Aegean Dream

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Sighseeing tour. Cable car to Pierre Loti viewpoint. Topkapi Palace .Night transfer to Taksim.A sightseeing tour of the city. We find ourselves in a city built in two continents. On our tour, we will include a cable car ride up to the Pierre Loti viewpoint and we will lenter the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent (the largest in Istanbul). We will see the walls, the Golden Horn, the fishing district, and we will admire the exterior of Hagia Sofia. After the visit, we will offer tickets and a visit to the Top Kapi Palace, which was the administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire, with its magnificent courtyards and its pavilions. At the end of the afternoon we will provide a transfer to the Taksim neighbourhood, the most commercialised and lively area of the city. There will be time to dine in one of its many restaurants, and you can also take the old tram that crosses the area or go to see the nearby Galata Tower.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Boat trip on the Bosphorus.Today we include a boat trip on the Bosphorus that will last about two hours. We will undertake the trip on a boat exclusively for Europamundo travellers. The Bosphorus is a strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of ??Marmara, which separates Istanbul into two parts: the European part and the Asian one. We will enjoy seeing the liveliness of the strait with its multitude of boats. We will pass under the two bridges that unite Europe and Asia and we will admire the palaces of the sultans, the typical wooden houses and the Ottoman villas. Free time.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ferry over the Marmara. Ephesus. Dinner included. We left early from Istanbul. We crosed by fast ferry (variable schedules according to seasons and months) the Sea of Marmara, after about two hours of crossing, we arrived at the port of BANDIRMA (or Yalova according to schedules). We continued route through the interior of Turkey. At the beginning of the afternoon we arrive at EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We know Saint John´s Basilica, after it, the house of the Virgin Mary and the archaeological site (tickets included). We then continue to KUSADASI, a popular coastal town with a lot of atmosphere, commercial life and a small castle. Dinner and accommodation.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Views over the Aegean. Beautiful Bodrum. Dinner included. We leave for Bodrum, a very beautiful fortified city of Greek origin. You can visit its castle, stroll through its streets full of life and tourism or go around its sports marina. After lunch, we go on our way to MARMARIS, another very beautiful coastal tourist enclave with its castle, its marina and its fountains. Dinner and accommodation.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Contrasts of landscapes. Boat trip. Dinner included. We leave for DALYAN, an incredible place by a navigable river. We include a two- hour boat trip to see LYCIA’S ROYAL TOMBS, and still on the boat, we go on to a large lake where we stop at the thermal springs. If you want, you can bathe in the warm waters or have a mud bath! Time for lunch in one of the numerous restaurants in DAYLAN by the river. Continuation to ANTALYA, we will make a brief visit to this coastal city of more than a million inhabitants, the door of Adrian, the Ottoman district and its great waterfall that falls straight into the sea. Dinner and accommodation.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Contrast of the Anatolian region between the coast and the high mountains . Dinner included. We leave Antalya for ASPENDOS, we visit the Roman theatre which many believe to be the best preserved in the world. After this in SIDE we can admire the Greek temple of Apollo by the sea. Time to stroll around the port and through its streets full of life. Amidst impressive countryside we cross the Taurus Mountains, their peaks of over 3,500 metres in height are snow- covered for a large part of the year. A stop in KARAMAN where we visit TARTAN EVI, an ancient Ottoman mansion. Continuation to the region of Cappadocia. NIGDE, dinner and accommodation. Note: Sometimes the Tartan Evi may be closed, in which case the visit would be replaced by another to a mansion of similar characteristics in Cappadocia.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: landscapes with spectacular shapes. Picturesque towns. Dinner included. A full day in the fantastic region of CAPPADOCIA, with its lunar landscapes, its churches and troglodyte villages. We start by visiting GUMUSLER, an incredible seventh century underground monastery with maybe the best Byzantine frescoes in Turkey. In KAYMAKLI we will see theunderground city that could house 30,000 people. We will visit the natural fortress of UCHISAR.After lunch, we will see the GOREME Valley with its open-air museum and its churches dug out of the rocks, entrance included. Hotel in AVANOS. Dinner included.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ihlara Valley, Caravanserai, Konya. Dinner included. At the far end of Cappadocia, we will visit the IHLARA Valley; known for the freshness of its waters, its churches and villages excavated in the rock. Then we continue our route, with a stop in an old CARAVANSERAI from the 13th Century before arriving in KONYA where we visit the Mausoleum of Mevlana. Here we will learn about the sect of the Dervishes (entrance included). Dinner included. At night, we suggest that you attend the dance performance of the whirling dervishes in the cultural centre.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Fantastic Cotton Castle at the end of the day. Dinner included. We take a scenic road between the lakes, and get to know EGRIDIR, a beautiful town next to a large lake, with its walls and mosques. There’s time to have lunch. We then continue to PAMUKKALE-Hierapolis, whose calcareous waters have created the Cotton Castle (entrance included). Dinner included.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ephesus. Dinner included. We leave for EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We see the house of the Virgin Mary, the Basilica of Saint John and the impressive ruins of Ephesus (entrance included). We then go on to KUSADASI, a popular coastal town with a lot of atmosphere, commercial life and a small castle. Dinner included.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Interior of Anatolia. Hanging bridges crossing the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus Strait. We leave for the city with the fourth largest population in Turkey: IZMIR. We see the church of Saint Polycarp, the oldest in the city, which reminds us of the importance of this area in early Christianity (entrance included). We then return to inland Turkey. Stop en route for lunch before reaching BURSA, the fourth largest city in Turkey, whose historic centre has been declared UNESCO World Heritage, with its traditional commercial districts, mosques, religious schools, public baths … The green mosque stands out. Arrival in ISTANBUL at the end of the day. End of our services. Please, check the time of your flight in case you might need an additional night.