6 DAYS- 5 NIGHTS
The gateway to Asia, Istanbul is Europe’s largest and most exotic city. Remnants of the Romans, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires lie on the top of each other in a city where centuries-old mosques, bazaars, hamams, churches, and palaces are intercepted with metro, electric trams and luxurious air conditioned shopping malls. Istanbul owes its long-held historical significance to a strategic location at the mouth of the Bosphrous. From this vantage point the city could control not only the ships that passed through the strait on the important route between the Black Sea and Mediterranean but also the overland traffic crossing from Europe into Asia Minor. It is the only unique city in the world, founded on two continents. (Asia and Europe). It is such a magnificent city where visitors live the oriental life and western life together. The below package tour includes-covers the most visited and important highlights of Istanbul that our guests enjoy it very much. Istanbul is a great city to be visited and not to be missed.
TOUR ITINERARY :
DAY 1 : ARRIVE IN ISTANBUL
Arrive in Istanbul, meet, assist and transfer to your hotel. Before check in the hotel , ( depend on the arrival time ) en route visit the Suleymaniye Mosque, the mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, where he and his wife are buried and is considered the most beautiful of all imperial mosques in Istanbul. After an orientation city tour ( if time permits ) arrive in hotel for dinner and overnight. ( L, D )
DAY 2 : ISTANBUL
After breakfast, depart from hotel for full day of sightseeing of Istanbul including visit to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art housed in a grand vizier's restored palace. It was the grandest private residence ever built in the Ottoman Empire. Next to museum visit the ancient Hippodrome where the chariot races and competitive athletic events took place during the Roman period. See the Egyptian obelisk, visit Sultan Ahmet Mosque which is also called ''Blue Mosque'' because of its blue tiles. Then visit to Underground Cistern this water reservoir is by far the largest of the many underground cistern in the city remaining from the Roman times was rebuilt by Justinian after Nika Revolt in 532, and Saint Sophia Church ( Museum ) was rebuilt in 537 as a cathedral was the largest building in the world and it is a marvel of world architecture and civil engineering. Time for shopping and Grand Bazaar with its more than 4.000 tiny shops. Return to hotel for overnight. ( B, L ,)
DAY 3 : ISTANBUL
Having breakfast, full day sightseeing tour of the city including visit to the Magnificent Topkapi 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, miniatures, the Holy Mantle; enshrining relics of the Prophet Mohammed. After lunch in Topkapi Palace, visit the Archeological Museum. The museum displays artifacts and historical objects from the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hatti and Hittite Civilizations and many status from Hellenistic and Roman period and history of Istanbul through ages.. Continue visit the Rustem Pasa Mosque was built in 1561 by the great architect Sinan for Rustem Pasa, son-in-law of and grand vizier to Suleyman I. Before return to hotel, visit the Spice Market ( Egyptian Bazaar ) where the air is filled with the enticing aromas of cinnamon, caraway, saffron, mint, thyme. Overnight in the hotel. ( B, L, )
DAY 4 : ISTANBUL
After breakfast, depart from hotel for a visit to the Dolmabahce Palace built in the 19th century by Sultan Abdulmecit, it has an impressive six hundred meters frontage on the Bosphorus. The most important part is the vast reception salon, with 56 columns and a huge crystal chandelier weighing 4.5 tons with 750 lights. Then enjoy the Bosphorus Trip by boat or by bus with an opportunity to take photographs of marble palaces, ancient wooden villas of Ottoman Architecture, Ottoman fortresses, suspension bridges and luxurious very expensive houses and villas on both sides of Bophorus . Visit the Sadberk Hanim Museum in Sariyer. It is an old late 19th century Ottoman Yali bought by the richest businessman of Turkey Vehbi Koc. It's founded and opened as a museum by this wife Sadberk Koc in 1980. There are two sections: Old Villa Section, which has exhibits ranging in date from the early Islamic Era, Seljuk and Ottoman period the objects include metal work, imperial monograms in silver, jewelry, Turkish tiles and pottery from Iznik ( Nicea), Kutahya and Canakkale. On the upper floor there are traditional Turkish scenes including a bridal shower, a circumcision bed, maternity room, there are also beautiful examples of Ottoman costumes and Turkish embroideries. The archeological section of the museum has some 7000 antiques arranged in chronological order from different part of Anatolia throughout different civilizations. Then across the Asian Side to visit the highest point in Istanbul, Camlica Hill. At the top you can rest and admire the magnificent panorama and view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus from beautiful gardens, landscaped in traditional style. Return to hotel for overnight. ( B, L, )
