GALLIPOLI, TROY, EPHESUS, PAMUKKALE, CAPPADOCIA TOUR FROM ISTANBUL

TOUR ITINERARY  

DAY 1 : ISTANBUL – GALLIPOLI – CANAKKALE 

PS: Mentioned departure times can change slightly in different seasons. Exact times will be informed after reservation process is completed.

Istanbul-Canakkale morning bus
Pick up from Istanbul hotel early in the morning at around 06:30 am
Arrival to Canakkale by bus at around 12:00 noon time. (Non-smoking new model long distance coaches with air-condition)
Gallipoli tour including transfers, entrance fees, guide and lunch box.
(Visiting - Kabatepe Museum, ANZAC Cove, Lone Pine Australian Memorial, Johnston's Jolly (Turkish and Allied trenches and tunnels), The Nek, Chunuk Bair New Zealand Memorial)
Transfer to hotel
Dinner at hotel included
Optional: You can also watch below movie shows free for the tour participants at Anzac House hostel today in the evening or the next day in the afternoon.
19.30 Fatal Shore documentary movie of Australian ABC's 4 Corners TV program
21.30 Gallipoli movie starring Mel Gibson
Hotel accommodation in Canakkale. Private rooms with air condition and bath/WC
Canakkale which is the major city center near Gallipoli and Troy.
Possible hotels are Helen Hotel or Buyuk Truva Hotel. If they are not available similar quality and location hotels will be reserved. Hotel Upgrade is possible upon request.

Excavations at Troy ancient city	Memorial for Turkish soldiers	Gallipoli harbor

GALLIPOLI: This area is known for the war cemeteries and memorials for the Turkish and foreign soldiers killed during the World War I, around Canakkale Province in 1915. There are sunken ships, trenches, castles, towers and hundreds of remains of the war. In total, there are graves and memorials of around 250,000 Turkish soldiers, and 250,000 from Australia, New Zealand, England and France. Thousands of people visit the war cemeteries every year, and it is one of the most famous sites in Turkey.

TROY: Ancient city of Troia (Troy), which was immortalized in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey epics. According to archaeologists, Troy is only one of nine cities which were built on top of each other, the oldest of which dates back to 3000 BC. Its history covers an area beginning from the north side of the Edremit gulf, and reaches the southern shores of the Marmara Sea. To the south is Kazdagi (Ida Mountain), an attractive area to visit 30 km. away from Canakkale, in Hisarlik. Archeological excavations revealed the different time periods of various settlement areas, city ramparts, house basis, a temple and a theater. A symbolic horse made up of wood reminds the big Trojan war. Historical port, Alexandria - Troas was constructed during 3rd century B. C. St. Paul had visited here two times, and his third missioner voyage to Assos was started from here.
 

DAY 2 : TROY-CANAKKALE – KUSADASI/SELJUK

Trojan horse from the movie "Troy" starring  Brad Pitt is now in Canakkale

Breakfast at hotel included
Half day morning Troy Tour at 08:45, including transfers, entrance fees, guide and lunch
12.:00 Return to hotel.
Free time in the afternoon
Or
Optional:  Movie shows free for tour participants
13:30 Fatal Shore documentary
15.00 Gallipoli movie

Evening Bus from Canakkale- to Selcuk or Kusadasi, arriving late at night.  (Departure at around 19:00 o'clock)
Hotel accommodation in Kusadasi (or Selcuk). Private rooms with air condition and bath/WC. Possible hotels are Atinc Hotel or Polat Beach Hotel in Kusadasi, Cenka Hotel in Selcuk. If they are not available similar quality and location hotels will be reserved. Hotel Upgrade is possible upon request.

DAY 3 : KUSADASI/SELJUK (EPHESUS)

Besides being a popular resort, Kusadasi is also a major base for visiting many neighborhood ancient sights.

Breakfast at hotel included
Full day tour of Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary, including transfers, entrance fees, guide.
Lunch during the tour is included.
Where you visit:
Ephesus - Enter through the Magnesia Gate and begin a slow, downhill walk with your guide into the ruins of this Roman provincial capital. Your route takes you past the Odeum, the Celsus Library, the Temple of Hadrian, the Fountain of Trajan and the Great Theater. The Theater had seating for 25,000, was the site where St. Paul preached to the Ephesians, and is used today for a local spring festival.
House of the Virgin Mary - The Vatican has recognized this small house in the Solmissos Mountains as the final resting place of the Virgin Mary. A small shrine dedicated to St. Mary was found when the ruins of the house were first discovered.
What you see along the way: From Kusadasi, you travel north to St. John’s Basilica, passing the Byzantine fortress at Selcuk and the ruins of the Temple of Artemis. Continue to Ephesus Open Museum then up to the House of Virgin Mary located in Bulbul Mountain. After the visit head for the upper gate of Ephesus. By the end of touring Ephesus, return to Kusadasi.
Special notes: Ephesus requires walking long distances over uneven surfaces

Dinner at hotel included
Hotel accommodation in Selcuk or Kusadasi. Private rooms with air condition and bath/WC

EPHESUS: At the south of Izmir, the town of  Seljuk is a major tourist destination mainly as a base to visit the famous ruins of Ephesus a few kilometers away. The ancient classical city is one of the best preserved in the eastern Mediterranean and is a great example of Roman architecture. When the Romans made Ephesus their provincial capital, it became a busy town with great commercial, trading and political importance, A significant Christian community grew, and the city was visited by St John the Evangelist in the 1st century, then by St Paul, who was there between 51-53 AD and wrote some of his epistles. It was also the venue of two Ecumenical Councils.
House of Virgin Mary: This house, where the Virgin Mary is supposed to have lived during her last days, and to have died with Johanna at her side, is situated 7 km south of the antique city of Ephesus in Izmir. The German Nun Katharine Emmerich (1774-1824) described the surroundings of the house from a dream she had. Recently visited by Pope Benedict in 2006
 

