10-Day Turkey Tour from Istanbul with Gallipoli, Ephesus and Cappadocia

• Meet your tour guide at the airport, who will pick you up and transfer you to your hotel in Istanbul.

• Depart at 9:00 a.m. for the city tour.
• See the Ancient Hippodrome, the scene of chariot races, with its three monuments: the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine.
• Visit the magnificent Topkapı Palace, the great palace of the Ottoman Sultans from the 15th to the 19th centuries, housing an exquisite collection of crystal, silver, and Chinese porcelain, robes worn by the sultans and their families, the famous jewels of the Imperial Treasury, miniatures, the Holy Mantle, and the enshrined relics of the Prophet Mohammed.
• Proceed to Sultanahmet Mosque, across from St. Sophia, built in the 16th century by the architect Mehmet. It is known as the Blue Mosque because of its magnificent interior decoration of blue Iznik tiles. Stop for a lunch break.
• Head to the Grand Bazaar, a unique atmosphere with reasonable prices for shopping for exotic spices and herbs, Turkish baklava, Turkish delights, and small souvenirs such as ceramic handicrafts, Evil Eyes totems, soaps, and many other goods in the souvenir shops.

(Please Note: Hagia Sophia is closed on Mondays, and Topkapı Palace is closed on Tuesdays. Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays.)

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Depart for Gallipoli at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. to visit the battlefields. About two hours later, there will be a 20-minute break to relax in a restaurant area.
• Arrive in Gallipoli around 12:00 a.m. and take a lunch break. Relax for a while, then depart for the battlefields.
• Visit the Gabatepe Museum. Start exploring the battlefields with Ariburnu Cemetery and Anzac Cove, as these are the places where the war started. Then continue to Beach Cemetery, Shrapnel Valley, and Plugges Plateau.
• Drive back to your hotel.

Dinner and overnight in Canakkale.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Depart at 8:30 a.m. and drive for 30 minutes to Troy.
• Visit the famous archaeological and mythological site of Troy, home of the Trojan Horse and Helen of Troy. After the Troy tour, continue with a 3-hour drive to Pergamon. Stop for a lunch break around 13:00.
• Proceed for a tour of the magnificent acropolis of Pergamon. Its impressive temples and library made it a renowned cultural and political centre at that time. Pergamon is also famous for its jewellery, stones, and silver, so on the way, you will visit a jewellery centre for 30 minutes.
• Arrive in Kusadasi around 18:00.

Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Depart from the hotel for the tour of Ephesus, one of the best-preserved ancient sites in the world.
• Visit the Temple of Artemis, Curetes Street, the famous Roman baths, the Celsus Library, and the Grand Theatre along the way. Stop for a lunch break around 13:00.
• Head to the place that continues to practise one of the oldest arts of Turkey: a carpet weaving centre in Sirince Village. Sirince's construction style today belongs to Anatolian Greeks. The houses on the slope are all original with their white paint. Sirince Village also has a fantastic reputation for making some of the best wines in Turkey, especially fruit wines.
• See the vineyards, and it is time to learn how to make fruit wine with Turkish wine makers. In the evening, you will be tested on your knowledge of making fruit wine. On the way, visit one of the famous leather production centres of the region, where you will have the opportunity to get a good factory rate. On this guided tour, you will avoid the constant nagging and sometimes bullying that is well known in the markets of Turkey, enabling you to enjoy the shopping experience while gaining knowledge of the ancient craftsmen.

Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Depart for Pamukkale. Check in at the hotel around 12:00.
• Have a lunch break until 13:30. Afterwards, visit the calcium terraces of Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) and the ruins of Hierapolis, then walk around this natural phenomenon and have the option of lying in the waters of the natural springs.

Dinner and overnight in Pamukkale.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Have breakfast and head out to discover the old city (Kaleici), a small historic part of Antalya's modern city. In history, it was once the sprawling modern Roman town, then the Byzantine, then Seljuk, and finally the Ottoman Turkish town. Hadrian's Gate (or Hadrianus Gate, or the Three Gates) is a triumphal arch built in the name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Antalya's broken wonder is the Broken Minaret of the Korkut Mosque, which was originally built as a Roman temple in the 2nd century AD and therefore did not have a minaret at all. Hidirlik Tower is a landmark tower of tawny stone in Antalya, Turkey, where Kaleici meets Karaalioglu Park. It is believed to have been built in the Hellenistic era on a square plan and later turned into a circular tower in the 2nd century AD, and it was either used as a fortification or a lighthouse in the past.
• Stop for lunch and depart for Düden Waterfalls. All the streams of the region aim to find their way into the Mediterranean, and they pour down the slopes of the Taurus, sometimes overland and sometimes underground, reaching their destination and resulting in lovely waterfalls, of which there are more than twenty.
• Return to the hotel.

Overnight in Antalya.

(Meals: Breakfast)

• Have breakfast and check out from the hotel, then drive to the airport for the Kayseri flight. Transfer from Kayseri Airport to the region.
• Visit the Fairy Chimneys in Urgup and meet the most famous family of fairy chimneys, the Three Beauties. These are the official symbol of both Urgup and Cappadocia.
• Start the hiking tour, around 4 km, in Red Valley, one of the most attractive valleys of Cappadocia.
• Go to Cavusin, one of the earliest inhabited and latest abandoned monastic settlements of Cappadocia, then drive to Özkonak Underground City.

Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Start at 9:30 a.m. and see the lunar landscape of Cappadocia, with rock formations beyond belief in Devrent Valley.
• Visit Pasabag's "fairy chimneys", where the voice of the wind mixes with the "songs of fairies" near Zelve. Have lunch in Avanos, the centre of terra cotta artwork since 3000 BC.
• Witness a demonstration in a traditional pottery workshop.
• Head to the famous Goreme Open Air Museum in the afternoon and see the best examples of Byzantine art in Cappadocia in rock-cut churches with frescoes and paintings from the 10th to the 13th century.
• Continue to the panoramic viewpoint of Esentepe. With a spectacular view over Goreme, see the complete view of Goreme Valley and Goreme village: fairy chimneys, rock formations, and cave houses.
• End your day at Uçhisar Castle. This tall rock is the highest point in the Goreme region.

Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia.

(Meals: Breakfast and Dinner)

• Transfer to Kayseri Airport for your flight home, depending on the time of your flight.