Unesco World Heritage Sites in Turkey
Unesco World Heritage Sites of Turkey
A legendary itinerary that contains some of the most remarkable Unesco World Heritage Sites of Turkey.
This tour includes highlights of Turkey like Istanbul, Cappadocia, Lycia, and several magnificent sites as well as UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES such as Troy, Pergamon, Ephesus, Aphrodisias, Xanthos, Letoon and Catalhoyuk. The troglodytes, underground cities and fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, the Hittite capital of Hattusas, the well-known Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
This itinerary is specially designed to give our guests a full image of Turkey within an archaeological and historical framework with many visits to well and lesser-known archaeological sites within 10 days. You will not only explore these sites in their fantastic natural settings, but also discover their interrelated history and their links to the roots of modern Western culture.
Day 1 / Istanbul – Ankara /Anatolian Civilizations Museum
Flight to Ankara via Istanbul.
Arrive to Ankara at and meet with your archaeologist guider. Visit the Anatolian Civilizations Museum where there are great finds from all over Turkey, one of the best museums of Turkey. Dinner on your own and overnight Old Town Divan Hotel.
Day 2 / Hattusa – Cappadocia
Drive for 2,5 hours in the morning through the scenic landscape of Anatolian Plateau to Hattusa. Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites during the second millennium BC. The site of the ancient city with the ruins of its temples and palaces, monumental sculptures and the enormous fortification walls with ceremonial gates and tunnels attest to the fact that this was once the home of a great imperial people. Much has been learned about the religion of these people by studying the line of gods and goddesses carved on the walls of the open air rock sanctuary at Yazilikaya. The relief of the Hittite pantheon constitutes one of the best exhibitions of Hittite monumental relief carvings in situ.
Lunch at a local restaurant near the site and visit the recently opened museum, where also the famous Sphinx of Hattusa is on display which was taken by Germany in the 19th century and brought back in 2014. Drive the very scenic road to Cappadocia for about 3 hours after the visits. Arrive to Cappadocia. Dinner on your own and overnight Argos Cave Hotel, deluxe rooms. (B)
Day 3 / Cappadocia
Today we will wake up to a fantasy land of fairy chimneys. Churches cut out of soft rock formations rising up in cone-like protuberances, the region was a Roman province and the refuge of persecuted Christians during the early days of the Roman Empire. Cappadocia is well-known for its rock churches that date to the period of the persecution and for its underground cities, amazingly intricate systems of tunnels cut into mountains of rock. We will drive to Goreme and visit Goreme Open Air Museum, which was one of the earliest settlements in the area. The monastic complex with its many churches and living quarters bear good examples of 11-13th century Byzantine mural paintings. We will stop at Pasabag valley, a settlement and known to be the first place to hold monastic seminars. We will have lunch in a local restaurant run by a family. We will continue to Zelve, you will see many red-cone-capped dwellings and chapels from various periods. Dinner on your own and overnight Argos Cave Hotel, deluxe rooms. (B)
Day 4 / Cappadocia
Optional balloon flight at sunrise.
We will continue to explore the valleys of Cappadocia, a land of eerie beauty, formed by the eruption of two volcanoes, Mt. Argeus and Mt. Hasan, some 60 million years ago. We will drive to Kaymakli to visit the Underground City. Some of the most interesting cultural riches in the Cappadocia Region are the 150-200 known underground settlements of varying sizes. The name ''underground city'' is widely used, however, only some of them were big enough to accommodate 30000 people and can be called ''underground cities'' but it is possible to call other small ones as ''underground villages.''
We will drive to Mustafapasa, old Greek village of Sinassos, 6km to the south of Urgup, was inhabited by Greek Orthodox families until the beginning of the 20th century. We will walk in the village, visit some of the churches and have lunch in an old Greek House. The houses dating back to the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries display fine examples of stonework. The important churches and monasteries around Mustafapasa are, the church of Aios Vasilos, the Church of Constantine- Helene, churches in the Monastery Valley and, the Church of St. Basil in the Gomeda valley.
After some rest, we will visit town of Avanos, where famous Turkish pottery is made from the clay of Red River, longest river of Turkey passing through the town and we will visit a local carpet manufacturer to have lecture on Turkish handcrafts. Dinner on your own and overnight Argos Cave Hotel, deluxe rooms. (B)
Day 5 / Catalhoyuk / Antalya
Today we will have a long drive to Antalya via Konya. Our first stop on the way will be a 13th century caravanserai, which was built by Seljuk Turks to accommodate the travelers and trading caravans throughout their country. We will continue to Catalhoyuk, another UNESCO site in Turkey, and perhaps one of the most interesting sites all over the world. Archaeologists identify Catalhoyuk as the earliest known urban Neolithic settlement of the world. After Catalhoyuk we will continue to Antalya. Before we arrive to Antalya, The ancient Pamphylian city of Aspendos is noted for its Roman ruins. The hilltop ruins of the city include a basilica, an agora, and some rock-cut tombs of Phrygian design. A huge theater, possibly the finest in the world, is carved out of the northeast flank of the hill. It was designed by the Roman architect Zeno in honor of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Arrive to Antalya. Dinner on your own and overnight Tuvana Hotel. (B)
Day 6 / Fethiye
Today we will visit three other UNESCO sites, Patara and Xanthos and Letoon. We will first drive to Myra, for an introduction to Lycia, perhaps the most original and unique culture of the ancient world. We will see the Lycian Tombs and the Church of St. Nicolaos (Known in the west as Santa Claus) where he is also buried. Patara, our next stop, was, during Roman times, one of the most important ports in the region of Lycia. The city was a winter residence and an oracle center of Apollo, who according to mythology, was born here. More concrete history reveals the town was the birthplace of St.. Nicholas. Among the Roman ruins are the Roman baths, the monumental gateway to the city, a Corinthian temple, a Byzantine basilica and a theater. Continue to Xanthos, the capital city of Lycia, also mentioned in the Iliad, and Letoon, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. We will continue to Fethiye. Dinner on your own and overnight Ece Saray Marina Hotel.
