Exploring Turkey

ISTANBUL 19ºC - 21ºC 

Welcome to Europe!!! Upon arriving at the airport we will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. You can enjoy free time until your tour starts. Please, check the informative posters placed at the hotel reception area which have all the information about your upcoming services such as meeting place, time and the guide’s name.

ISTANBUL 19ºC - 21ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Sightseeing tour. Cable car to Pierre Loti viewpoint. 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 include a cable car ride up to the Pierre Loti viewpoint and 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.

ISTANBUL 19ºC - 21ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Boat trip on the Bosphorus.Today we include a boat trip on the Bosphorus that will last about two hours, exclusively for Lushy Days travelers. The Bosphorus is a strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, which separates Istanbul into two parts: the European and Asian parts. 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. Free time.

ISTANBUL 19ºC - 21ºC  - EPHESUS - KUSADASI 22ºC - 25ºC 

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.

KUSADASI 22ºC - 25ºC  - BODRUM 26ºC - 29ºC  - MARMARIS 24ºC - 25ºC 

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.

MARMARIS 24ºC - 25ºC  - DALYAN 26ºC - 26ºC  - ANTALYA 26ºC - 26ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Contrasts of landscapes. Boat trip. Dinner included. We leave for DALYAN, an incredible place by a navigable river. We include a two- hour boat trip to see LYCIA’S ROYAL TOMBS, and still on the boat, we go on to a large lake where we stop at the thermal springs. If you want, you can bathe in the warm waters or have a mud bath! Time for lunch in one of the numerous restaurants in DAYLAN by the river. Continuation to ANTALYA, we will make a brief visit to this coastal city of more than a million inhabitants, the door of Adrian, the Ottoman district and its great waterfall that falls straight into the sea. Dinner and accommodation.

ANTALYA 26ºC - 26ºC  - ASPENDOS - SIDE 24ºC - 24ºC  - KARAMAN 16ºC - 16ºC  - NIGDE 19ºC - 19ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Contrast of the Anatolian region between the coast and the high mountains. Dinner included.We leave Antalya for ASPENDOS, we visit the Roman theatre which many believe to be the best preserved in the world. After this in SIDE we can admire the Greek temple of Apollo by the sea. Time to stroll around the port and through its streets full of life. Amidst impressive countryside we cross the Taurus Mountains, their peaks of over 3,500 meters in height are snow- covered for a large part of the year. A stop in KARAMAN where we visit TARTAN EVI, an ancient Ottoman mansion. Continuation to the region of Cappadocia. NIGDE, dinner and accommodation. Note: Sometimes the Tartan Evi may be closed, in which case the visit would be replaced by another to a mansion of similar characteristics in Cappadocia.

NIGDE 19ºC - 19ºC  - CAPADOCIA

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: landscapes with spectacular shapes. Picturesque towns. Dinner included. A full day in the fantastic region of CAPPADOCIA, with its lunar landscapes, its churches and troglodyte villages. We start by visiting GUMUSLER, an incredible seventh century underground monastery with maybe the best Byzantine frescoes in Turkey. In KAYMAKLI we will see the underground city that could house 30,000 people. We will visit the natural fortress of UCHISAR. After lunch, we will see the GOREME Valley with its open-air museum and its churches dug out of the rocks, entrance included. Hotel in AVANOS. Dinner included.

CAPADOCIA - IHLARA 19ºC - 19ºC  - KONYA 13ºC - 13ºC 

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. 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.

KONYA 13ºC - 13ºC  - EGRIDIR - PAMUKALE 22ºC - 22ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Fantastic Cotton Castle at the end of the day. Dinner included. 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.

PAMUKALE 22ºC - 22ºC  - EPHESUS - KUSADASI 22ºC - 25ºC 

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ephesus. Dinner included. We leave for EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We see the house of the Virgin Mary, the Basilica of Saint John and the impressive ruins of 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.

KUSADASI 22ºC - 25ºC  - IZMIR 24ºC - 24ºC  - BURSA 15ºC - 15ºC  - ISTANBUL 19ºC - 21ºC 

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. End of our services. Please, check the time of your flight in case you might need an additional night.