Day 1 Portugal /Cappadocia

Departure by flight to Cappadocia, via Istanbul. Arrival and accommodation.

Day 2 Cappadocia

Half board. Optionally, you can take a spectacular hot air balloon ride at dawn. Visit this region, the birthplace of St. George, which combines the vagaries of nature with places of great cultural interest. The visit begins with the underground city of Ozkonak or a similar one, built by Christian communities to protect themselves from Arab attacks. Stop at a carpet and kilim store. In the afternoon, visit Göreme's many monasteries and chapels carved out of the rock and decorated with frescoes. Continue through the Güvercinlik valley, with a panoramic view of Uchisar Castle, located on a promontory of volcanic rock pierced by tunnels and windows. Stop at a store selling handmade decorations and jewelry in Cappadocia. Dinner at the hotel. Optionally, you can attend a Turkish folk dance show.

Day 3 Cappadocia / Pamukkale

Half board. Departure to visit the Seleucid Caravanserai 'Sultanhani', located on the legendary Silk Road and which served as a stopping point for caravans. Continue to Pamukkale, or 'cotton castle', a small town famous for its petrified white travertine pools formed by the lime contained in the water of the hot springs that emanate from the area. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 4 Pamukkale / Ephesus / Istanbul

Breakfast. In the morning, visit Hierapolis, an ancient seaside resort founded around 190 BC by the king of Pergamum, largely during Roman times, built over the pools with a beautiful theater and large necropolis. Departure for Ephesus, the best-preserved classical city in Turkey, where the Library of Celsus, the Temple of Hadrian and its great theater stand out. Continue with a visit to the Basilica of St. John, built by Emperor Justinian on the tomb of the apostle St. John, who died in Ephesus. Today only its ruins are preserved. Stop at a workshop where parades and sales of leather garments take place. Departure by flight to Istanbul. Accommodation.

Day 5 Istanbul

Breakfast. Half-day visit to the "Golden Horn". Continue towards the picturesque and colorful districts of Ferner and Balat, protected by UNESCO and considered the first settlements of ancient Constantinople. Next, we will pass along the shore of the Golden Horn and visit the Iron Church of St. Stephen, a Bulgarian Orthodox church in a Turkish town, related to the struggle for ecclesiastical independence in the 1930s and 1940s, and the only cast iron Orthodox church in the world. Continue with a visit to the Grand Bazaar, with more than 4,500 stores grouped in areas specializing in various products: jewellery, clothing, among others. Rest of the day at leisure.

Day 6 Istanbul

Breakfast. Half-day "Byzantine" tour. Start with a visit to the Suleymaniye Mosque, considered the most beautiful of Istanbul's imperial mosques, built between 1550 and 1557 by Sinan, the famous architect of the Ottoman Golden Age. Continue to the ancient walls of Constantinople, at what is now the Mevlana Gate, built by Emperor Theodosius II in 413. These solid walls, several stories high and between three and six meters thick, protected the city from the constant attacks of the Huns, Bulgarians, Russians, Arabs, Goths and Turks. The walls were only breached twice, by the Crusaders in 1204 and by Mehmet "the Conqueror" in 1453. Next, visit the Monastery of the Virgin of the Fountain. According to the historians Procopius and Cedar, the church was originally built by Emperor Justinian in the last years of his reign, near a water source formerly known as the "Fountain of Miracles", from a sacred well located outside the walls of Theodosius II, in correspondence with the current Silivri Gate. The visit ends at Eminönü, in Byzantine and Ottoman times the main access to the city, now a busy area where the "Egyptian Market" or "Spice Bazaar" is located.

Day 7 Istanbul

Breakfast. Free day to enjoy the beauty of the city.

Day 8 Istanbul / Portugal

Breakfast. Departure by flight back to Portugal. Arrival.