DELIL TRAVEL  AGENCY

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Turkey Archaeological And Cultural  Tour

 

ITINERARY

Day 1 : Full day Istanbul tour
( Pick up form Airport  and visit )

*Hippodrome The horse cart's race place during Roman Era, its Obelisk, Orme Pillar, entwined snake pillar are still visible today.
*The Blue Mosque 17 C AD Mosque , masterpiece of Turkish Islam Architecture. listed by Unesco in the world heritage list.
*Hagia Sophia Built in 6 the C as a church and converted into Mosque by the Turks in 15 C AD   today it serves as a museum to its admirers.. listed by Unesco in the world heritage list.
*Topkapi Palace- The residential of Ottoman Sultans which is housing a lot of Sultan's Customes,Thrones, treasures, holy relics, porcelains and tiles with a great view of the Bosphorus. ( listed by Unesco in the world heritage list.)
*The Grand Bazaar- The biggest Covered Bazaar in the world which has about 4000 shops.

Meal : Breakfast Lunch
overnight stay in Istanbul 

Day 2 : Full day Istanbul tour

Pick up from your hotel and drive to Egyptian Bazaar which is also called the Spice Market too.   After we visit the Spice Bazaar we join the bosphorus booat trip.    

The Bosphorus Cruise from Eminonu quay till the Bosphorus bridge and back to the same place

 After visit of Suleymaniye Mosque which was built by the famous Turkish architect Sinan (listed by Unesco in the world heritage list.) we see Chora Musuem which was built a church , converted to Mosque and finally became a musuem .

Meal : Breakfast and lunch 

Overnight  Stay in  istanbul 

 

Day 3 : Istanbul-Gallipoli-Canakkale ( 330 KM )

After breakfast we depart to Canakkale. On the way we visit Gallipoli Peninsula where The ANZAC and the Turks fought in the first world war. We will see Anzac Cove, Conk Bair, Lone Pine, Turkish and Anzac trenches and  the cemeteries . We cross Dardanelle Strait by Ferry from European side of Turkey to Asian side and  stay in Canakkale which is a lovely town located on shores of Dardanelle Strait.

Meal : Breakfast Lunch and dinner 

Overnight Stay in Izmir 

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Day 4 : Canakkale- Troy-Pergamum- Izmir ( 350 km )

Today we will drive along scenic coasts of Aegean . On the way to Izmir we stop to visit : 

* Troy  the famous city where the Greek Achilles and Hector had duel. ( listed by Unesco in the world heritage list). We see the ruins of the settelemnts from 3000 BC till 4 C AD including the symbolic wooden horse of Troy. 

*Pergamum Acropolis The place where parchment  paper was invented. We ascend to acropolis by cable car. And we see  the ruins

 of the city including, Zeus Altar , Athena Temple, The Trajan Temple  , theater and the ruins of the Palaces of the kings of Pergamum Kingdom which was established in 3 C Bc and reigned till 132 BC. (listed by Unesco in the world heritage list)

 * Asclepion the healing center of Pergamum where the psychotherapy  was practiced and home of Galinus   the famous physician of the Roman Era.

Meal : Breakfast lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in Izmir 

Day 5 : Izmir-Ephesus- Kusadasi  ( 130 KM )

After breakfast at hotel we tour  Izmir city .We see:

 *Izmir Konak (the Tower) we will visit the historical tower which was built in 20th C. and symbol of Izmir

.*Pierre Konak ( which was a fish market in the past now used as a luxury small shopping center). and Kemeralti Bazaar After the Grand Bazaar it is the second biggest traditional market in Turkey. Drive from Izmir to Ephesus  upon arrival we visit :

* Ephesus; tour starts from the upper entrance gate. The Baths of Varius, Odeon, Prytaneion, Fountain of Polio, The Gate of Heracles, State Agora, Temple of Hadrian, Temple of Domitian, Library of Celsus, Great Theater and Harbor Street with the Necropolis will be visited.

* The Temple of Artemis; one of the seven wonders of ancient world was a famous place of pilgrimage of pagans  for centuries.It was known the biggest temple dedicated to Artemis when it was built in 8 th C. BC.

*St. John’s Basilica and Tomb , a great church built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century on the slopes of Ayasoluk Hill near the center of Selcuk over Saint John Tomb. we see the ruins of the church and tomb of saint john .

