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Contact UsDepart from JFK with Turkish Airlines. Flight TK 002 departs at 5:45 PM. Check-in at the airport 3 hours prior to departure.
Arrive in Istanbul at 10:25 AM and transfer by bus with assistance to your hotel. Check-in then start your tour of Istanbul by visiting Hagia Sophia. After lunch, embark on a private boat to enjoy a cruise along the Bosphorus.
Full day guided tour to explore Istanbul: the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace. Free time to wander and shop at the historic Grand Bazaar. Grace joins the group at lunch time.
Transfer to the airport for your noon flight to Cappadocia from Kayseri airport. After lunch, drive through Devrent Valley among the fairy chimneys. Visit the Open Air Museum with its troglodyte houses. Proceed to Pasabag and the Open Air Museum of Goreme to see the Early Christian Churches and Avanos, center of terracotta art since 3000 BC.
Full day excursion. Drive to Uchisar Castle then continue to Kaymakli Underground city, Pigeon Valley and Mustafapasa: lunch stop and visit. Proceed to Urgup where you visit a local carpet manufacturer for a lecture and demonstration, Evening Turkish show with dinner and local drinks.
Depart for the Plain of Konya, the granary of Turkey, Stop at the 13th Century Sultanhan Caravanserai, the largest in Anatolia. Visit the holy city of Konya, capital of the Seljuk Turks and the Museum of Mevlana, the mystic and poet who founded the Sufi order of the Whirling Dervishes.
Drive to Aspendos, the great theater of antiquity, built in 155 with a seating capacity of 7000. Continue to the Hellenistic Roman city of Perge to see the unusual gate towers, baths, colonnaded streets and the agora.
Morning drive to Pamukkale. Visit this natural site where the hot waters have created an unreal landscape of petrified waterfalls and basins. Visit Hierapolis, one of the largest ancient Roman health spas.
Drive to imposing Ephesus and visit the House of the Virgin Mary.
After lunch and time to explore this fascinating ancient city, continue to Izmir, the Pearl of the Agean.
Depart for Bursa, the first capital of the Ottomans from 1326 to1364. Visit Ulucami (the Grand Mosque), the Green Mosque and the Green Mausoleum from outside and the old Silk Market in the covered Bazaar. Drive to Istanbul late afternoon and arrive at your hotel near the airport.
Check-out of your hotel, store your luggage there and enjoy some free time before your transfer to Istanbul Ataturk airport and return home. Flight TK 011 departs at 5:15 PM, arriving New York JFK at 9:00 PM.
This sample tour is just an example of a specific itinerary related to the country we just described to give you an idea of what is available in that country when you travel.
All our trips are tailor-made and we are at your disposal to plan your trip in consideration of how many people will be traveling, how many days you wish to travel, the season, the standard and the location of the hotels, the amount of meals you wish to include, the guided tours or experiences which will show you not only the “must see” landmarks but also the special interest sites and events you will love that are off the beaten track.
Francoise is the president and founder of Celestial Voyagers. She graduated with a tourism degree at Nice University in France and has worked as a tour director and operations manager in France, Australia and Mexico. Settling in New York City, she founded Celestial Voyagers with the aim of creating uniquely curated group travel for adults and Academia.