ASIA MINOR AND MELITOUR PRESENT
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLICAL SITES OF TURKEY

Tour Dates
 (14 Days)
 ( 4 Days, Optional)
For more details and to print the itinerary please click here to see our tour hand-book
For the price of the tour please click here

For more information and sign up please contact Mr Kamuran Kadipasaoglu at  Asia Minor, Houston

 AsliKumari at MELITOUR

Blue line flight from Istanbul to Adana / From izmir - Istanbul
Red Line bus route Main tour and tour extension

Day 01 Istanbul
Arrival in Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
Transfer to Hotel Ayasofya. Please check arrival info for details.
Hotel Ayasofya is located in the Old City, where most houses remain
as they were  200 years ago . The hotel is situated within walking distance
of all the must-see places in Istanbul. Following check-in and a brief rest,
tour will start at 5.00 pm. After a brief introduction, we will begin by visiting
 the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque).

Dinner will be served at the Blue House, also in the Old City. From the terrace,
 we can see a magnificent view of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Asian
coast of Istanbul. For dinner, we will have a typical sampling of Turkish food.

Day 02
In the morning, we will visit the Byzantine Cistern and the Turkish Islamic Art Museum.
 The visit to the Turkish Islamic Art Museum, especially the ethnographic section,
makes a perfect introduction to what we will see in the countryside.  After lunch
visit Hagia Sophia, the grandest standing monument from 1500 years before our
time; the Topkapi Palace, the residence of the Ottoman Sultans from 1453-1856.

At 06:30 PM we will have a group meeting at the lobby of the hotel to go over
the tour and to answer the possible questions of the tour members.

Dinner will be served at Kumkapi, a very colorful quarter of Istanbul,
where the ambiance is just as memorable as the food we will be served in this
seafood restaurant. Overnight at Hotel Ayasofya ISTANBUL

Day 03   ISTANBUL  
Today, we will begin by visiting the Church of St. Savior in Chora (Kariye Museum),
a beautiful 6^th c. Byzantian Church, decorated with 11^th c. wall paintings depicting  scenes from the Bible. Next, we will visit the hub of Istanbul’s trade activity for 5 centuries, the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi). After lunch, we will see one of the masterpieces of the 16^th c. chief architect, Mimar Sinan. The mosque he built for Sultan Suleyman the Magnificient, The Suleymaniye Mosque, is one of the landmarks of the Istanbul skyline with its four minarets and cascading domes. Next, we will visit the See of Greek Orthodox Christianity, the Patriarchate in Fener on the shores of the Golden Horn. Lastly, we will take a walk under the 500-year old domes of the Spice Market (Misir Carsisi). We will relax and enjoy the beautiful sky line of Istanbul in a private tour boat that will take us up and down the Bosphorus, on the shores of which we will see magnificent palaces, private kiosks, castles, etc. Dinner will be served  at a wonderful place where we will enjoy the moon light dancing on the waters of Bosphorus

Day 04   ANTAKYA                                                          
MORNING FLIGHT TO ADANA  Antioch of Cilicia (Antakya) is where St. Stephan and Barnabas organized the first followers of Christ. This is also where St. Paul met Barnabas for the first time, after his epiphany on the road to Damascus, and his proselytizing work in Namibia and in Damascus. St. Peter also traveled here from Jerusalem to resolve the disputes between the Jerusalem fathers and the “Greek School” led by St. Stephan. This is also where the followers of Christ were called Christians for the first time.  We will visit the mosaic Museum of Antakya which reveals the wealth and grandeur of the Roman city at  St. Paul's time. OVERNIGHT  IN ANTAKYA at Antik Beyazit Hotel

Day 05   GUZELYURT
Drive to Tarsus, birthplace of St. Paul.Drive through the Cilician Gates, just like Paul and Barnabas did on their first journey into Galatia “to deliver unutterable expressions into a strange land” (II Cor 12:2-4). At Nigde, we will see the oldest known Madonna and the Child scene on a wall of a 1,100 year old church. We will continue to where St. Gregory was born and established the oldest monastery on earth. In the beauty of the Monastery Valley, one can imagine the monks contemplating to find the best way of passing the word of God to the fire worshippers of the region. OVERNIGHT AT HOTEL KARBALLA in GUZELYURT
                                                       

Day 06   CAPPADOCIA
From Guzelyurt, we will driv to Cappadocia, where we will visit the underground city of Kaymakli and the oldest Monastary of Turkey.The Christians of the first through     fourth century had to hide away from the Romans who were persecuting Christians . The underground cities were excellent refuge for those who were determined not to convert. After christianity was accepted as a state religion, the same underground cities were used to hide from the Arab invaders. We will visit the locals in their natural homes, carved out of the peculiar land formations in the volcanic ash, called Fairy Chimneys.Overnight at MUSEUM HOTEL, in Uchisar   

Day 07    CAPPADOCIA
In Cappadocia, Creator and man competed in creating the most unusual and the most beautiful. Enjoy the moon-like landscape with endless forms of work of art, natural and man-made. The colors of the frescoes of the twelve hundred year old churches are just as fresh as the colors of the carpets woven in the region. The rock formations are just as striking as the local pottery made of the clay obtained from the old river beds. St Paul visited the region, called Caesarea, on his 1st Missionary Journey. As one visits the colorful "churches" of Cappadocia and admires the surrounding forms of thrilling art buried in nature, it becomes easier to imagine how the ideas and teachings of St. Paul sprouted into life and affected the Cappadocians for two thousand years. We will visit the carpet cooperative to learn more about the Turkish carpets, which are inseparable part of the Turkish life. Dinner & Overnight at Museum Hotel. In the morning easy hike to Zelve to see the 10-11th century churches, monasteries and houses carved in the rocks. Visit villagers at their rock dwellings. We will visit the astonishing Goreme Open Air Museum, with its numerous monasteries and see how each monk had interpreted, in their wall paintings, the history of Christianity.  