* Sirince - Old Town, famous for its traditional Greek Houses built in 18 th and 19 th C. The fruits wine of sirince is very famous. , After we visit the town we have wine at one of the wine shops and departure to Izmir airport in late afternoon.

Meal : Breakfast lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in Kusadasi 

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Day 6 : Kuşadasi-Aphrodisias -Pamukkale ( 275 Km )

Today we drive into fertile  Meandros Valley will visit :

*Aphrodisias Ancient city ( City of Aphrodite the goddess of the love ) which has excellent  Roman Stadium and Museum which has the best marble statues and reliefs collection in Turkey)

*Pamukkale white Travertines (listed by Unesco in the world heritage list) and  Hierapolis Ancient city's ruins and check in Spa Hotel .

Meal  : Breakfast Lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in Pamukkale 

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Day 7: Pamukkale- Priene- Miletos-Didim-Bodrum  ( 378 km )

After breakfast at hotel departure to west coasts of Turkey which was known Ionia and  Karia  region in antiquity..

 We visit :

*Priene Ancient city- Located on slope of Samsun Mountain fortifed with city walss and has very beautiful ruins of Bouleterion , Athena Temple , tehather Agora and so-called Alexander The Great. 

*Miletos Ancient City - The ctiy was established by the local people around 11 C BC. The greek settlers conquered the city and re-established it . It was an important trading harbour city . The Miletions established many trade colonies in Black Sea region today even in Nile Delta in Egypt. The city is known home of Thales as well. We see the tehather , The Harbour monuments , ,delphinum , The Roman Baths ...

*Didyma  - Didyma is the worshiping place of Miletos ancient city. Miletos people built a very big temple for Apollon the god of the light. It was center of profecy and its oracles were as famous as Delphi ISlands oracle. 
We see the ruins of Apollon Temple which is still defying the time and standing upward to the sky.

Bafa Lake  -Once it was connected to the Aegean but by the ages Meandros River silted the sea and seperated the lake from the sea.Nowadays it has connection with sea by the river only 
It is famous for its eel . It will surprize you very much how the eels imigrate from Mexico Saragossa gulf all the way to Bafa Lake.

After arrival to Bodrum check in hotel 

Meal  : Breakfast Lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in Bodrum

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Day 8 : Bodrum –Caunos- Fethiye (233km)

Today we visit Bodrum, the poetic city, city of Halikarnasos Fisherman Cevat Sakir the famous Turkish writer who advertised  Bodrum to the world. 

We see Bodrum Castle which was built by Saint John Knights in 14 C. Later it was conquered by the Turks and in the 20 th century converted to under water archeological musuem . The findings of the ship wreckages  of the region are exhibited in the castle today..The bronze age wreckage,Byzantine wreckage and  Karia Princess hall are worthed seeing indeed..  It is called saint Peter castle as well. we see the Italian Tower, French Tower, British tower , German Tower. of the castle as well.

*Mausoleum of Bodrum - Tomb of Mausolus King of Karia . it was counted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. After Mausolus died his sister-wife Artemisea built a monumental tomb for him. The word of Mausoleum comes from this monumantel tomb. Unfortunetly not too much left from this magnificient monumental tomb but dont worry when you visit Bodrum Castle you see its stones in the castle. Saint John Knights re-used the blocks of the tomb in castle building.

*The wind Mills - 19 C wind mills are located atop of hill between Bodrum and  Gumbet 

 We drive to  Dalyan. 

*Dalyan is a  big river connecting Koycegiz Lake with Aegean . We embark on a private boat and sail from Dalyan Village to Iztuzu Beach. We view the Lycian Tombs which were carved into the cliff of the mountain from our Boat. Arrival to Iztuzu Beach where the caretta -caretta sea turtels lay their eggs. We  may see some of teh caretta -caretta in Dalyan River during our sailing to the Aegean . 

In summer free time to swim in  Iztuzu Beach.

We embark on boat and sail back to Dalyan and drive to Fethiye 

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Meal : Breakfast , lunch, dinner 

overnight stay in Fethiye 

Day 9: Fethiye – Kas ( Lycia Region tour)  - 175 km

Lycia Region tour. 

Today we visit the ruins of the Lycians who lived in this part of Anatolia  as early as 13  th century  BC . Originally an Anatolian nation  the Lycians were sailors and they established their cities on the mountainous area and carved their tombs onto teh cliff of the mountains. They established a federal system which was modelled  by USA  in the 19 C.
*Kayakoy Village - A Greek village which was abondoned in 1923 during the population exchage between Turkey and Greece. It is a ghost town today. The schools , The churches, Houeses are all deserted .

