11-Day Guided Mesopotamia Tour from Istanbul

Welcome to Istanbul. Our driver will meet you at the airport. You will be transferred to your hotel.

After breakfast, enjoy a fully guided tour of the only city to span two continents, visiting Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Grand Bazaar.

Today you will check out the room and leave the hotel with your suitcases. After you meet with your guide at the hotel, you will start the tour.

You will take a boat to Bosphorus Strait for about 1 and a half hours. During your tour, you will see more palaces, mentions, and famous restaurants just on the side of Bosphorus.

You will have time to go shopping in the Spice Bazaar, which is one of the largest bazaars in the city. Located in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district, it is the most famous covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar.

At last, you will visit Rustem Pasha Mosque which was assigned to the Ottoman’s chief architect, Mimar Sinan. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was unique among Sinan’s many mosques for its lavishly decorated, tiled interior. Rüstem Pasha may have ordered the mosque’s characteristic İznik tiles to support court designer Kara Memi, who was known for elegant floral designs.

After the tour, we will transfer you to the Istanbul airport and you will take your flight to Cappadocia. Upon your arrival, we will transfer you to your hotel.

Marvel at the lunar landscape with a fully guided tour of Cappadocia, visiting Devrent Valley to see the unique fairy chimneys. Drive to Paşabag (Monk's Valley) to see the most interesting mushroom-shaped pinnacles. Drive to the city of Avanos.

In the afternoon visit another beautiful open air museum at Göreme where the remains of rock-cut churches and Christian settlements date back hundreds of years. Lastly, before returning to your hotel, visit the natural castles at Uchisar.

After having breakfast at the hotel, we will again depart for a full-day Cappadocia tour. Depart from your hotel to visit Red valley, and explore the famous rock-cut churches and hike 5 km through the Güllüdere Valley. Then, we'll visit Çavuşin village. This village is famous for the houses and churches of Christian clergymen.

After lunch, we'll drive to Pigeon valley, and in the afternoon, we will visit Kaymaklı underground city, where early Christians lived in fear and faith.

Today after breakfast drive to Adıyaman (around 4 hours). We will have lunch after we arrive and then head out to visit Mount Nemrut. We will also visit Karakus Tumulus, Cendere Bridge, and Artemia.

See one of the best sunsets in the world from the top of the Nemrut. You can also have a chance to taste Syrian wine here.

Overnight Adiyaman

Today you will visit Diyarbakır, another ancient settlement. At 5000 years old, it is one of the oldest cities in the world. An overwhelmingly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir is famed for its ancient city walls constructed by the Romans.

We will visit also one of the oldest and important mosques, Ulu Camii. From Diyarbakir, we continue to Mardin, located on a high hill overlooking the plains of southern Turkey.

After breakfast, we will visit Deir-Al-Zafaran (the Saffron Monastery), the center of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchy, and still an active monastery. The site of the Saffron monastery has been a sacred place for thousands of years.

From Mardin, proceed to the ongoing archaeological dig at Gobekli Tepe. Although not widely known amongst the general public, Gobekli Tepe is probably one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.

Today we leave from Urfa and drive to Antep. On the way, we will visit Harran. Harran is an important hub of science and learning. The first university was built here! Harran is also famous for house architecture.

Later, we will have a boat trip to Halfeti/Birecik and you will have nice panoramic views here.

Overnight in Gaziantep

Today we will visit the mosaic museum in Antep. Antep is another ancient Roman city and the mosaic museum will surprise you. Baklava, the world-famous Turkish Dessert is from Antep. We will have a good time, and good food, here today!

In the afternoon we will take you to the airport and you fly back to Istanbul.

Overnight Istanbul

After the tour, we will transfer you to the Istanbul Airport for your flight home or onwards.

Have a safe trip and thanks for choosing us!