


Cappadocia & South East Turkey
From £3,795
Summary
The Tigris and Euphrates both rise in the mountains of Turkey and flow south into the Persian Gulf. The Fertile Crescent, arcing around the flat lands of Mesopotamia, saw the birth of agriculture and the first domestication of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. Prior to this agricultural revolution, hunter-gatherers built the remarkable temple complex at Gobekli Tepe. In addition to this we see the spectacular Roman mosaics in Gaziantep, rescued from the flood waters of a dam on the nearby Euphrates, and the gigantic late-Hellenistic statues atop Mount Nemrut.
Tour highlights:
- View the extraordinary volcanic landscapes in Cappadocia and the soft rock hewn out in the Byzantine-era to create underground cities and rock-cut churches
- Explore the beautifully laid-out Zeugma Mosaic museum in atmospheric Gaziantep, which is filled with one of the finest arrays of mosaics in the world
- Walk up to the World Heritage Site of Nemrut Dag, where huge statues of syncretised Greek-Persian gods and the kings of Commagene gaze imposingly from the summit of a remote peak
- Visit the excavations at Gobekli Tepe, with megaliths pre-dating Stonehenge by an impressive 7,500 years
Today's Price
£3,795
Benefit from this limited time offer:
- Pay a low deposit of £99, was £500.
Single supplement: £660
Includes flights
Keeping you safe on your next tour
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FREE 'Travel Safe' kits for every traveller
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COVID-19 insurance
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Enhanced Health and Safety audits
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Distanced seating on coaches
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'Get me home' service and private airport transfers
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COVID protocols at our hotels, and aboard our cruise ships
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Flexible balance payment date and COVID-friendly refund conditions
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COVID-testing and medical training for tour staff
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Constant monitoring and post-tour tracing
Meet your Experts
Terry Richardson
Guide Lecturer
Terry Richardson has a university background in ancient history and classical civilisation. He first travelled to Turkey as an undergraduate back in 1977 and has been back countless times since then, and he also lived in southwest Turkey for around 13 years.
Your itinerary
Day 1 - London - Cappadocia
We fly to Kayseri Airport via Istanbul from London and transfer to our hotel.
Best Western Premier, Cappadocia
Best Western Premier Cappadocia. is situated in an extraordinary geographical landscape and has a rich history and culture. The building came to life by restoring the ruins of the old houses, mansions and dwellings. The hotel includes modern facilities to guests.
Cappadocia is listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage site and one of the 7 natural wonders of the earth.
Day 2 - Cappadocia
We start our explorations of Cappadocia with a visit to the Ihlara Valley, a beautiful, verdant gorge occupied by a fast-flowing river. The gorge is believed to have contained more than four thousand dwellings and a hundred churches cut into the rocks, used for worship by early Christian communities. We will explore some of these churches this morning before moving on to visit the impressive Aşıklı Höyük, a settlement mound comprised of layers dated between 8200 and 7400 BC, and which developed as a result of its proximity to an important obsidian source.

Hotel | Best Western Premier, Cappadocia |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Best Western Premier, Cappadocia
Best Western Premier Cappadocia. is situated in an extraordinary geographical landscape and has a rich history and culture. The building came to life by restoring the ruins of the old houses, mansions and dwellings. The hotel includes modern facilities to guests.
Cappadocia is listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage site and one of the 7 natural wonders of the earth.
Day 3 - Cappadocia
This morning we begin with a visit to a local co-operative which produces traditionally made carpets, and we see how these are made. We then continue to our main visit of the day at Goreme Open Air Museum. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a fairytale landscape of eroded volcanic tuffs, full of rock-cut churches of the early Byzantine period which bear witness to the faith, fervour and tenacity of devout Christian communities, beset both by Arab raiders and the persecutions of the Iconoclastic movement.