*Pinara Antique city : It is famous for its carved rock tombs. Many rock tombs carved into the cliff of the mountain and they look like pigeon nests from distance .
*Saklikent Gorge .- it is one of the deepest gorges in the world . In some places it is 300 meters deep and 2 meters wide. We walk about 30 minutes and enjoy this beautifull and impressive canyon.

* Xhantos  one of the Lycian cities which was the  Capital city of the Lycians League  for a while . Xhantos people fought the Persians and when they were defeated by Persians they killed their children andtheir  wives,  burned the city and commited suicide alltogether before the Persians entered the city. ( Xhantos listed by Unesco in the world culturel and heritage list )
* Patara Anciet city where the parliament of the Lycians league is. Here we see the ruins of the city and Patara beach  and depart to Kas.
After arrival to Kas we check in hotel.

Meal : Breakfast lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in KAs 

Day 10 :  Kas- Antalya  ( 230 Km )
 In the morning we see the small but charming theather of Kas. We view the eye from the eyebrow. Yes kash means 'eyebrow in Turkish. And the eye is castellorizo island, The Greek Island which is located just across of KAs.  .

We drive to Kekova to see the sunken city. We embark on boat and sail into the sea to see Ucagiz ( Dolichiste City) which was sunken into the water of Mediterranean after an earth quake in 2 C AD. We will sail by our private boat and see the submerged tomb in the water , the ruins of the bath etc..

There is also a swimming break in Sunken city beside the old shipyard. 
Disembarkation and  drive to Demre .

We will see Saint Nicholas church and his  tomb . Saint Nicholas lived here in the 4 th Century.

 *Myra rock -tombs carved into the cliff of the mountain and  the theater  of the ancient city 

*Phasalis Ancient city which was established on shores of Mediterranean and has 3 ports. Here we visit the ruins of the city the ancient ports a swimming break on beach of Phasalis .

Overnight Stay in Antalya 
Meal . breakfast, Lunch  and dinner 

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Day 11 : Antalya

Today we explore Antalya and its neighbourhood.Antalya is the capital city of the Turkish Tourism. Beautiful and lovely mediterreanean city. 
We visit :
*Aspendos Theather ( Aspendos is a Roman Period Theather was built in  2 C AD theather which is still used for some performances even today and considred to be the best preserved theather of The Roman Era . 
* Perge : An anceint city which was established as early as 12 C BC and then occupied and re-built by the greeks and romans in later centuries. Here we see the stadium, the helenistic gate, the Agora, The colonaded streets , HAdiran Bath , churches etc..
*Duden waterfall ( One of the best waterfalls in Turkey )

*Antalya Archeological Musuem- it is one of the best archeological musuem where we see the findings and artefacts found in Lycia and Pamphilya regions. The marble statues, the carvings, sarcophaguses, coins, relifes will amaze  you. 

* Kaleici - the old city of Antalya which has old houses , churches, towers, mosques , cafeterias ,bars and restaurants and narrow streets paved with stones. 

Overnight Stay in Antalya 

Meal . breakfast, Lunch  and dinner 

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Day 12:Antalya –Konya- Cappadocia ( 490 km )
We drive to Side.

Side was an antique city established in 6 th C BC. Once it was the biggest slave market of the Mediterranean. 

Today a part of the city still inhabited by the locals and most of the Ottoman Era's mansionare converted to boutique hotels, shops, bars and restaurant.

Side  is famous for Apollon  Temple which was built on shores of Mediterranean to protect the sailors 
* Konya Mevalana Museum ( The Ruling Monastery ( Dergah)  of The Mevlevi Religious Order. Today it is a museum .We see the dervishes cells, the kitchen , the tombs of Mevlana and the latter religous order leaders, the dervishes beloning and Mevalana The founder of the religous order belongings in the musuem . The smallest Koran in the world which is written on thin silver.plaques by gold is in the musuem too. 

Meal . Breakfast Lunch and dinner 
Overnight stay in Cappadocia  
 

Day 13 : Fullday Cappadocia tour
Today we will see the lunar-like landscape of Cappadocia , literaturely means land of the beautiful horses. Cappadocia absuletly is a different planet and it does not look anywhereelse. 

Cappadocia Optional Early Morning Activitiy;

* Hot Air Balloon Flight Tour in Cappadocia - It offers sweeping views of the rocky landscape of Cappadocia.

