Classics of Turkey Super Saver Escorted Vacation

You will be greeted upon arrival and escorted to your hotel. Remainder of the day is at leisure before a welcome briefing by your tour director. (Your arrival transfer is included only if you arrive on the actual day the tour commences. For customers arriving earlier an individual transfer can be organized at an additional cost.) The rest of the day is at leisure.

Optional: Full day tour to include: Topkapi Palace (excluding Harem), Hippodrome, St. Sophia, Blue Mosque. Join an optional dinner with belly dancing entertainment. (B)

This morning depart on an optional tour of cruise along Bosphorus cruise enjoying the strait that separates Asia and Europe. Its shores are lined with fine neighborhoods, Ottoman palaces, fortresses, old wooden villas, hotels, parks and gardens, restaurants and cafés. The tour will be ended in Asia side and drive for the capital city of Ankara for overnight. (B D)

Visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations with its Hittite treasures and artifacts from the world's oldest city and the Mausoleum of Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey.  Visit the underground city of Sarhatli. Continue to Cappadocia, famous for its "moon-like" landscapes. En route, visit the 13th-century caravanserai. Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant and consider joining an optional Whirling Dervishes performance. (B,D)

Consider an optional early morning hot air balloon tour and experience floating through volcanic valleys, fairy chimneys and caves at sunrise. After breakfast visit Goreme, a historical region of Turkey, located among the rock formations, which was first settled back in the Roman period. Many rock churches can still be seen today, as Christianity was then the prevailing religion in that region. Continue to the town of Avanos renowned for its high quality earthenware. Also visit Pasabagi, Red Valley and attend a brief regional pottery workshop in a cave. (B, D)

Depart for Pamukkale. Enjoy dinner and an overnight stay in Pamukkale. (B,D)

Today, visit the unique Cotton Fortress, the white calcium cascades formed by mineral springs, and the ruins of the Roman health spa of Hierapolis. Continue to Kusadasi for dinner and an overnight stay. (B,D)

Consider optional tour to the famous ruins of Ephesus, an important cultural center of the ancient world, and explore 2,000 year-old marble streets, a theater, the Library of Celsius, a gymnasium and Hadrian’s Temple. Take a short drive to see St. Mary’s stone cottage where it is believed Virgin Mary spent her last years accompanied by St. John. Continue to a regional rug production center to have a firsthand experience of this unique art form. Join an optional afternoon tour of Sirince. (B, D)

Today, visit the ancient medical center Asklepion in Pergamum. Continue to a traditional village where you may have lunch with locals. Then continue to Troy with its legendary walls and the replica of the famous wooden horse used during the Trojan War. Continue to Canakkale for dinner and an overnight stay. (B,D)

After breakfast, depart for Gallipoli, the site of many battles during WWI. Visit Anzac Cove, the Lone Pine Cemetery, and Chunuk Bair. Cross the Dardanelles to Istanbul. Upon arrival, visit Grand Bazaar and enjoy a farewell dinner. (B,D)

You will be transferred to the airport for your flight home. (Your departure transfer is included only if you depart on the actual day the tour concludes. For customers departing later an individual transfer can be organized at an additional cost.) (B)