The Best Of Istanbul & Western Turkey(sm) (9 days)

Arrive at Istanbul airport. Private Transfer to your hotel.

Drive to Bursa. Enjoy lunch at a famous Doner Kebap (Gyro) restaurant, where perhaps the best version of this famous dish was first created. Visit the Green Mosque and the Green Mausoleum, examples of early Ottoman architecture, and the Silk Bazaar. Dinner will be at your hotel.

Drive to Canakkale, and cross the Straits of Dardanelles by ferry boat to the European side, arriving in Gelibolu (Gallipoli) in time for lunch.  Then, visit the Gallipoli battle fields, cemeteries, and monuments.  Afterwards, cross the Dardanelles back to the Asiatic side of Turkey.  Visit Troy, the city immortalized by Homer’s Iliad.   Dinner and overnight stay will be at your hotel in Canakkale.

Drive to Pergamum (Bergama) for sightseeing at the Acropolis and the ancient hospital, the Aesculapion. After lunch at Bergama, continue driving to Kusadasi via Izmir. Dinner will be at the hotel.

One of the highlights of visiting Turkey is seeing Ephesus, a well-preserved ancient city.  Visit the famous ruins as you walk on marble streets; also see the Basilica of St. John, and the House of The Virgin Mary. Dinner will be at the hotel.

Drive to Pamukkale, the “Cotton Fortress”, followed by sightseeing in Hierapolis and Aphrodisias.  After lunch, drive on to  Izmir Airport for your flight to Istanbul*. After arrival at Istanbul airport, transfer to hotel.

Visit the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome Square, and St. Sophia Museum. After lunch, tour Topkapi Palace; then, visit the Covered Bazaar.  

Cruise on the Bosphorus, sailing between Asia and Europe, with the famous Istanbul skyline as backdrop.  Then, enjoy lunch at a seafood restaurant on the European coast of the Bosphorus Straits.  In the afternoon, visit Dolmabahce Palace, the opulent  residence of the Ottoman Sultans in the latter years of the Empire. If possible, you might get to enjoy a performance of the Janissary Band, the world’s first military band  which also influenced Mozart and Beethoven, at the Military Museum.

Private Transfer to the airport for your flight to your next destination.