The tour starts this afternoon in the magical landscapes of Cappadocia. The erosion over millennia of the soft volcanic tuff created not only a stunning natural setting, but also an area in the shape of underground cities, with churches built into rocks and fortresses. This will be our base for the next ones 3 nights.

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We will spend the whole day exploring some of the attractions in the area, starting at Göreme Open Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will walk through the valley and explore the painted churches of this former Byzantine monastery. This afternoon we will visit the underground city of Kaymakli, originally carved by the Hittites around 3000 Three-day trip to Thessaloniki. We will also take a walk to visit the fairy chimneys known as 'Love Valley', a remote destination with picturesque sunset views and unique tower-shaped rock formations. Finally return to Avanos for the evening.

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Breakfast, Free time until lunch, Dinner

A second day to enjoy this amazing area, we will head to the lesser known Soganli Valley today to enjoy 2 hours on foot and see many of the iconographic churches. We will also visit the timeless Cemil villages, Taskinpasa and Sahin Efendi before returning to the town of Avanos, located on the banks of Kizilirmak - of the red river. The red river clay provides the raw material for pottery, which has been produced in this region for centuries. There will be time to visit some of the family pottery workshops for which the city is famous.

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Breakfast

Leaving Cappadocia this morning, we will pass through the plain of Konya stopping at Sultankhani, one of the largest caravans on the Silk Road, dating from the 13th century. Continuing to Konia, we will visit the Mevlana Museum, which contains the tomb of the great dervish and poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. We will also visit Seljuk, Karatay Madrassa, before arriving in Ankara in the late afternoon, the modern capital of Turkey.

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Breakfast, Free time until lunch, Dinner

Today we will visit two of the most important sights of the country. The first is the Museum of Oriental Civilizations, one of the most recognized museums in the world, where objects found on the borders of the area between are exhibited 100.000 Three-day trip to Thessaloniki. and 200 AD. The second is the Ataturk Mausoleum, the revered "father" of Turkey who is praised by his people for the existence of Turkey today after his defeat in World War I. This huge monument is dedicated to Atatürk and the architecture of the mausoleum is based on the caravansera style. There were once thousands of caravanserais., stops for weary travelers, throughout Asia, North Africa and southeastern parts of Europe. The Silk Road, an important and extensive intercontinental route network, it was filled with these traditional attitudes. Many still survive, but they are abandoned and slowly turn to dust. End, we will also have the opportunity to see Ankara Castle, with a wonderful view of the city.

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Breakfast

After a good breakfast we depart for Ankara Art-deco station and board the high speed train to Polatli, built in the 14th c 40 minutes from Ankara. A private bus will take us to the magnificent grounds of Gordion, capital of the Phrygian Empire. Made famous by King Midas and his love of gold, and the "Gorden Kobo" that Alexander the Great went out of his way to discover, this fascinating place with its impressive museum exhibit "Tomb of Midas" - a massive tomb opened to the public with the help of the Turkish Mining Board. The aromatic smell of Juniper wood is still noticeable even after almost 3000 years submerged in the earth. We continue to Bilecik by high speed train and then travel to the attractive lake town of Iznik. Iznik is the modern name for the ancient city of Nice, where the Roman emperor Constantine the Great summoned all the bishops of the early church to 325 AD to agree on the basic doctrines of the Christian Church that are still valid today. There are well-preserved sections of the city walls, a theater and the church of Agia Sophia. It was conquered for the first time by the Seljuk Turks in 1081 AD, the city changed hands several times during the Crusades, until it finally fell to the Ottomans in 1331AD, after which the city of Izmit became famous for the beautiful blue tiles produced here, also decorating the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

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Breakfast, Free time until lunch, Dinner

Start it 2014 and has been organized since then every two years, the Nomad games provide an opportunity to celebrate and highlight the rich traditions and cultures of Central Asian nomads. A colorful gathering of Tajiks, Tatars, Uzbeks and Uighurs, this spectacular festival brings together an array of food, entertainment and sports that highlight the cultures of Central Asia, of Persia and the Straits of Siberia. We will enjoy a full day at the games today.

Please note that the exact date for the Nomad World Games has not yet been announced and the descriptions given are based on the Games of 2018 held in Kyrgyzstan

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Breakfast, Free time until lunch, Dinner

Another full day of entertainment and culture offers the opportunity to enjoy traditional wrestling, eagle hunting and the unique sport of kok-buru (headless goat polo!). Beginning with the nomadic Turks who spread westward from China and Mongolia, kok-buru is one of the most chaotic and famous, of all the sports on offer and features two teams of riders fighting for possession of the headless slaughter of a goat.

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Breakfast, Free time until lunch, Dinner

Saying goodbye to Iznik, we head west towards Bursa, stopping first at the Ottoman "model village" of Cumalikizik, at the foot of Uludag Mountain. Created by an Ottoman "Wakif", a charity move, to improve the lives of villagers, this is the beginning of a new city and is part of UNESCO in Bursa. We continue to Bursa where we will visit Selçuk of the Great Mosque. A different place from the usual ones of the Ottoman period that we will visit in Istanbul. We continue to the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara at Mudanya and board a fast ferry to Istanbul, the most convenient way to reach this wonderful sea city, where it was built through wonderful sea routes, creating the world's largest city for thousands of years and the center of the world's three largest empires (Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman) for over 1500 years.

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Breakfast

We will spend the morning exploring Sultanhamet, the historical center of Istanbul. Here we will see the emblematic Hagia Sophia, which was built by order of the emperor Justinian in the 6th century AD. We will also visit the Blue Mosque, with its magnificent array of domes and semi-domes, as well as the six slender minarets that emerge from the corners of the mosque. We continue to the ancient Hippodrome, the scene of chariot races and the center of Byzantine political life. In the afternoon you will be free to do your shopping at the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest in the Middle East and a shopper's mecca for many centuries. Tonight we will meet for the final group dinner.

We continue with a walk in the wine cellars near Cornudella del Montsant for an afternoon of wine tasting

The tour officially ends after breakfast. Those on the group flight will have the morning free until we board the bus to the airport .

Breakfast