DAY 5 : ISTANBUL(Golden Horn and its environs)
After breakfast, drive to the old part of Istanbul along the Golden Horn ( the finest natural harbor /port of ancient world) and visit the district of Eyup as the burial place of Eyup Ensari the standard bearer of the Prophet Mohammed, is a place of pilgrimage for Muslim from all over the world. Visit the Eyup Mosque built in the reign of Mehmet The Conqueror in 1458, five years after his conquest of Istanbul, in the honor of Eyup Ensari. The mosque's delightful inner courtyard is a garden in which two huge plane trees grow on a platform. The mosque itself is predominantly covered in gleaming white marble, and inside there is a magnificent green carpet underfoot. Opposite the Mosque is the Tomb of Eyup Ensari himself, believed to have been killed during the first Arab siege of Constantinople in the 7th century. The Tomb dates from the same period as the mosque and most of its decoration is in the Ottoman Baroque Style. We continue our sightseeing with visit to the 14th century church of Savior in Chora(Kariye Museum), which is the most important Byzantine Monument in Istanbul after the St. Sophia. The walls of former church were decorated with spectacular Biblical Byzantine mosaics and frescoes on a gold background. Here you will find a quiet, carefully tended garden facing old wooden houses. Next we have a short drive to Minia Turk Open Air Museum, which celebrates all of Turkey’s most popular monuments-its religious sites and buildings, geological features, and architectural structures –by creating them in miniature. The park contains more than one hundred models, they were all perfectly scaled down.. If you are looking to try before you actually commit a trip to Anatolia , Cappadocia and Ephesus, for instance or you run out of the time on your vacation to see every highlights in Turkey you wanted, then this is an excellent taster and place to see them all together in one place. Afterward we visit the nearby Rahmi Koc lMuseum. This excellent museum located in the hearth of Istanbul's docks. Its collection of model ships , trains, cars, tractors, and toys, and scale models of transport and machinery. And the exhibits on the former dock yards tracing the industrialization and development of modern Istanbul includes Turkish cars of various ages, the elaborate rail road carriage of Ottoman sultans, an retired Bosphorus ferry, , a horse drawn tram and a large display of electric goods. Highlights of the museum includes the US –built Turkish submarine and a Douglas DC -3 Dakota airplane and many spectacular antique cars inside the museum. Signs are in English as well as Turkish, and regular demonstrations of machinery, and plenty of buttons to push on exhibits, make this an amusing and instructive visit. , which includes the It is home to a selection of mechanical and scientific instruments dating from the early years of the Industrial Revolution. The building itself, with four small domes, vaulted passageways and original wooden fittings, is one of the museum's highlights. Exhibits range from mechanical toys and scale models of transport and machinery to an entire recreated ship's bridge, an operational coin press and an old tram. Afterward we will enjoy the orientation tour by bus in Pera, and time permitting have an enjoyable walking tour in famous Istiklal Street, Pera and Galata neighborhood in the new city . At the end of the tour return to the hotel for overnight. Tonight we will enjoy a fare well diner at a Special Turkish restaurant ( B, L,D )
DAY 6 : DEPARTURE FROM ISTANBUL
After breakfast, depart from the hotel and transfer to the airport for your flight back home. ( B )
PLEASE NOTE: TOUR CAN BE EXTENDED AS A DAILY TOUR TO GALLIPOLI, BURSA, EDIRNE, CANAKKALE, EPHESUS, PERGAMUM. PAMUKKALE, CAPPADOCIA, ANTALYA, BODRUM AND AS A PACKAGE TOUR TO OTHER DESTINATIOS IN TURKEY
