Day 1 (Sunday) - Istanbul

Transfer to hotel upon arrival in Istanbul, meet your Tour Leader, who remains with you throughout your trip.
Istanbul is a sprawling city of 10 million people, extending over two continents, Europe and Asia. Three famous waterways define the city. The Sea of Marmara lies to the south.
The Bosphorus divides the European and Asian sections of the city, and is the route from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. The Golden Horn splits the two European sections, the modern Beyoglu section to the north, and Old Stamboul (Eski Istanbul) to the south, connected by the famous Galata Bridge. Remainder of the day is at leisure.

Day 2 (Monday) - Istanbul -A full day sightseeing tour around the city

Optional: evening tour "Istanbul by Night" (Show & dinner)

Visits include:
Hippodrome: We begin by visiting ancient Hippodrome, a public arena that once seated as many as 100,000 zealous fans witnessing chariot races, executions, and mock battles. Formerly the center of Byzantine civic life, it is still decorated by the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine.
Blue Mosque: We'll also see the famous Sultan Ahmet Mosque. Built between 1609 and 1616 by the architect Mehmet, the building is more familiarly known as the Blue Mosque because its interior gleams with the magnificent paneling of blue and white Iznik tiles.
Topkapi Palace: We visit Topkapi Palace museum, which was the residence for the Ottoman Sultans. This maze of opulent buildings, where the sultans and their courts lived and governed, was the center of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. Now Topkapi Palace is one of the world's richest museums.
Grand Bazaar: Our tour will also include a visit to the Grand Bazaar, a labyrinth of streets and passages housing more than 4,000 shops.
Meal included: Breakfast

Day 3 (Tuesday) - Istanbul - at leisure

Optional: "Bosphorus & Two Continents Tour" (Hagia Sophia, Spice Market, Boat trip on the Bosphorus & lunch at a sea-front restaurant)
Meal included: Breakfast

Day 4 (Wednesday) - Transfer to Kayseri - Cappadocia

We transfer to the airport for an hour's flight to Kayseri. An hour's drive from the Kayseri Airport brings us to Cappadocia, a region with one of the most interesting landscapes of the world. We visit Goreme's open-air museum, where you'll discover churches, dating from the ninth century, hidden within the steep cliffs.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 5 (Thursday) - Cappadocia

Optional: balloon ride (5:00 - 9:00 a.m.) and continue tour program.

Visits include:
Uchisar: We make an early start from Uchisar; this 60-meter high fortress was carved out of a natural hill dominating the area with a breathtaking view of all Cappadocia's surrounding landscape.
Kaymakli: Later a short drive will bring you to the remarkable underground city of Kaymakli. Beginning in the second century AD, as successive armies swept across Asia Minor, the resident of Cappadocia created uniquely defensible communities by digging approximately eight stories down into the volcanic tufa stone.
Avcilar and Pasabag: for photos of a remarkable landscape of tufa cones.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 6 (Friday) - Cappadocia - transfer to Konya - transfer to Antalya

After an early breakfast, we start our day by driving to a rug weaving cooperative to enjoy a craft demonstration. Here you'll learn about all aspects of this traditional Turkish art, from cultivating silkworms, to spinning, dyeing, and weaving techniques. Then we'll be driving in a southwesterly direction, through the central Anatolian plain into Konya. Konya has become a place of pilgrimage for Moslems because the leader of the Mevlevis, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, Turkish poet and mystic, is buried there.

(For an English version of Rumi's exquisite poetry, try a new edition translated by Coleman Barks.) Even today, the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes is based in Konya. At the Mevlana Museum you can see the dervishes living quarters, examples of famous artists' calligraphy, and the tombs of Rumi and his male relatives and dignitaries. After lunch we will continue to Antalya over the impressive Taurus Mountains.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 7 (Saturday) - Antalya / Myra / Board Yacht At Fethiye

Visits include:
Archeological Museum: After breakfast we will visit the archeological museum, once honored as the best museum in Europe.

Demre (Myra): After two hours drive along the Turkish Riviera, we'll arrive at the small town of Demre and the ancient Roman ruins of Myra. We walk in the large theater, still very much intact with marble seats and masks friezes scattered around the elaborately decorated stage area. The conspicuous Lycian house-tombs carved into the cliffs are amazing in their own right. Built in the fourth century BC, they contain some of the earliest examples of Lycian script and funerary bas-reliefs.

St. Nicholas church: Our visit to Demre is completed by visiting the Church of St. Nicholas, built in the fourth century A.D. Saint Nicholas, the Catholic Bishop of Myra, was known as a protector of children, and he showered them with gifts at every opportunity.
In the late afternoon we will drive to the resort Fethiye that has an important marina and overlooks a beautiful bay strewn with islands. Here we board our 14-guest gulet, a replica of a traditional Turkish fishing boat. Today's gulets are built with modern comforts in mind, containing small but cozy cabins with private bath and shower, public areas and broad decks in an area approximately 85 feet long and 21 feet wide. Beautiful craftsmanship combined with ancient artistry makes the gulet the perfect vessel in which to cruise the waters of the Turquoise Coast. You meet our expert captain and his friendly crew. The captain and your trip leader take you on a short tour of the yacht, while discussing your safety and comfort. The yacht is our home for the next five nights. If the weather is good, we'll ship out this afternoon to a nearby cove.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 8 (Sunday) - Gemiler Island / Kayakoy / Soguksu