Day 08  KONYA
We will begin our day with a visit to Avanos, on the banks of the Red River, to see how the potters perform the
thousand-year old tradition of ceramics.  After lunch , we will continue to Konya (Iconium) on the old silk road.
Following the foot steps ofSt.Paul we will appreciate the distances that St Paul had to cover on foot or on his donkey.
En route, we will make a couple of stops at the Caravanserais, where Camels used to take a break on their long journey from China to the Mediterranean.
Dinner and overnight at hotel BAYKARA in Konya
                                                                                                                           

Day 09  ANTALYA
Today, in Konya (Iconium), we will learn about one of the most
prominent mystic philosophers and poets of Islam,
Mewlana Celalettin-i Rumi. Sufism, as Islamic mysticism is known, will be the topic of our morning lecture. Celaleddin-i Rumi’s teachings are the essence of our cultural identity. Discovering Rumi will be the most pleasant experience of Christian / Moslem encounter.
 
                                                                 PERGE                           BARNABAS
After lunch, crossing over the Taurus Mountains, we will head south to the Mediterranean and visit the Roman cities of Aspendos and Perge, through which St. Paul and St. Barnabas passed on their way to Antioch of Pisidia, during Paul’s first Journey.  To give the tour members a break from the group feeling tonight's dinner at Antalya (Attalia) is NOT included in the price of the tour. Overnight at Antalya.  At this beautiful Mediterranean city we will stay at a 200 year old renovated house, Atelya Pansion.

We will spend whole day on our private yacht and visit the ancient sites as emperor Hadrian did 1200 yesrs ago

October
is the best  time of the year
to enjoy the
blue warm waters of the Mediterranean.

Turkish bath is a wonderful cultural experience.
 

                 St Paul Writing his letter to the Ephesians                 Didyma the temple of Apollo                  The Elders of Ephesus(from Sinop museum) 

Day 13  KUSADASI
Today, we will visit the ancient site of Ephesus, the Ephesus Museum and the house of the Virgin Mary. Ephesus was the 4^th largest city of the Roman Empire, after Rome, Alexandria and Antioch of Cilicia.  Today, Ephesus is the largest Roman excavation site in Turkey. The grand avenues and intact social buildings help one build the city in their imagination with not too much of an effort. As one walks in the theater, which had a seating capacity of 24,000, the sounds of the enraged Ephesians, led by Demitrius the silversmith, can almost be heard. According to Acts 19 St Paul, who visited Ephesus twice, was never given an opportunity to speak in this theater when the Ephesians were reminded that St Paul and his teachings were a threat to the way they made their living. So Paul wrote everything he had to say to the Ephesians in his letters. Thus Ephesus is mentioned not only in Acts but there is a whole big chapter in the Bible named the ''Epistle of Apostle Paul to the Ephesians.'' Overnight at Kismet hotel in Kusadasi

              The last house of Virgin Mary

Virgin Mary - Nativity

Ephesus had the pleasure of having St Paul twice.But the riot at this theater endangered his life.Twenty four thousand Ephesians cried ot, "Great  
is Artemis of Ephesians" when they realized what sort of a threat Paul was to their economy.



Theater  in Ephesus

Day 14  WEDNESDAY
FLY TO ISTANBUL in TIME FOR PEOPLE TO CATCH THEIR FLIGHTS TO THE  USA
Those who can stay will continue with the tour to Pergamum.

OPTIONAL TOUR EXTENSION ITINERARY
Considering that some people might not have enough time to be away for more than 2 weeks
we have decided to offer the next four days as an optional tour. If you have time, you will love  the wonderful experiences that we will have during this short extension.
For the price of the tour extension please click here

Day 1 AYVALIK
We drive north along the Aegean Sea to Pergamum, which reached its zenith in the second century B.C.E. and equals Ephesus in importance. Pergamum wasone of the Seven Churches of Revelation. Here we visit the Acropolis; the library that rivaled Alexandria; and the Asclepion, a great medical center that peaked under the celebrated physician Galen, who was born here. We continue our drive through a pine nut forest and mountain villages to Ayvalik, Overnight at Ayvalik.

Day 2, YESILYURT

We drive all the way around the Bay of Edremit, enjoying the coastal scenery, then visit the Temple of Athena, in Assos. (Act -20)We continue to the nearby picturesque village of Yesilyurt. Here we stay overnight in the most luxurious accommodations of the trip -- a hotel overlooking the mountains where mythology tells us that Hera and Zeus married.

Temple of Athena
 

I

Day 3  IZNIK                             
Today our adventure takes us first to Troy. Several ancient cities have been excavated here, but the site’s real romance comes from the decade-long Trojan War, in the thirteenth century B.C.E. The face that launched a thousand ships, the Achilles heel, the wooden horse -- all of it happened here, in Homer’s telling of the war in the Iliad.
Our next stop will be Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. We will enjoy the Early Ottoman architecture and how they have contributed to the Islamic art with their calligraphy and tiles.

Homer