New Year In Turkey

We land at the airport in Istanbul where we meet our escort. We move to the hotel, we settle in the assigned rooms

The whole day is dedicated to visiting the wonderful Istanbul. We visit the Hippodrome or Atmeydani, it has had a significant importance since the times of Byzantium, thanks to its enormous size, second only to the Circus Maximus of Rome; the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the ultimate expression of the Christian empire dreamed by Justinian. We have lunch in a local restaurant and then continue our tour with a visit to a mosque and the church of San Salvatore in Chora.

Let's start with a visit to the Palace of Topkapi and Harem del Palazzo, an ancient residence of the Ottoman sultans now transformed into a museum. At the end we will visit the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world that includes over 4,000 shops. After lunch in a typical restaurant, we head to Ankara by bus, the capital of Turkey. (436 km).

This morning we are dedicated to visiting the archaeological museum of Ankara (also called the museum of Anatolian civilizations) which composes a complex plot of the ancient Turkish past, a structure that houses a series of artifacts found in the most important archaeological sites of Anatolia, in addition to the exhibitions follow one another following a chronological order in a spiral path. Lunch in a restaurant. In the early afternoon, we continue our journey heading for Cappadocia via Salt Lake

Today we will dedicate the whole day to visiting this semi-arid region in central Turkey. This splendid region of triple interest: naturalistic, for the fantastic landscape; historical, these valleys were inhabited by monks (hermits first), gathered here from the 4th century onwards and especially after the Arab invasion; theological, linked to the presence of the Church Fathers and their works. We continue visiting, the outdoor museum of Goreme, a small valley typical of Cappadocia characterized by multiple Christian settlements that are testimony of a past of rock churches carved into the rock and rich in frescoes; Uchisar, a characteristic tufa citadel perforated by a thousand cavities, is one of the most fascinating places in Cappadocia; the Avcilar valley, a district subject to the metropolitan municipality of Istanbul; Pasabag (fairy chimneys), the fascinating underground city that will surely give you an experience not to be forgotten

We leave early in the morning for Konya. A brief stop along the path to the Sultanhani carravanserra, a particular structure rich in detail, was used in the past as a rest area for the caravans that traveled the Silk Road in the direction of Persia (13th century). We continue then, towards Konya, we visit the mausoleum of Mevlana, founder of Sufism. Lunch in a restaurant. In the late afternoon we head to Pamukkale which from the Turkish means "cotton castle", a natural site in south-western Turkey.

Pamukkale with its white cascade of water rich in calcium that solidifies into a cotton castle, surrounded by large pools of hot, steaming thermal water. Large expanses dotted with ruins signal the site of an ancient Roman city with its necropolis, it is the ancient city of Hierapolis, home of the philosopher-historian Epictetus. At the end of the visits we continue our tour to Ephesus crossing the Meander valley up to the Aegean sea. Once there, we visit the ancient city of Ephesus. Furthermore, we see the Odeon, a small theater; the via dei Cureti with its temples, the library of Celsus, the way of the marble with the Agora next to it; the Via Arcadiana that led to the port and finally the magnificent 25,000-seat theater. At the end of the visit to the archaeological site, we go to Kusadasi or Izmir.

Early in the morning we move to Izmir airport and fly to Istanbul. On arrival we make the change of aircraft to be able to continue with scheduled flights to return to Italy.