Library of Celcus	Temple of Hadrian	House of Virgin Mary

DAY 4 : EPHESUS – PAMUKKALE – CAPPADOCIA

Breakfast at hotel included
Pamukkale & Hierapolis tour including transfers, entrance fees, guide
Lunch during the tour is included.
(Visiting the amazing white colored travertines, hot spring pools and water terraces have been created by nature in millions of years on the mountain slopes of Pamukkale and the ancient city of Hierapolis which has the biggest ancient Necropolis of Turkey with 1200 gravestones)
Transfer to bus station
Overnight bus to Cappadocia. (Non-smoking new model Long distance coaches with air-condition and Pullman seats suitable for sleeping)

Bathing in pools is no more allowed

Pamukkale (Hierapolis)

Pamukkale is one of the most enchanting and remarkable sights in the whole of Turkey with the great dazzling white plateau, almost 400 feet high, rising in a curtain of stalagmites and shallow pools, giving one into another on hundreds of different levels, and ancient city of Hierapolis located on this plateau. The great baths were constructed in the second century and are so well-preserved that they now serve as a museum. The impressive and recently restored theatre, the Martyrium of St. Philip the Apostle of the 5th century – a colonnaded street erected by Domitian, a monumental gate of the same period, another bath stretching on for over a Mile, the necropolis with a fascinating variety of tombs and sarcophagus are the famous monuments of this antique city.

 

DAY 5 : CAPPADOCIA

Transfer from bus station and check in to your hotel in Cappadocia and rest before tour departure.

Full day Northern Cappadocia tour including transfers, entrance fees, guide.
Lunch during the tour is included.
Tour details: Your first meeting with the lunar landscape of Cappadocia will be incredible rock formations in Devrent valley; while walking in Zelve Open Air Museum famous with its troglodyte (cave) houses you will make a journey back in time; while visiting to Pasabag "fairy chimneys" where the voice of wind is said to be mixing with the "songs of the fairies". Lunch in Avanos town, center of terra cotta ceramic art since 3000 BC. A demonstration in a traditional pottery workshop is possible to watch if you are lucky. Afternoon, visit the famous Goreme Open Air Museum and see the best examples of Byzantine art in Cappadocia's rock-cut churches hiding on their inner walls amazing frescoes and paintings from 10th to 13th centuries. At the end of the tour Climb on top of the Uchisar Rock-Castle to watch the panoramic view of the Cappadocian valleys.

Dinner at hotel included
Hotel accommodation in Cappadocia. Private rooms with air condition and bath/WC
Possible hotels are Dedeli Cave or Hisarevi hotels in Urgup. If they are not available similar quality and location hotels will be reserved. Hotel Upgrade is possible upon request.

Amazing rock formations	Frescoes in a church	Cave house accommodations

Cappadocia is Turkey’s most visited area on account of its history because of its singularity and the strangeness of its lunar landscape. It is considered to be one of the wonders of the world and for centuries it has sheltered churches, frescoes, mosaics and paintings of Byzantine art. The history of Cappadocia begins with the eruption of two volcanoes Lava covered the entire region changing the landscape. In the course of millennia rain and wind eroded the tufa creating unusual valleys, fissures, canyons and bizarrely shaped cones.  Dwellings were excavated inside the rocks and after the first Christians arrived churches and monasteries were also built. Numerous hermits and ascetics lived in the forgotten valleys. Under the rule of the Byzantines, Cappadocia became a bulwark against attacks by the Arabs, and entire underground cities were built.
 

DAY 6 : CAPPADOCIA – ISTANBUL

Breakfast at hotel included
Full day Southern Cappadocia Tour including transfers, entrance fees, guide.
Lunch during the tour is included.
Tour details:  Tour will start will walking down into the center of the earth at the Underground city of Kaymakli which is one of the deepest of the 40 others. Then walking tour up to Belisirma village (ancient Peristrema) in Ihlara Canyon Valley. Rock-cut churches, spread across a wild plantation, will surprise you with their successfully painted representations from the Bible. Lunch in a local restaurant. Visit a caravansary from Seljuk period, the great Empire of Turks before Ottomans built on the legendary Silk Road for the accommodation of the traders and their camels.

Transfer to bus station.

Overnight bus to Istanbul. (Non-smoking new model long distance coaches with air-condition and flexible seats suitable for sleeping)

End of our service with your arrival to the main bus station in Istanbul on 7th day.
Extra transfer from bus station to your hotel in Istanbul, will cost 30 Euro. (1-3 pax)

TOUR PRICE

PAYMENT AND RESERVATION

Payment and reservation: We will request 30% of the total tour price for guaranteed reservations. We will send you a detailed reservation contract by e-mail after all details are confirmed mutually.

For payments we accept Maestro, Visa and Master credit cards besides bank transfers. We also accept American express, but in that case we will have to reflect the 7% commission to you, which we have to pay ourselves.

Although not recommended to avoid last minute inconveniences, it is also possible to make an open-end reservation without sending your card information and making an advance payment if you are able to make the payment minimum 2 days before the date of departure in Istanbul