Day 7 / Aphrodisias / Ephesos
Today we will hit the scenic highlands of the Tauros Mountains to drive on to Aphrodisias, the city of Aphrodite, the mother of Aeneas, from whom the Romans claimed to have descended. New York University has conducted extensive excavations since 1961 under the aegis of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism since 1995 with the collaboration of Oxford University. The archaeological site of Aphrodisias was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List at the 41st World Heritage Committee session held in Kraków on 9 July 2017.
Top quality marble quarries made the city one of the most important sculpture lefts of the entire Roman world. Dinner and overnight at the Kusadasi Kismet Hotel
The excavation of prehistoric mounds has revealed that the site was first inhabited around 5800 BC. Founded around a shrine for a local goddess of love, Aphrodisias later was converted to a sanctuary of Aphrodite. The high quality marble obtained from the local quarries made the city one of the best known schools of sculpture of the Roman world. After visiting the site, which has many good examples of Roman architecture including the beautifully restored Tetrapylon, the Temple of Aphrodite and Sebasteion, we will visit the museum where the best examples of the Aphrodisian School of sculpture are exhibited. We will drive to Sirince Village. Dinner on your own and overnight Sirince Gullu Konaklari.. (B)
Day 8 / Ephesos / Kusadasi
Drive to Selcuk and visit The Temple of Artemis with an introduction to Ephesos and the Museum. We will visit The House of Virgin Mary, Basilica of St. John. We will drive to Sirince village, 15 km north of Selcuk. It is an old Greek village which is famous with its local wine and olive oil. Old village houses are well protected and renovated and display a good example of Aegean architecture. We will walk along the old houses and street market and have tea in the local tea house of the village. After lunch in a local restaurant in Sirince, we will visit Ephesos in the afternoon when the crowds and the heat of the day are gone and the light is in perfect position for pictures. Dinner on your own and overnight Sirince Gullu Konaklari.. (B)
Day 9 / Pergamon / Canakkale
Today we will drive to another great site, Pergamon. Crossing through Izmir we will see the great city of modern Turkey. We will continue to the ancient city of Pergamon, a center of culture which can be compared to Antioch and Alexandria during the Hellenistic Period. Its library with its 200,000 volumes was known to rival in importance that of Alexandria. Being of the pioneering school of architecture and sculpture, it brought forward the concept of ornamental urbanism in reaction to the functional urbanism of Hippodamos, the Milesian architect and philosopher who first applied the gridiron design to urban planning. This magnificent city was built on four rising terraces. At the acropolis, -- the administrative, religious and public center of the city -- we will see the foundations of the well-known Altar of Zeus, a masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture which is now displayed in the Berlin Museum. The second century AD Temple of Trajan, where both Trajan and Hadrian worshipped, is now a beautifully restored building standing on an artificial terrace supported by subterranean vaults. The 10,000-capacity theater overlooks the modern town and the Asklepion, which was a sanctuary and healing center built for Asklepios, the god of healing, in the fourth century BC. The institution reached its peak during the Roman period, Methods of treatment included suggestion, praying, sun and water baths, exercises, honey cures, music and drug therapy and bloodletting. Many of these methods were applied scientifically by Galen, the most outstanding physician of antiquity. After visiting Pergamon, we will drive to Canakkale. Dinner and overnight Tusan Hotel. (B/D)
Day 10 / Troia / Istanbul
Our first visit will be Troia. Excavations have identified a sequence of nine principal stratas representing nine periods, in which houses were built, occupied and ultimately destroyed. Troy VIIa, which was destroyed by fire sometime about the 13th century BC, is probably the city of King Priam described in Homer’s Iliad. Homer immortalized Troy in the stories of King Priam, Hector, Paris and the beautiful Helen. A symbolic wooden Trojan horse commemorates the legendary war. Also the wooden horse from the Bradd Pitt movies is in Canakkale. After visiting Troia, we will also visit the Canakkale Museum and drive to Istanbul through Gallipoli to Thrace on the European shore of the Dardanelles, the 38-mile-long strait that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. We will have lunch at one of the seafood restaurants near the lovely fishing harbor of Gallipoli. Not far from the town are the battlefields of the Gallipoli Campaign, one of the most decisive battles of World War I, from which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, emerged as the victorious commander. The strait holds a significant place in history and is also the scene of the Greek legend of the two lovers Hero and Leander. In 480 BC, the Persian army of Xerxes I crossed the strait on a pontoon bridge, and Alexander the Great did the same in 334 BC on his expedition against Persia. The strait has always been of great strategic and economic importance as the gateway to Istanbul and the Black Sea from the Mediterranean. Arrive to Istanbul. Dinner on your own and overnight Radisson Blu airport hotel.
Day 11 / Departure or Istanbul Extension.
Self-transfer to Istanbul Ataturk airport for flight to London. (B)
Please ask for our Istanbul extension packages.
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