city became the center of a pagan cult in antiquity and is a spa resort today. Upon arrival check in and enjoy the thermal waters at our hotel. Overnight: at Colossae Therme Hotel in Pamukkale

Day 07 Pamukkale / Bodrum After breakfast, we will sightsee in Pamukkale. The ancient city of Hierapolis was founded by Pergamum, probably Eumenes II, in the 2C BC. Hierapolis is believed to derive its name from Hiera the wife of Telephus, both being legendary ancestors of kings of Pergamum. Hierapolis is among the cities of the ancient world in which the grid-plan was applied. For countless millennia a spring located somewhere on the plateau, possibly in the neighborhood of the ancient theatre, has been pouring out streams of hot mineral water. These have plunged down the mountain-side creating in the process enormous circular basins which are fringed with stalactites and surrounded by a huge area of smooth, dazzling, white calcareous rock - hence the Turkish name Pamukkale, Cotton Castle. We will visit the site of Heiropolis and Museum this morning. This afternoon, depart for Bodrum, on the coast, about a 3 hour drive. An impressive medieval castle built by the Knights of Rhodes guards the entrance to Bodrum's dazzling blue bay, in which the Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas meet. Bodrum has gained the reputation as the center of the Turkish art community with its lively, friendly and Bohemian atmosphere and many small galleries. Upon arrival, free time to explore the charming waterfront before our included dinner. Overnight: at Marina Majesty Hotel in Bodrum

Day 08 Bodrum / Kusadasi
Have a half day tour of Bodrum this morning including: Castle of St. Peter: The Crusader castle of Saint Peter, or Petronium dominates the town as a major survivor of its past. Standing on a promontory by the harbor which is bathed in surrealistic silver and gold floodlights at night, it was built by the Knights of St. John. The Underwater Archeology Museum: Bodrum Museum of the Underwater Archeology is located inside the Bodrum (St. Peter) Castle. Opened in 1960, the museum is recognized as one of the finest of its kind in the world. After these visits we will leave Bodrum and drive about 2 ½ hours to Kusadasi. Kusadasi, which means “Bird Island” is set in a superb gulf and is known for its sparkling water, broad sandy beaches and large marina with the capacity for 600 boats.

Here we will stay for the next 2 nights at the Kismet Hotel. This very special hotel is located on a peninsula that protrudes into the Aegean Sea like a cruise-ship, with guests are at the center of it all - delightful, year-round sun, gentle breezes, proud pines and swaying palms, colorful spring and summer flowers and the unmistakable perfume of white jasmine. All rooms have balconies and views of the sea. Overnight: at Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi

Day 09 Kusadasi / Ephesus sites / Kusadasi
After breakfast, we will depart for a full day sightseeing tour of the Ephesus area. We will first visit the Ephesus ancient site. Today Ephesus is perhaps the world’s best-preserved ancient city and its ruins attract visitors from across the globe. In Roman times, Ephesus was the provincial capital of Asia, with a population of some 250,000 at the height of its glory. The most significant relic of the site is the immense amphitheater that holds 24,000 people and is still used today. We will walk along the Sacred Way, where the rich once lived and an ingenious water and sewer system was constructed beneath paving stones of marble; see the Temple of Hadrian, a Corinthian-style building with the head of Medusa on the porch to keep away evil spirits; and the Library of Celsius, which held 12,000 ancient scrolls which were stored in niches around the walls.

From here we will drive to Sirince village where we will have lunch on our own. This pretty old Orthodox village was once named Cirkince ("ugly"). Indeed its habitants gave it this name on purpose as they did not want to be bothered by strangers. Still after years, visitors understood that the village was not ugly at all and called it Sirince ("pretty").

Today the village is a perfect synthesis of Turkish and Greek culture: all the typical Greek houses, though they kept their original outside characteristics, have received the local layout inside. The most beautiful specimens are open to visitors. After lunch we will have some time to stroll through this village and to socialize with the locals. All the narrow streets of the village belong to the women, selling handcrafts of all kinds, olive oil, and home-made wine.

Our last visit will be to the House of the Virgin Mary. Officially declared a shrine by the Roman Catholic Church in 1896, it has since become a popular place of pilgrimage. The chapel is built on the foundation of the house where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived. In the early evening we will return to Kusadasi for dinner and an evening at leisure. Overnight: at Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi

Day 10 Kusadasi / Istanbul
This morning after breakfast we will check-out from the hotel, and drive from Kusadasi to the Izmir Airport for a flight back to Istanbul. Upon arrival, you will be met for the transfer back to your hotel. The remainder of the day is at leisure. You are within walking distance of the Grand Bazaar and many other places of interest. Overnight: at Ottoman Imperial Hotel in Istanbul
Included meals: B, D

Day 11 Istanbul. Departure
After breakfast at the hotel, transfer with your group to Ataturk International Airport for your return flight.

The tour price program: