Icons of Turkey - 10 Days

Welcome to Istanbul. We arrange your transfer to the hotel, and the rest of the day is yours to explore at leisure.

After breakfast, we set out on a fully guided tour of the only city to span two continents, visiting the Blue Mosque, St Sophia Museum, Topkapi Palace – including Hagia Irene and the Harem – and the Hippodrome. In the afternoon, you may choose to cruise between Europe and Asia on an optional half day Bosphorus cruise.

Today we visit the WWI battlefields of Gallipoli – Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair Memorials, ANZAC Cove, The Nek, Johnston’s Jolly, and original trenches and tunnels – for a moving insight into history.

We depart Çanakkale for Troy and the Troy Museum, then continue to Bergama to visit the magnificent Acropolis of Pergamon, whose temples and library made it a major cultural and political centre, before travelling on to Kuşadası.

Today we delve into history with a guided tour of Ephesus and a visit to the site of the Temple of Artemis, feeling the atmosphere of the ancient city and theatre, before exploring the Ephesus Archaeology Museum, home to an impressive collection of artefacts from the region. At a carpet village, we learn how carpets are made by hand and what determines their value.

This morning we enjoy a display of locally handcrafted leather goods, then head to the gleaming white travertine terraces of Pamukkale and tour the ancient city of Hierapolis. You can take a dip among ancient columns in the thermal springs once used in Roman times for their therapeutic powers.

Today we travel the ancient Silk Road, visiting Sultanhani Caravansary and the Mevlana Museum in Konya along the way. This evening, you might choose to join an optional traditional Turkish folklore show.

We marvel at Cappadocia’s lunar landscape as we visit the Goreme Valley Open Air Museum and the fairy chimneys, and explore the many levels of an underground city.

We explore Mustafapasa – a former Greek village – to see examples of Greek Orthodox architecture, continue to Gomeda Valley to view churches carved into rock, shelters and vineyards, then visit Sobeses ancient city with its unique geometric mosaic floors, before we fly to Istanbul.

After breakfast our journey concludes – we say goodbye to new friends and arrange your transfer to the airport for your onward flight.