Day 1 - Istanbul
Arrival and alteration from the airport to your hotel. Brief bout outline and city-limits acclimatization given. Free day at your own leisure. Overnight in Istanbul.
Day 2 - Istanbul (B, L)
Pick up from your auberge to appointment Topkapi Palace, with aristocratic treasury and affected four courts. Afterwards lunch, advance to the Hagia Sophia, a abundant Byzantine architectural masterpiece, whose autogenous is beaming with aureate mosaics. Again adore the aerial architectonics and Iznik tiles of the Blue Mosque. Explore the age-old Roman Hippodrome with Egyptian Obelisk and Serpentine Column. Finally, stop off at the admirable Grand Exchange with over 4000 shops. Drop off to hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.
Day 3 - Istanbul (B)
Pick up from your auberge to appointment the alive Spice Market - a colourful exchange aggregate with assorted sweets and spices. Stop into the beautifully tiled tiny Rustem Pasha Mosque afore demography a adequate Bosphorus baiter cruise amid the continents of Europe and Asia - gliding accomplished Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi Palaces, adorned board Ottoman mansions and mosques, Rumeli Fortress and the Bosphorus Bridge. Free afternoon at your leisure. Drop off to hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.
Day 4 - Ankara (B, L)
Pick up in the morning and drive to Ankara, area you can airing the streets of the old division and the Ankara Citadel, afore visiting the Mausoleum of Ataturk, architect of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Afterwards you will accept time to adore the arresting treasures of the Building of Anatolian Civilizations, area Neolithic frescoes, Bronze Age emblems, Hittite altar and the charcoal of the fabulous Phrygian King Midas are exhibited. Overnight in Ankara.
Day 5 - Cappadocia (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for Cappadocia. Explore Devrent and Monk's Valley, to see the amazing mushroom-shaped bedrock pinnacles or 'fairy chimneys'. Abide on to the baby apple of Avanos, acclaimed for adobe ceramics design. Afterwards lunch, advance to the Goreme Open Air Museum, featuring the a lot of absorbing rock-carved churches and Byzantine frescoes in all Cappadocia. Finally adore a appearance of the moonscape valleys from the rock-perched accustomed bastion at Uchisar. Drop off to hotel. Overnight in Cappadocia.
Day 6 - Cappadocia (B, L)
Pick up from your auberge to and alpha with a affable backpack through orchards, abnormal agitable bedrock formations and rock-cut houses at Red & Rose Valley, (approx. 5km). Appointment the old Christian Apple of Cavusin, followed by cafeteria and again an circuit to Pigeon Valley. In the afternoon, appointment Kaymakli Underground City, which hid bounded Christians from Arab invaders, Ortahisar Castle and Mustafapasa Greek village. Drop off to hotel. Overnight in Cappadocia.
Day 7 - Adana (B, L)
Pick up in the morning and drive to Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul, and cultural centre of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, afterwards controlled by Arabs, Crusaders and Mamelukes. Drive through the Taurus Mountains and appointment St. Paul's Arch, the Able-bodied of the Blessed Water (said to be on the website of St. Paul’s house) and Cleopatra's Gate (built in 2 AD afterwards the Egyptian queen who met the Roman Mark Anthony here). Overnight in Adana.
Day 8 - Adana (B, L)
Antakya Region Bout Biblical Antioch-on-Orantes and third better city-limits in the old Roman Empire. Actuality Barnabas brought Paul to accompany in the congregation's admiral for the aboriginal abiding efforts to accompany non-Jews into the Christian community, calling the aboriginal converts ‘Christians’. Appointment the boondocks of Samandag, already the age-old biblical anchorage of Seleucia ad Piera confined Antioch. See the Grotto of St. Peter - a little cavern abbey area aboriginal Christians secretly met for prayer, the Titus Water Tunnel and the admirable Roman mosaics on affectation at the Mosaic Museum. Overnight in Adana.
Day 9 - Konya (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for Konya, from which St. Paul and St. Barnabas were affected to abscond due to persecution. Centuries later, it became the focus for the Whirling Dervishes' mystical order, beneath the founding ‘Mevlana’ or adept Sufi philosopher. Appointment the Whirling Dervish Building and Monastery, which houses the angelic argent and gold busy Tomb of the Mevlana. Nearby, you will appointment the admirable hill-perched Syrian and Selcuk appearance Alaeddin Mosque and its different medrese with tiled arch of stars, hunting friezes and bowl collection. Overnight in Konya.
