Eastern Turkey Itinerary 14 Days

Eastern Turkey Itinerary

Day 1: Adana-Tarsus-Adana

• Pick up from Adana airport and drive to Tarsus, the birth place of Saint Paul.
• Arrive to Tarsus and visit to the well of Saint Paul and the Cleopatra Gate.
• Lunch in Tarsus and drive back to Adana.
• Overnight stay in Adana

Day 2: Antakya

• Breakfast and departure to the Biblical city Antakya. Its museum has one of the richest Roman mosaic collections of the world.
• Outside the city there is the cave of Saint Peter.
• Overnight stay in Antakya

Day 3: Gaziantep

• Arrival to Gaziantep.
• There we will visit the mosaic museum which houses a collection of mosaics from the now sunken city of Zeugma.
• We will visit the citadel and the Old Town of Gaziantep.
• Overnight in Gaziantep.

Day 4: Urfa

• After breakfast we will drive fom Gaziantep to Urfa.
• We will visit the ancient town of Harran with its “Beehive” houses.
• Then the archaeological site at Gobekli Tepe to visit what is considered to be the oldest religious construction yet discovered.
• Overnight in Urfa

Day 5: Adıyaman Kahta

• From Urfa we depart for Nemrut.
• En route, we will stop at the Ataturk Dam, the keystone in the South East Anatolian Project (GAP).
• Overnight stay in Kahta.

Day 6: Nemrut and Arrive to Mardin

• We will visit the summit of Nemrut for sunrise.
• We visit the ancient funerary monument at the summit of mt. Nemrut in Adiyaman.
• With a brief stop in Diyabakir we carry on to Mardin.
• Overnight stay in Mardin

Day 7: Mardin - Tatvan

• After breakfast we will visit the ancient Saffron Monastery, an important religious site for Syriac Christians.
• From Mardin we proceed to Hasankeyf on the River Tigris and down the Bitlis Gorge to Bitlis.
• Overnight in Tatvan.

Day 8: Ahlat - Van

• Depart from Tatvan to Van, on the way visiting Seljuk monuments of Ahlat
• The great volcano crater of Nemrut
• Along the shore of the Lake Van proceed to Van.
• Overnight stay in Van.

Day 9: Van City Tour

• Sightseeing in the Van region including a visit to the 17th century fortress of Hosap, sitting astride the ancient Silk Road into Persia and the Orient.
• In the afternoon we will visit the island of Akdamar in Lake Van and the 10th century Church of the Holy Cross.
• Overnight in Van.

Day 10:  Biblical Mountain of Ararat and Arrive to Kars

• On to Ishak Pasha Saray, passing the Biblical mountain of Ararat to Dogubeyazit.
• Overnight stay in Kars.

Day 11: Kars Tour and Erzurum

• In Kars we visit the ancient Armenian city of Ani on the Arpacay River
• Then proceed via the First World War battlefield site of Sarakimis and the Aras River valley, sightseeing in Erzurum.
• Overnight in Erzurum.

Day 12: Georgian Valleys - Hopa

• We depart Erzurum for Hopa via the spectacular Georgian Valleys, Ishan and Artvin.
• Overnight in Hopa.

Day 13: Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Trabzon

• From Hopa we drive along the Black Sea border to Sumela.
• Visiting the cliff side monastery of the Virgin Mary at Sumela in the Altindere national park before proceeding to the 14th century Byzantine church of Hagia Sofia overlooking the Black Sea.
• Arriving to Trabzon and overnight there.

Day 14: Fly to Istanbul

• Transfer to airport and fly to Istanbul