West Anatolia- Pamukkale – Bodrum - Lycia-Antalya
Please Tell us:
- Your exact arrival & departure dates & times( also flight numbers) for your Airport transfers
- Number of travelers, their ages
- Your hotel preference (a Budget Hotel, 3 Star, Boutique, 4 Star, 5 Star or Deluxe Hotels)
- Tour preference Group tours or a personal (private) tour with your own expert guide?
- Your must-see Istanbul destinations – If you like to customize your trip ( Mosques, Churches, Bazaars, Palaces, City Walls, Bosphorus, Asian Side, Princes Islands, and all other sites…)
West Anatolia- Pamukkale – Bodrum - Lycia-Antalya ( 10 Night 11 Days)
Tour Itinerary
Day 1 : Transfer from Izmir airport to Hotel
Arrival to Izmir airport meet the driver and guide and transfer to hotel in Izmir
Meal : Dinner
Day 2 : Izmir - Pergamon - Cunda Island - Izmir ( 290 km )
Departure from hotel to Pegramum at 0800 am.
Upon arrival weascend 400 meters by cable car to Acropolis.of Pergamum
*Pergamum Acropolis The place where parchment paper was invented ,the ruins of the city including, Zeus Altar , Athena Temple, The Trajan Temple , theater and the ruins of the Palaces of the kings of Pergamum Kingdom which was established in 3 C Bc and reigned till 132 BC. (listed by Unesco in the world heritage list)
* Asclepion the healing center of Pergamum where the psychotherapy was practiced and home of Galinus the famous physician of the Roman Era.
Afternoon we drive to Cunda Island ( Ali Bey island)
Cunda island is connected to the land by isthmus. It has very beautiful ancient houses built with local stones and many of them converted to small hotels or restaurants and cafes.
We see the most interesting mill-church ( Sevim &Necdest Kent Library) The building was a church but a wind mill added to the church and finally converted to a library.
We visit Rahmi Koc car musuem . This building is actually a Greek Ortodox Church which was called Taksiyarhis Church (Gabriel and Michail CHurch).
In 2011 it was given to one of Turkish Business man , Rahmi Koc. He renovated the church and converted to a car musuem .
We walk in water front eat the famous gummy ice cream or we have turkish coffe at one of the water front cafeterias and depart back to Izmir.
Meal : Breakfast and Dinner
Day 3 : Izmir – Ephesus – Sirince – Kusadasi ( 80 km )
Today we visit the best city of asia Minor during Rome Empire
* Virgin Mary House; where she spent her last days on a mountain nearEphesus..
• Ephesus Ancient City The biggest Roman City of Asia Minor . its population was approximetly 200.000in 3 rd C AD.
Ephesus is the temple of the archeological world . Here we spend around 3 hours to see the ruins such as Agora , Roman BAths, Odeon, Prynthinion , Trajan Fountain , The Library , The Theather , the harbpur street etc..
• Artemis Temple One of the seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was built in 8 C BC. It was the biggest temple in its era and there were 129 pillars around the temple each one of them with 189 meters hight . Unfortunetly
* Saint John Tomb and Basilica ( Saint john escaped from Jerusalem to Ephesus he lived here and died here too. His tomb which is housed by a church and the ruins of the church are visible today .
*.Sirince - Old Town, famous for its traditional Greek Houses built in 18 th and 19 th C. The fruits wine of sirince is very famous. , After we visit the town we have wine at one of the wine shops
* Leather fashion show and shoping opportunity
Arrival to Hotel and check in.
Overnight Stay : Kusadasi
Meal : Breakfast and dinner
Day 4 : Kusadasi – Aphrodisias – Pamukkale (254 km)
We drive to PAmukkale and ond the way we detour to visit Aphrodisias Antique City.
*Aphrodisias -City of Aphrodite goddess of the love. The site of the city first was ingabited during the neolithic age . LAter it was re-establihsed by the Greek settlers who invaded the region. Finally re-built in Roman Time.The city was known for its artists( Sculptors) and philosophers. We see the biggest stadium of Anatolia ,its cappacity 30.000 people, The tehather , Roamn Bath, Agoras, Aphrodite Temple and the magnificent musuem which is housing many thousands reliefs and marble carving .
* Pamukkale; the beautiful, cascading, snow-white terraced cliff-side basins and hot spring water famous for the healing properties of their thermal mineral baths.
* Hierapolis; an ancient Hellenic and Roman city. See the vast Necropolis Roman basilica baths, Domitian gate, latrines, Agora, Colonnaded Street, Byzantine Gate, Roman fountains, and Grand Theatre.