Day 10 - Antalya (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for Yalvac, website of the age-old city-limits Antioch-in-Pisidia abreast the foothills of the snow capped Sultan Mountains. It was actuality in a bounded abbey that St. Paul’s address presenting Jesus in ablaze of Israel's history to a alloyed admirers was recorded. See the charcoal of the paved and colonnaded streets, theatre and aqueduct. In the afternoon, drive to Antalya, a littoral resort boondocks with arresting old quarter, arcade bazaars and accustomed canoeing harbour. Overnight in Antalya.
Day 11 - Antalya (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for an circuit to the age-old city-limits of Perge - a Pamphylian city-limits area St. Paul afterwards preached afterwards accession from Cyprus. Walk through the Roman Gate and down the Colonnaded Avenue accomplished the Agora, Baths, Hippodrome and Channel absolute at the Nymphaeum or abundant fountain. This is followed by a appointment to the Aspendos Theatre, a gigantic 2nd aeon Roman architectonics so able-bodied preserved that it is still in use today. Abide on to the age-old city-limits of Ancillary and the Temple of Apollo, at whose age-old anchorage landed St. Paul, Barnabas & Mark during their missionary journeys, en avenue to Antioch. Overnight in Antalya.
Day 12 - Pamukkale (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for Pamukkale or 'Cotton Castle', acclaimed for the healing backdrop of its thermal mineral baths and admirable bottomward snow-white terraced bluff ancillary basins and waterfalls. Afterwards lunch, appointment the age-old Roman city-limits charcoal of Hierapolis, area St. Philip the Apostle was martyred in 1AD. See the alluringly preserved Necropolis, Avenue of Tombs, Gates, Thermal Baths, Devil's Hole and the Masterpiece Theatre. Drop off to auberge for a comfortable ablution in the hot bounce basin of your hotel. Overnight in Pamukkale.
Day 13 - Kusadasi (B, L)
Pick up in the morning to appointment Eskihisar, website of the age-old city-limits of Laodicea. It ranked a part of the Seven Churches of Asia, to which St. John addressed his letter apropos the city’s acceptance and its crumbling progress. This is followed by a bout of one of Turkey's a lot of admirable age-old cities - Aphrodisias, acclaimed for its intricate rock friezes and artful architecture. See the Temple of Aphrodite, the awe-inspiring Tetra Pylon Gateway, the age-old Gladiator Stadium and abounding aerial carvings and sculptures in the onsite museum. Overnight in Kusadasi.
Day 14 - Izmir (B, L)
Pick up from your hotel. Appointment the Abode of Virgin Mary, area she is said to accept spent her final years. Abide on to the marble white age-old city-limits of Ephesus, area St. Paul's Third Journey complex a continued ministry. See spectacularly adequate monuments such as the abundant Library of Celsus, Agora, Odeon, Trajan Fountain, Domitianus Temple, Roman Latrines, Theatre and Stadium in which St. Paul preached the gospel. Following a cafeteria breach in Selcuk, appointment the Archaeology Building and St. John's Basilica, a Byzantine abbey ruin appearance his burying place. Also stop-off at the arresting Sirince village. Drop off to hotel. Overnight in Izmir.
Day 15 - Izmir (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for an circuit to the Abbey of St. Policarp in Izmir, one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse. This is followed by a appointment to Sardis - the basic of the age-old commonwealth of Lydia. Walk the Aristocratic Avenue and see the website of one of the Seven Churches congenital on the foundations of the Temple of Artemis. Again advance to the age-old Philadelphia Abbey at Alasehir and one of the endure cities to abatement to the Ottomans. Overnight in Izmir.
Day 16 - Canakkale (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for Akhisar to appointment the Abbey of age-old Thyatira, one of the Seven Churches, set in an age-old bartering boondocks with able ties to Troy and Sardes. This is followed by a appointment to the hill-perched Acropolis, Asclepion (hospital), Altar of Zeus and added agnostic temples of age-old Pergamum at Bergama. Also see the abbey charcoal at the website of age-old Serapium and the Red Court of St. John. Drive to Canakkale. Overnight in Canakkale.
Day 17 - Istanbul (B, L)
Pick up in the morning for the age-old city-limits of Troy. Following a cafeteria breach en-route, appointment the archaeological website of this 5000 years old city, arena of the allegorical Trojan War as declared in Homer's Iliad. See a about-face of the fabulous Board Horse, the city-limits charcoal from a assumption of 9 civilizations, the Roman Bouletarion, Theatre and onsite Museum. St. Paul travelled through the southern city-limits of Troas adjacent actuality several times. Afterwards the tour, abide to drive aback to Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.
Day 18 - Istanbul (B)
Free Day. Depart from Istanbul / Additional nights in Istanbul.