Hotel | Best Western Premier, Cappadocia |
---|---|
Meals included | All meals included |
Best Western Premier, Cappadocia
Best Western Premier Cappadocia. is situated in an extraordinary geographical landscape and has a rich history and culture. The building came to life by restoring the ruins of the old houses, mansions and dwellings. The hotel includes modern facilities to guests.
Cappadocia is listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage site and one of the 7 natural wonders of the earth.
Day 4 - Cappadocia - Adana
Today we head south, stopping en route at the extraordinary underground city of Derinkuyu. This is one of the largest and most accessible of many such Byzantine settlements. Little is known of their true function, however, with such a geology at their disposal, it may almost have been as easy to dig down as build up. We continue our journey south across the Anatolian plateau before crossing the formidable Taurus range and dropping down to the fertile Cilician Plain to overnight at Adana.

Hotel | Otel Seyhan, Adana |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Otel Seyhan, Adana
Otel Seyhan has been providing five-star service to its guests since 1990 In the centre of the city of Adana which is renowned for its warm atmosphere. The hotel is located within walking distance to attractions such as Ethnography Museum, Bebekli Church, Great Clock Tower, Ulu Mosque, Stone Bridge and Sabanci Central Mosque. Otel Seyhan has 116 standard rooms, 19 junior suites, 1 special concept room and 2 suites and 138 rooms in total.
The selection of carefully prepared Turkish and world cuisines are prepared by professional craftsmen.
Day 5 - Adana - Gaziantep
This morning we visit Adana Archaeology Museum, which houses a fine collection of Hittite artefacts. We continue east and rise into wooded mountains to visit the eight century BC fortress palace of Karatepe, now located in an archaeological park. A bilingual text inscribed on the gate here reveals the name of the neo-Hittite ruler who build the fortress: “I am indeed Azatiwatas, The Blessed of the Sun, the servant of the Storm-God, whom Awarikus exalted, king of Adanawa…”. The twin gateways of the fortress palace are lined with relief-carved figurative slabs.

Hotel | Grand Hotel, Gaziantep |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Grand Hotel, Gaziantep
Grand Hotel Gaziantep is a 5-star hotel which opened in May 2001. Located in the city centre it is within walking distance to nearby shopping centres.
The hotel was renovated in 2010 and combines comfort and quality service with its comfortable rooms and restaurants.
Day 6 - Gaziantep
Today we explore Gaziantep, named in 2015 as a UNESCO “Creative City of Gastronomy”. Our main focus this morning is the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, which contains the very fine Roman mosaics from Zeugma, a city which stood on a crossing of the Euphrates river, and which has now been largely flooded by the construction of the Birecik Dam. We also visit the town of Halfeti, itself partially submerged as a result of the same project. Here we can see houses and minarets emerging from the water, and even parts of the old castle and palace.

Hotel | Grand Hotel, Gaziantep |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Grand Hotel, Gaziantep
Grand Hotel Gaziantep is a 5-star hotel which opened in May 2001. Located in the city centre it is within walking distance to nearby shopping centres.
The hotel was renovated in 2010 and combines comfort and quality service with its comfortable rooms and restaurants.
Day 7 - Gaziantep – Adiyaman
We start the day today with a walk around historic Gaziantep including the Medusa Roman Glass Museum and Gaziantep citadel, largely built by Turkish Mamluks in the 13th – 16th centuries. The citadel itself lies on top of existing Roman walls and a Neolithic tell. The bazaars are full of copper ware, dried pepper flakes and pistachio nuts, and the mosques betray the influence of the Arab lands to the south. Indeed, Gaziantep is reminiscent of Aleppo, some 50 miles away in Syria. In the afternoon we take the long but scenic road north to overnight at Adiyaman, at the foot of 7,000 ft high Mount Nemrut.