Overnight Stay : Kusadasi
Meal : Breakfast and Dinner
Day 5 : Pamukkale – Priene – Miletus – Didyma – Bafa Lake – Bodrum ( 325 km)
After breakfast at hotel departure to west coasts of Turkey which was known Ionia and Karia region in antiquity..
We visit :
Priene Ancient city- Located on slope of Samsun Mountain fortifed with city walss and has very beautiful ruins of Bouleterion , Athena Temple , tehather Agora and so-called Alexander The Great.
Miletos Ancient City - The ctiy was established by the local people around 11 C BC. The greek settlers conquered the city and re-established it . It was an important trading harbour city . The Miletions established many trade colonies in Black Sea region today even in Nile Delta in Egypt. The city is known home of Thales as well. We see the tehather , The Harbour monuments , ,delphinum , The Roman Baths ...
Didyma - Didyma is the worshiping place of Miletos ancient city. Miletos people built a very big temple for Apollon the god of the light. It was center of profecy and its oracles were as famous as Delphi ISlands oracle.
We see the ruins of Apollon Temple which is still defying the time and standing upward to the sky.
Bafa Lake -Once it was connected to the Aegean but by the ages Meandros River silted the sea and seperated the lake from the sea.Nowadays it has connection with sea by the river only
It is famous for its eel . It will surprize you very much how the eels imigrate from Mexico Saragossa gulf all the way to Bafa Lake.
After arrival to Bodrum check in hotel
Overnight Stay : Bodrum
Meal : Breakfast and Dinner
Day 6 : Bodrum (museum) – Dalyan (Kaunos)- Fethiye ( 250 km )
Today we visit Bodrum, the poetic city, city of Halikarnasos Fisherman Cevat Sakir the famous Turkish writer who advertised Bodrum to the world.
We see Bodrum Castle which was built by Saint John Knights in 14 C. Later it was conquered by the Turks and in the 20 th century converted to under water archeological musuem . The findings of the ship wreckages of the region are exhibited in the castle today..The bronze age wreckage,Byzantine wreckage and Karia Princess hall are worthed seeing indeed.. It is called saint Peter castle as well. we see the Italian Tower, French Tower, British tower , German Tower. of the castle as well.
*Mausoleum of Bodrum - Tomb of Mausolus King of Karia . it was counted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. After Mausolus died his sister-wife Artemisea built a monumental tomb for him. The word of Mausoleum comes from this monumantel tomb. Unfortunetly not too much left from this magnificient monumental tomb but dont worry when you visit Bodrum Castle you see its stones in the castle. Saint John Knights re-used the blocks of the tomb in castle building.
*The wind Mills - 19 C wind mills are located atop of hill between Bodrum and Gumbet
We drive to Dalyan.
*Dalyan is a big river connecting Koycegiz Lake with Aegean . We embark on a private boat and sail from Dalyan Village to Iztuzu Beach. We view the Lycian Tombs which were carved into the cliff of the mountain from our Boat. Arrival to Iztuzu Beach where the caretta -caretta sea turtels lay their eggs. We may see some of teh caretta -caretta in Dalyan River during our sailing to the Aegean .
In summer free time to swim in Iztuzu Beach.
We embark on boat and sail back to Dalyan and drive to Fethiye
Overnight Stay :Fethiye
Meal : Breakfast
**Dinner at Fethiye Fish Market . You buy your won fish from the market and get it cooked at nearby restaurant .
Day 7 : Fethiye Tour
Today we explore Fethiye neighbourhood.
*Tlos Antique City- Tlos was one of the biggest cities of Lycian Leage.. it is was established in 12 C BC.In later centuries it was re-built a few times. Finally the Romans conquered the city and re-establish it. We see the Acropolis , The stadium , Theather, Byzantine Era Church , Roman Bath etc..
*Saklikent Gorge .- it is one of the deepest gorges in the world . In some places it is 300 meters deep and 2 meters wide. We walk about 30 minutes and enjoy this beautifull and impressive canyon.
*Pinara Antique city : It is famous for its carved rock tombs. Many rock tombs carved into the cliff of the mountain and they look like pigeon nests from distance .
*Kayakoy Village - A Greek village which was abondoned in 1923 during the population exchage between Turkey and Greece. It is a ghost town today. The schools , The churches, Houeses are all deserted ..
* Oludeniz Lagoon and beach
Back to hotel
Overnight stay : Fethiye
Meal . Breakfast and Dinner
Day 8 : Fethiye – Letoon – Xanthos – Patara – Kas ( 110km)
They came to our city from the sea
They came from the bottom of the sea
They made our houses tombs to us
And the tombs became our houses.
