Essential Biblical Experience Tours in Turkey

Day 1 – Meeting at İstanbul Airport and transfer to hotel.

Day 2 – Full day city tour, lunch included. Morning: St. Sophia * Underground Cisterns * Mosaic Museum * St.lrene, Afternoon: Patriarch of Fener * Virgin Mary’s Church * Golden Horn, St. Savior in Chora (Kariye Museum) * City Walls,

Day 3 – Early morning flight or night-before train sleeper-car, or bus to Ankara. Visit Anatolian Civilizations (Hittite) Museum in Ankara and continue to Cappadocia via Salt Lake. Seldjouk Ağzıkarahan Caravanserai on the way. View of the ” Petrified Valley” from the ancient citadel of Uçhisar. Visit the underground cities used by the early Christians hiding from Roman and Byzantine persecution. Dinner and overnight.

Day 4 – Full day tour of Cappadocia. Valley of Göreme and Zelve with painted churches and an open-air museum. Valley of” Fairy Chimneys”, villages of Ortahisar and Avanos. Dinner and overnight.

Day 5 – Early departure for Konya (Iconium), the city of the ”Whirling Dervishes”. Visit the Mausoleum of Mevlana, a world-famous philosopher and poet. Continue to Pamukkale (Hieropolis) famous for its formation of petrifıed calcium cliffs and stalactites. Dinner and overnight.

Day 6 – Departure after breakfast. Drive to Laodicea, one of the seven churches and Colossae. Continue to Aphrodisias (Geyre), well preserved Greco-Roman settlement. Dinner and overnight at Kuşadası.

Day 7 – Visit the ancient Ionian city of Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary, and St.John Basilica. Lunch and drive to İzmir, a short panoramic tour of the city, visiting St. Polycarp Church and viewing İzmir Agora. Transfer for an evening flight or night bus to İstanbul.

Day 8 – Free day in İstanbul.

Day 9 – Transfer to İstanbul Airport for return flight

Tour Code: PLN026