1 WEEK at EASTERN TURKEY

A GREAT ADVENTURE to the EASTERN TURKEY
WHERE HISTORY BEGINS & BEING RE-WRITTEN

DAY 1 - ISTANBUL / MARDIN

You will be transferred to Istanbul Airport to take Turkish Airlines flight to Mardin. (ETD13:55 /ETA 1555). Upon arrival in Mardin, you will be transferred to your hotel.

DAY 2 - MARDIN

At 9 am, you will depart for Hasankeyf by the Tigris River. It was founded by the Romans as an eastern bastion of the Asia Minor and later became the Byzantine bishopric, before ruined by the Mongols in 1260 A.D. Continue to Midyad – Mardin to visit, one of the World’s first Universities, Mesudiye Medrasa. Darülzafeyran, which used to be an Assyrian Orthodox Monastery where guests will discover the highlights of Assyrians Civilization. Mardin is also known for its' historic houses which have been recently restored by UNESCO. From a distance, the golden stone of Mardin houses blend into the rock of the hills on which the city is built.

Overnight in Mardin.

DAY 3 -  MARDIN - SANLIURFA

After breakfast, departure from the hotel for Harran, overlooking to the Atatürk Dam which is presumed to be the location where Rebecca drew water for Jacob and where Abraham decided to move into the land of Canaan. Explore Harran, lying on the Mesopotamian plain, known for its mud brick ‘’bee hive’’ like dwellings. Continue to ‘’glorious’’ Urfa, which is a truly old city.  According to both Christian and Muslim sources, Abraham received his summons from God to take himself and his family to Canaan while living in Urfa.

Today’s visits in Urfa will include:

The Cave of Abraham; (today’s pilgrimage and worshipping place),

according to the local legend, it was here that Abraham was born, spending the first ten years of his life hiding, because a local Assyrian tyrant Nemrut, had the decreed that all new born children be killed.

Halil – ür Rahman Complex; in accordance with traditions this is a holly place, housing a mosque and two pools filled with sacred carps which is the one that saved Abraham from a fiery end. 

Overnight in Urfa.

DAY 4 - URFA - ADIYAMAN

Early morning you will depart from the hotel for your private tour. Today, you will visit Göbekli Tepe, an incredibly important site inhabited 12,000 years ago. The site contains the oldest known place of worship in the world, predating Stonehenge by 7,000 years. It consists of a number of concentric circles with great stone slabs carved with animals and plants. Before Göbekli Tepe was excavated, archaeologists could not even conceive that a site as old and extensive as this could ever have existed. It had always been assumed that agriculture and agricultural settlements came first, followed later by construction of temples and worship sites. Here, we have a religious site that predates the Agricultural Revolution, forcing a rethinking the nature of life in hunter-gatherer and pre-agrarian societies.

After visiting Gobeklitepe, you will have a lunch (at your own cost) at a local restaurant (your guide will recommend couple of restaurants for you to choose).

At the end of the tour you will be driven to Adıyaman for overnight.

DAY 5 - ADIYAMAN – NEMRUT - GAZIANTEP

Early morning you will depart from the hotel for Adiyaman. Overlooking the Ataturk Dam on the way to Nemrut we will drive and walk to   the summit of Mount Nemrut. On the summit of, Mount Nemrut, the highest mountain in Northern Mesopotamia at 7,053 feet, sits the gigantic funerary   sanctuary erected in the first century BC by King Antiochus I of Commagene.   The engineering involved continues to amaze visitors seeing for the first time the artificial tumulus as terraces flank it on which rest the colossal statues of Apollo, Zeus, Hercules, Tyche and Antiochus.

At the end of the tour, you will be driven to Gaziantep for overnight.

DAY 6 - GAZIANTEP

After breakfast, you will have a tour of the city including a visit to the Gaziantep Archaeological Museum where the spectacular mosaics saved from Zeugma Antique Site are exhibited. Next visit will be to historical Tepebasi district to see the fine examples of mid-nineteenth century southeastern Anatolian architecture -the missionary hospital and school constructed at the request of Tepebasi’s merchants, Synagogues, mosques and Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches . There will be free time to explore the historical part of the city as well as for shopping at the copper bazaar.

Overnight in Gaziantep.

DAY 7 – GAZIANTEP /ISTANBUL

You will take an early flight to Istanbul to connect your outbound flight back home departing not before than 12 noon.