For sake of our freedom we lit a fire behind us which will last forever
A Lycian Poet from Xhantos wrote in 6 C BC.
Today we will visit Lycian Cities . The land of the honorable people. They commited suicide when their cities fell into hands of their enemy . They died for their freedom.Instead of being surrendered they prefered to die . Lycian lived in todays south west of Turkey , Lycia Region.
They established the first federal state system . They had 23 member cities in the leage. These cities had their own parlement but they had a joint parlement in PAtara and every city was represented by votes according to its population. USA federative system was modelled from Lycian Leage. .
Our first stop is Xhantos.
Xhantos was represented by 3 seats in Lycian Leage.. People of Xhantos fought their enemy the Persian till last minute and when the enemy was about to capture their city, Xhnatos they first killed their children then their women , they burned the city and killed themselves.
We see the theather, the inscribed. pillar which has the only Lycian characthers on it , The Churches and the tombs atop of pillars.
* Letoon Ancient City - Letoon mother of Artemis and Apollon . It is belived that she came here with her children when she was escaping from Hera.. The city named after her. We see The three temples. Artemis Letoo and Apolloon Temple side by side in Letoon city.
*Patara - Home town of Saint Nicholas and capital city of Lycian Leage. We see The Lycian Parliament . , Saint Nicholas church , The Roman baths , The
colonaded street..
We walk to Patara beach and see the 13 km long beach ..
In summer there is swimming break in Patara beach
We drive to Kas and check in hotel .
We spend the evening by strolling in Kas's water front..
Overnight Stay : Kas
Meal : Breakfast and Dinner
Day 9 : Kas – Kekova – Myra - Phaselis – Antalya ( 200 km )
In the morning we see the small but charming theather of Kas. We view the eye from the eyebrow. Yes kash means 'eyebrow in Turkish. And the eye is castellorizo island, The Greek Island which is located just across of KAs. .
We drive to Kekova to see the sunken city. We embark on boat and sail into the sea to see Ucagiz ( Dolichiste City) which was sunken into the water of Mediterranean after an earth quake in 2 C AD. We will sail by our private boat and see the submerged tomb in the water , the ruins of the bath etc..
There is also a swimming break in Sunken city beside the old shipyard.
Disembarkation and drive to Demre .
We will see Saint Nicholas church and his tomb . Saint Nicholas lived here in the 4 th Century.
*Myra rock -tombs carved into the cliff of the mountain and the theater of the ancient city
*Phasalis Ancient city which was established on shores of Mediterranean and has 3 ports. Here we visit the ruins of the city the ancient ports a swimming break on beach of Phasalis .
Overnight Stay : Antalya
Meal : Breakfast and Dinner
Day 10 : Antalya – Perge – Aspendos – Termessos – Antalya
Today we explore Antalya and its neighbourhood.Antalya is the capital city of the Turkish Tourism. Beautiful and lovely mediterreanean city.
We visit :
Aspendos Theather ( Aspendos is a Roman Period Theather was built in 2 C AD theather which is still used for some performances even today and considred to be the best preserved theather of The Roman Era .
* Perge : An anceint city which was established as early as 12 C BC and then occupied and re-built by the greeks and romans in later centuries. Here we see the stadium, the Helenistic gate, the Agora, The colonaded streets , HAdiran Bath , churches etc..
*Duden waterfall ( One of the best waterfalls in Turkey )
* Kaleici - the old city of Antalya which has old houses , churches, towers, mosques , cafeterias ,bars and restaurants and narrow streets paved with stones.
Over night Stay Antalya
Meal : Breakfast and dinner
Day 11 : Antalya halfday tour and departure to airport
We visit Antalya Archeological Musuem which is housing artefacts of the old city of Antalya .
There are fabolous statues, marble carvins, sarcophagus', inscriptions, reliefs in the musuem .
One of the best archeological musuem of Turkey .
Including the tour price :
-
Museum admission fee
-
Hotel accomodation
-
An English sepaking guide
-
Vehicle (06-10 people Mercedes Sprinter , 11-17 People Midibus with 27 Seater, 18+ people bus with 45 seaters)
-
Private boat trip in Dalyan and Sunken city
-
Breakfast and dinner at hotel
-
Hotel tip
-
Cable car fee to Pergamum Acropolis
Excluding tour price :
* Lunch
* Drinks
* Tip of the driver and guide
***Please ask for the best price of the season!
ENQUIRIES:
Alternatively for any other services or for tailor-made itineraries and quotations, without obligation, just complete the Create Your Tour Form or Email us: info@deliltravel.com - now for a fast response