Hotel | Grand Isias, Adiyaman |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Grand Isias, Adiyaman
Situated in the centre of Adiyaman, this 4-star hotel offers free WiFi throughout the property and a 24-hour reception. All rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, satellite TV and an additional seating area.
Day 8 - Adiyaman
We spend the day with the rulers and monuments of the Commagenian kingdom today – beginning at the Roman bridge at Cendere, built by the Legio XVI Flavia Firma in the reign of Septimius Severus around AD 200, and the Karakus (Black Bird) Tumulus, probably built to cover the burials of the mother, sister and niece of Antiochus’ son and successor. After lunch we continue to the remote hilltop site of Mount Nemrut (UNESCO World Heritage Site), where Antiochus I had a monumental sanctuary constructed to promote his rule, comprising the world’s largest tumulus and a collection of huge statues of the gods and of himself.

Hotel | Grand Isias, Adiyaman |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Grand Isias, Adiyaman
Situated in the centre of Adiyaman, this 4-star hotel offers free WiFi throughout the property and a 24-hour reception. All rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, satellite TV and an additional seating area.
Day 9 - Adiyaman - Şanlıurfa
This morning we drive to Şanlıurfa and view the Pools of Abraham, filled with sacred carp. It was here that Muslim teachings tell how Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, but upon landing in the fire the flames were turned into water and the logs into fish. Şanlıurfa is Turkey’s most Middle Eastern city, and we continue our exploration of this bustling place with a foray into the labyrinthine bazaar, a glass of tea in the courtyard of an Ottoman caravanserai and ascent of the rocky citadel for splendid views of the old city.

Hotel | Manici Hotel, Sanliurfa |
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Meals included | All meals included |
Manici Hotel, Sanliurfa
Situated near the Pools of Abraham in the centre of Sanliurfa, this elegant hotel has 52 en-suite rooms with showers and hairdryers and the rooms are equipped with TV, telephone, safety box and minibar and Wi-Fi. Some of the rooms have views of Sanliurfa Castle.
There is a restaurant and cafe bar at Manici Hotel.
Day 10 - Sanliurfa – Gobekli Tepe
Our last full day is dedicated to the excavations at Gobekli Tepe, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. Situated on top of a rounded hill in the anti-Taurus mountains a few miles north of Şanlıurfa and the flatlands of Mesopotamia to the south, it was closed to the public for several years. Both spectacular and unique, this early Neolithic monumental site, an extraordinary series of ‘temples’ of relief-carved megaliths up to five metres in height, has challenged the conventional view that only settled societies could produce monumental architecture. In the afternoon we return to Şanlıurfa to visit Şanlıurfa Museum complex, completed in 2015 and home to a treasure trove of finds from Gobekli and containing a life-size reconstruction of one of the stone circles.

Hotel | Manici Hotel, Sanliurfa |
---|---|
Meals included | All meals included |
Manici Hotel, Sanliurfa
Situated near the Pools of Abraham in the centre of Sanliurfa, this elegant hotel has 52 en-suite rooms with showers and hairdryers and the rooms are equipped with TV, telephone, safety box and minibar and Wi-Fi. Some of the rooms have views of Sanliurfa Castle.
There is a restaurant and cafe bar at Manici Hotel.
Day 11 - Şanlıurfa - London
After breakfast this morning we head to Şanlıurfa airport for return flights to London.

Meals included | Breakfast |
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Tour dates & prices
Included in your cost:
- Expert Guide Lecturer
- Professional Tour Manager
- Meals as per the itinerary, tea or coffee with dinner
- Local travel aboard a private air-conditioned coach
- Accommodation
- Entries to all sites as per the itinerary
- All taxes & gratuities
- Field notes
Tour Departure | Tour ID | Departure date | Return Date | Guided by | Price | Deposit | Single Supp. | Offer | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
24 May 2021 | AEAS210524 | 24 May 2021 (Monday) | 3 June 2021 (Thursday) | Terry Richardson | £3,795 (inc. flights) |
£99 |
£660 | Book Now | |
21 September 2021 | AEAS210925 | 21 September 2021 (Tuesday) | 1 October 2021 (Friday) | Terry Richardson | £3,795 (inc. flights) |
£99 |
£660 |
£3,605.25 save £189.75 |
Book Now |
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