Akdem Travel

ISTANBUL- CAPPADOCIA-KONYA- PAMUKKALE- EFES- ISTANBUL

Arrival to istanbul, transfer to hotel, accomodation in ISTANBUL

Breakfast. Sightseeing to Istanbul, which is one of the most beautiful city on the world. It’s also the one city located on two continents. Visiting Hagia Sophia Museum, Visiting Hipodrom- old area for horses race’s, Blue Mosque and Top Kapi Palace, where are a lot off amazing sultan’s treasures.. Accommodation for the night in ISTANBUL. Dinner in hotel.
Sultanahmet: Many places of tourist interest are concentrated in Sultanahmet, heart of the Imperial Centre of the Ottoman Empire. The most important places in this area, all of which are described in detail in the “Places of Interest” section, are Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, Sultan Ahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque), the Hippodrome, Kapali Carsi (Grand Bazaar)…
Aya Sophia was, for nearly a thousand years, the largest enclosed space in the world, and still seen as one of the world’s most important architectural monuments. It is one of Turkey’s most popular attractions, drawn by the sheer spectacle of its size, architecture, mosaics and art.
One of the most astounding and popular places to visit in Istanbul is Topkapi Palace, the symbolic and political centre of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. It stands on the tip of land where the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus come together, and is a maze of buildings centered around a series of courtyards, typical of Islamic tradition. Such is the complexity of each building, it will take many hours in order to be explored properly.

Breakfast, transfer to airport.Take a flight to Kayseri airport by plain.Transfer to CAPPADOCIA - the land of beautiful horses". Cappadocia to the Middle Ages was a strong center of Christianity and the birthplace of the idea of monastic life. The rocky landscape of fairytale wonders of nature combined with man-made - in the soft rock of ages local people carved monasteries, churches, homes, and even underground cities. There is no other place worldwide. On the way to Cappadocia, visit to undergraund city Kaymakli. Drive to vantage points to admire the panoramic view of Cappadocia. Transfer to the hotel. Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia.

After Breakfast, All day Sightseeing: Goreme National Park with churches carved in the tuff - inscribed on the UNESCO list, the citadel of Uchisar, Fairy Valley: rose, imagination, a pigeon. Stop at the Pottery Center where it will be a craft show. Evening trip to a Turkish night (extra charge). Transfer to the hotel. Dinner and overnight.
Goreme, situated 10 km from Nevsehir, is found in a region surrounded with valleys, within the Nevsehir-Ürgup-Avanos triangle. The old names for Goreme are Korama, Matiana, Maccan and Avcilar. Goreme was refered to as Korama in the earliest known written document, dating from the 6th century.

Breakfast, Konya After breakfast the trip across the Konya valley to the ancient capital of the Seljuk Turks, Konya.ride takes you through the seemingly endless landscape of the Konya valley, which was already in Roman times as the granary of Asia Minor.ancient Iconium was already in the Seljuk era, the first capital in Anatolia.visit the Museum of the Whirling Dervishes of Mevlana, who after 13as a religious school and the teachings of Mevlana had served.After a city tour, it goes to your hotel.and overnight in Konya.

Breakfast, Drive to Pamukkale - Hierapolis Today you will journey in to another fascinating corner of Turkey: the calcium formations of Pamukkale.The formation sarecreated by the over-flowing and highly carbonated water Calcium bikarbonathaltige.in Greekand Roman times it has recognized the healing power of this water and built the famous city of Hierapolis, just above the terraces today.city has been uncovered in recent years and today offers some good insight in to that time.Opportunity to relax in the thermal waters of the hotel.Overnight in Pamukkale Thermal Hotel in Pamukkale.

Hierapolis is an UNESCO World Heritage SiteThe hot springs there have been used as a spa since the 2nd century BCE, and people came to soothe their ailments, with many of them retiring or dying here. The largenecropolisis filled withsarcophagi, including theSarcophagus of Marcus Aurelius Ammianos.

After breakfast departure to Efes.The best preserved ancient city in Turkey.In Efes, we can admire beautiful streets, temples, baths, famous library of celsus and beautiful theatre.Even today, its possible to feel like a citizen of ancient world.Mother sightseeing of god’s mother home in Efes.In this place Maria spend end of her life under the care of St John and from this place after pormition, she was taken to heaven after sightseeing.Drive to Ýzmir, Accommodation, dinner, rest.

With a fine collection of statues, mosaics and artefacts, the museum in the centre of Selcuk helps shed a little more light on the Ephesus ruins. Many found before World War I were taken to the Vienna Museum, but wherever possible, most were returned after World War II.
The museum shows around 50,000 exhibits, in chronological order, from the Miken, Archaic, Roman, Byzantine and Turk periods, and is split into Archaeological and Ethnographic sections. The most interesting items include the Myken vases found at Ayasuluk Hill, pieces from temple of Artemis, a tomb from the Belevi Mausoleum, two statues of Artemis, an embossed image of Theodosius from Hadrian Temple, and many more statues and portraits from early Christianity. The ethnographic section is set up in an arasta (row of shops) with examples of Turkish and Ottoman daily life.

The Virgin Mary House Beyond Ephesus and on Bulbul Dag (mountain), 8km southwest of Selcuk, the monument is thought by some to be where the Virgin Mary died, and is visited by Christian and Muslim pilgrims from around the world. The small stone house is now a chapel, and probably dates back to the 4th century, although the foundations are thought to be 1st century.
It was not until a German nun, Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) claimed that she had visions of Mary living in ‘a small, stone house’ in even though the nun had never left Germany. Following her descriptions, 19th century clergy discovered the foundations of the house, which was then verified by a Papal visit in 1967. It has since been accepted that Mary spent her last few years here until she died at the age of 101.