Day 1: Arrival Istanbul / Adana (D)
Following our guests’ arrival to Istanbul, our guests will be met by our staff and fly to Adana. Our tour director will brief our guests about the itinerary before dinner. Dinner and overnight stay will be at the hotel.
Day 2: Adana (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we will visit to the Adana Archeological Museum. We continue our tour with visit to the Tas Kopru (Stone bridge). From here, we will visit to the Big clock tower. After than, we will visit to the Sabanci Grand Mosque. The end of tour, we drive back to our hotel in Adana.
Day 3: Adana / Gaziantep (B/L/D)
We will set off after breakfast for our journey to Gaziantep. On the way we pay a short visit to Gaziantep Mosaics Museum to admire the new findings from Zeugma (the Seleucia Euphrates- one of the four major cities of the Kingdom of Commagene during the 1st century BC). This museum was built in 2013 and at the moment it is the biggest Mosaics Museum in the world.
Day 4: Gaziantep / Sanliurfa (B/L/D)
After breakfast , we will make our way to Sanliurfa, and on the way we will stop for a private boat trip in Halfeti. Halfeti is known for Rumkale, one of the most important castle cities of the Middle Ages, and the village of Savaşan, half of which was submerged during the construction of the Birecik Dam. Sanliurfa was a city in the upper Mesopotamia known as Edessa. Historically Sanliurfa was also an important city on the Fertile Crescent that is the region from Mediterranean shores to Upper Mesopotamia. Sanliurfa was conquered by the First Crusade also and became the County of Edessa, one of the “outremers”. Here we will visit the Crusaders Fortress and the Mosque of Halil Rahman nearby where according to Muslim Version of history, Abraham was born. We will enjoy our dinner and overnight stay in Sanliurfa.
Day 5: Sanliurfa / Harran / Sanliurfa (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we will check out from our hotel and drive to Harran. This upper Mesopotamian city was mentioned in Genesis XI.31.32: XII.4.5 that is today a village also famous for beehive houses. It was here that Abraham spent several years of his life. Harran was also the site of the Temple of Sin (known also as the first University), famous throughout the ancient world for its star readers and savants. The importance of the moon and of astrology/ astronomy for the people of Mesopotamia can be inferred from the fact that their Maggi studied the phases of the moon in detail, attempting to predict the future. It was probably from them that Thales of Miletus learned to predict the eclipse of the sun. In Genesis II, it is mentioned to be the place of Garden of Eden with the rivers (Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates) flowing through this garden.
Dinner and overnight stay will be in Sanliurfa
Day 6: Sanliurfa / Göbeklitepe / Adiyaman (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we will visit to the Gobeklitepe. It is located 18 kilometers northeast of Şanlıurfa city center, near Örencik Village. The site was discovered in 1963 during a survey carried out in partnership with the Universities of Istanbul and Chicago and was identified as the “V52 Neolithic Settlement”. The real value of the area began to emerge with the excavations started after 1994. After these studies, it was understood that Göbeklitepe was a cult center dating back 12000 years.
Dinner and overnight stay will be in Adiyaman
Day 7: Adiyaman / Nemrut / Diyarbakir (B/L/D)
We leave very early in the morning for Mount Nemrut where King Antiochus I of Commagene had a colossal funerary sanctuary built at a height of 6300 ft on top of the mountain. 16 giant statutes, each 10m in height, were dedicated to Greco-Persian gods and to King Antiochus’ Persian ancestors. The East & West terraces have a central courtyard surrounded with colossal statutes of lions, eagles, etc. The colossal statutes of seated figures are Apollo, Hermes, Zeus and Hercules. Watching the sunrise over river Euphrates from the top of Mt. Nemrut is an incomparable experience. The panorama of the West and the East allows us to understand why Antiochus chose this spot to build his final resting place. After this visit, we will continue on to the city of Diyarbakir.
Dinner and overnight stay will be at the hotel in Diyarbakir.
Day 8: Diyarbakir (B/L/D)
We will spend the morning for sightseeing in Diyarbakir (ancient Amida), a city of which history goes back to the Hurrian Kingdom of Mitanni (1500 BC). Throughout the history, many different civilizations like the Urartu, Assyrians, Persians, Alexander the Great, and Seleucids ruled this city. Arabs later conquered the city and renamed it as Diyar Bakir (land of copper). In 1085 the Seljuks conquered it and then the Ottomans took over in 1515. The highlights of our tour will be the Basalt Walls, one of the finest existing examples of medieval military architecture, the four old city gates, the Ulu Mosque (the Grand Mosque) and the Church of St. Mary (17th century).
Day 9: Diyarbakir / Mardin (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we will drive to Mardin (old Marida) located on the south slope of a mountain, to visit the 1500 year old Monasteries. During our visit we will see Mor Gabriel, Mor Yakup, Deyrul Zafaran Monasteries, the old Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate. We will have our dinner and overnight stay in Mardin.
Day 10: Mardin / Midyat / Hasankeyf / Mardin (B/L/D)
In the early morning we set off our way to Hasankeyf via Nusaybin and Midyat, which has a Medieval look with its narrow and fortified stone mansions.
Day 11: Mardin / Diyarbakir (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we will visit to the Mardin Old city houses, streets and bazaars. We will have free time for shopping and discover old historical places. We will visit to the Grand Mosque and the typical, beautiful stone masonry of the Houses of Mardin. After than, we will visit to the Mardin Castle and we will have free time to taste traditional foods in old traditional restaurants. After our visits, we drive to Diyarbakır.
Day 12: Diyarbakir / Istanbul (B)
Following the breakfast, we transferred to Diyarbakir airport for our domestic flight back to Istanbul. Arrive in Istanbul, we drive to our hotel in Istanbul
Day 13: Istanbul / Fly Back Home (B)
After breakfast, we drive to Istanbul airport for our flight back home.