Our boat begins cruising before you awake. We have breakfast as we cruise along a lush green coast, with 7,000-foot Babadag Mountain towering above us. We cruise to nearby Gemiler Island, where we see a sixth-century Byzantine monastery and ancient churches and refectories. If you like, you can hike to the top of the island, about a 400-foot elevation, for a breathtaking view of the azure channel below. From here, we drive to Kayakoy, a Greek "ghost town" abandoned by Anatolian Greeks in 1923. From Kayakoy we'll begin a one-hour hike to meet our gulet at Soguksu. We return to our yacht for an afternoon swim
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 9 (Monday) - Turunc / Yassica Isles / Tersane Island

After breakfast, we'll cruise to Turunc cove where we will have time to swim. Later on we'll cruise to Yassica Isles we'll anchor to enjoy our lunch. After lunch we will cruise to Tersane Island. The largest island in the Gulf of Fethiye is the Island of Tersane (Dockyard). A deep channel provides entry to the inlet of Tersane Island which was formerly called Telandria.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 10 (Tue) - Friendship Cove / Lydea / Cleopatra's Bath Tours Hotels Tour

After breakfast, we cruise across Fethiye Bay to "Friendship Cove". After a swim, we'll hike through forests, meadows, and spectacular coastal scenery to a little-known Greco-Roman site called Lydea. You'll enjoy walking along a pine-shaded trail, smelling wild herbs and hearing the music of goat bells. The walk provides spectacular vistas of the Gocek Lagoon and Bay of Fethiye. Taking less than three hours, the hike involves uphill walking only the first hour or so. We meet the yacht in a spectacular cove which shelters the sunken baths of Cleopatra, built for her by Marc Antonio.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 11 (Wednesday) - Dalyan River / Dalyan

Today we cruise to the mouth of Dalyan River where we are met by a small river boat, which takes us on a side trip, traveling upriver to Dalyan through a maze of small channels lined with bamboo and cattails.
We will see the ancient rock-cut tombs of Caunos and lunch in Dalyan. Then we return to our gulet, cruising to another quiet cove for our last peaceful night on boat.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 12 (Thursday) - Marmaris / Kusadasi

We have a short cruise in the morning to a harbor in Marmaris where we meet our small motor-coach, and where we bid a fond farewell to our captain and crew. From here we drive north, parallel to the Aegean Coast but well inland. It takes about four hours to reach Kusadasi, a popular seaside town with a large yacht harbor. On the way we stop for lunch.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinne

Day 13 (Friday) - Ephesus

After an early breakfast, we drive for less than an hour to the world-famous ancient Roman site of Ephesus, one of the largest and best-preserved ancient cities in the world. You can walk on the remarkably intact wide marble street lined by columns and envision ancient Hellenistic and Roman empires, see the theater, walk through temples, visit the baths, and more. After a home hosted lunch at a nice village we visit the Ephesus Museum and the house of the Virgin Mary, where it is believed Mary spent her last days.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 14 (Saturday) - Return home

After breakfast we'll transfer to the international airport of Izmir for our return flight home via Istanbul.
Meals included: Breakfast


Optional Tours Available:

Istanbul - Day 2
Optional evening tour "Istanbul by Night" (Show & dinner): $70.00 per person
Enjoy your dinner at a first-class night club with a floor show of famous belly dancers and folk groups representing different regions of Anatolia. Evening ends with the songs of a popular Turkish singer. Water, two soft drinks or two beers or half a bottle of local wine and tea or coffee is included.

Istanbul - Day 3
Optional Full Day Tour "Bosphorus and Two Continents" (with lunch): $60.00 per person

Visits include:
Hagia Sophia: Greatest marvel of architecture Constructed as a Basilica in the Sixth Century by emperor Justinian.
Spice Market (Egyptian Bazaar): It was built as a part of the Yeni Cami complex and has since been an exciting covered market with the fragrant scent of spices from the Orient.
Boat trip on the Bosphorus: Cruise on a regular ferry through this waterway separating the two continents, Europe and Asia. This boat ride takes you past the late Ottoman Palaces, Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi, as well as beautiful wooden mansions and modern villas of the 19th & 20th Century which form this elegant section of the city. Disembark at Sariyer.
Lunch is served at a sea front fish restaurant. Bottled water, one soft drink, tea or coffee is included.
Cappadocia - Day 12
Balloon Ride (Sunrise flight): $200.00 per person
Every flight is a fantastic adventure as we float intimately amongst the fairy chimneys and soar over the magnificent Cappadocian landscape. A flight is truly "the experience of a life time!" A hot - air balloon flight is unique from all other experiences of flight as there is no sensation of motion. Traveling at heights of up to 1500 feet, the feeling is one of peace and tranquility. The earth slowly descends and rotates below you. Within moments after lifting off you become at ease while you effortlessly drift over the treetops and the spectacular Cappadocian landscape. It is like a dream to gently float over the countryside in complete harmony with your surroundings. The deep canyons and lush fertile valleys of Cappadocia provide the balloons with an ideal playground for a unique and memorable flight; gentle winds carry us over places that could never be reached except by balloon. Ballooning can be such fun! In season we can even pick apricots from the trees!