Tour Plan

Pick up from your hotel in the moening around 0900 am anbd visit spectacular cappadocia

Sites:

* Goreme Open Air Musuem - (We see the famous  rock-cut churches & monasteries of Cappadocia  with frescoes from 10-13 C AD.These churches have the best wall paintings of Capapdocia ).

*Kaymakli Underground city - An underground shelter carved by the christian of Cappadocia in th 7th and 8 th C. 

* Uchisar Cave Houses and Pigeon Houses - We enter to one of the cave houses which are used as a cafeteria today and have an apple tea and see the interior of the cave house.

* The Pigeon Valley - The valley which is housing thousands of dovecotes dug out into the cliff of the valley by the farmers of Cappaocia to collect the guano and fertilize the farms in the past. 

* Pashabagi fairy-chimneys valley known as Monks Valley as well.Here we see the natural mushroom ike rock formations and monks cells inside the rock formations. 

* Avanos - Historic Pottery Town of Cappadocia. The first settlement in Avaos was established by the hitites on the bank of the Red River which provided  abundance of red clay to the settlers.This art has been practised in Avanos since then.   

* Dervent valley – also called as Pink or Imagination valley with Its famous pink rock formations.Here depends on your imagination power you will see many rock formatins look like different figures..The most remarkable one is the siting  stone camel...

* Urgup fairy-chimneys - They are the symbol of Cappadocia with their caps on top. There are 5 mushroom -like  rocvk formations just like a family and back to hotel 

Meal : Breakfast lunch and dinner 

Overnight stay in Cappadocia 

Day 14 : Cappadocia- Hattusas-Ankara ( 375 km )

Today we are going to see some of the oldest ancient cities of Anatolia .We will see Hattusas which was capital of the Hitites and Alacahoyuk one of the most important cities of Hatti people who were native people of Anatolia In the 

In the morning around 0900 am  pick up from hotel and drive to Hattusas Upon arrival we see : 

* Yazilikaya, Sacred open air shrine with important Hittite relief carvings on rocks. We hike the walkway to a group of tall rocks, amazing reliefs of deities, Kings, Queens, Gods & Goddeses carved on the rock walls and totally out in the open.

*Hattusha (Bogazkale), Religious and political capital of the Hittite Kingdom for almost 500 years, the ancient site of Hattusas constitutes one of the most important archaeological sites in Turkey. Hattusas was first occupied by HAttians and in this period The Assyrians established a trade colony here in 25 th century, The Hittites recorded the most minute details of their civilization. Exhaustive archives of public, political, and religious life have been found in several repositories throughout Hattusas, and thanks to the work of a Czech linguist who succeeded in deciphering the Hittite alphabet in 1915, a wealth of information on one of the most important ancient civilizations of Anatolia is now available.

We visit Walls of Hattusha, Ruins of Great Temple & Green Stone, Lion Gate, Great Sphinx Gate & The Postern (underground passageway) built on large stone blocks, Acropolis & Royal Castle, Southern Citadel, King's Gate and more ruins..

*Alacahoyuk, as an open air museum today it dates back 4,500 years to the Chalcolithic period, It was one of the most important centers of the Hatti Civilization. It has a magnificent gate with a sphinx, as well as religious and official structures, and it was also home to the first dam in Anatolia.We see the Queens and Kings tombs, The palace ruins and little postern and other ruins of the city. 

we drive to Ankara ,capital city of Turkey and check in hotel 

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Meal . Breakfast Lunch and dinner 
Overnight Stay in Ankara 

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Day 15 : Ankara city tour and departure to Airport of Ankara

Today we will visit  Ankara Anatolian Civilization Museum which is housing many artifacts from all over Anatolia and many civilizations, Ankara Ancient houses and the castle, Ataturk Mausoleum and drive to airport afternoon.

 

Including the tour price :

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• Museum admission fee

• Hotel accomodation

• An English sepaking guide or other languages 

• Vehicle (06-10 people Mercedes Sprinter , 11-17 People Midibus with 27 Seater, 18+ people bus with 45 seaters)

• Private boat trip in Dalyan and Sunken city

• Breakfast and dinner at hotel

• Hotel tip

• Cable car fee to Pergamum Acropolis

• Istanbul Crusie ship fee

• Tax 

 

Excluding tour price :

​* Personal expenses 

* Drinks

* Tip of the driver and guide

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***Please ask for the best price of the season!

 

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