Colours of Turkey

Welcome to Europamundo! Upon arriving at the airport, we will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. Check the information boards in the hotel reception area for details of the welcome meeting with your guide and fellow travelers.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Sightseeing tour. 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 enter 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 center 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 neighborhood, the most commercialized 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. Return to the center of Istanbul. Free time .

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ephesus, St. John´s Basilica, Virgin Mary´s house. Dinner included. We leave early from Istanbul. We continue the route through Turkey. Around lunch time, we arrive at EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We will visit Saint John´s Basilica, and afterwards, 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 one of the natural wonders of Turkey, Lake BAFA. We continue to 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.

We depart for DALYAN, an incredible place next to a beautiful navigable river. We include a boat ride of about two hours to see the ROYAL LYCIAN TOMBS. Also by boat, we will continue on to a large lake where we will stop at the hot springs. If you wish, you can swim in its warm waters or take a mud bath! We allow time to eat at one of the many Dalyan restaurants by the river. We continue to ANTALYA, where we will have a brief visit to this great coastal city of more than one million inhabitants; Hadrian’s Gate, the Ottoman district and its great waterfall that falls directly to the sea. Dinner included.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Contrast of the Anatolian region between the coast and the high mountains. Dinner included. We will leave Antalya towards ASPENDOS. We will visit the Roman theatre, for many, it is the best preserved in the world. After that, in SIDE, we will be able to admire the Greek temple of Apollo by the sea. There’s time to walk through its port and streets that are full of life. Travelling through breathtaking landscapes, we cross the Taurus mountains – their peaks stand at over 3500 meters high, and are covered in snow for most of the year. Stop in KARAMAN where we will see its fortress from the outside. We continue on to the Cappadocia region. NIGDE, dinner included.

Full day in the fantastic region of CAPPADOCIA, with its lunar landscapes, its churches and troglodyte villages. We start by visiting GUMUSLER, an incredible underground monastery of the 7th century with perhaps the best Byzantine frescoes in Turkey. In KAIMACLI we will visit the underground city that could house 30,000 people. We will visit UCHISAR, a natural fortress. After lunch we will discover the GOREME Valley with its open-air museum and its churches carved out of the rocks, entry tickets 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 (Rumi). 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.

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 in the direction of EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We will discover the house of the Virgin Mary, the Basilica of Saint John and the impressive ruins at 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 make a brief visit with our guide to this city considered the most westernized and modern city in the country in terms of values, ideology and lifestyle. 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.

Pack your bags and have a fill at morning breakfast. Grab onto some shopping deals before returning (as per your flight timing). Today we transfer you to the Bangkok Airport for your flight back home.