Visit a well-preserved 13th-century Seljuk caravanserai, a fortified inn that sheltered merchants and camels along the Silk Road. Pass through a monumental portal into broad courtyards and barrel-vaulted halls.

Learn how these waystations offered safety, stabling, and workshops at the crossroads of empires. Stone muqarnas, inscriptions, and sturdy buttresses speak to a world tied together by trade, hospitality, and faith.

• 11 Dinner (D)
• 13 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Istanbul: Haggle for souvenirs at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar one of the largest covered markets in the world with 60 streets and over 5,000 shops.
• Cappadocia: Rise early and head to a panoramic viewpoint to watch hundreds of hot air balloons float over Cappadocia’s fairy chimneys, valleys and rock formations. As the sun comes up, enjoy uninterrupted views and brilliant photo moments.
• Avanos: Learn about the art of pottery making in Avanos.

• Deluxe coach travel
• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• 4-star stays

Visit a family atelier in Avanos to see a master potter shape red clay from the Kizilirmak River. Watch the wheel spin as forms emerge, then examine motifs inspired by Anatolian tradition.

Learn about firing techniques and glazes, and try your hand at the wheel if you wish. This hands-on encounter honors a craft that has supplied tableware and art to the region for centuries.

Step into Topkapi Palace, the cliff-top citadel from which Ottoman sultans governed an empire. Walk through flowered courtyards and pavilions toward views across the Bosphorus, pausing to appreciate intricate Iznik tiles and filigreed latticework.

Learn how this complex once housed the imperial household, kitchens, and ceremonial halls, and discover the artistry that underpinned courtly life. The palace’s collections and setting illuminate centuries of power, protocol, and refined craftsmanship overlooking two continents.

Wander the lantern-lit lanes of the Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest covered markets. Follow your guide through vaulted passages where copperware gleams, carpets unfurl like tapestries, and spice merchants perfume the air.

Hear stories of caravans and guilds as you navigate more than 60 streets and thousands of stalls. Practice gentle bargaining, meet artisans at work, and soak up the marketplace energy that has animated Istanbul’s commercial heart for centuries.

Visit the UNESCO-listed city of Troy, layered with millennia of settlement that inspired Homer’s epics. Walk past ancient walls and gates before seeing the emblematic wooden horse that evokes the ruse which ended a decade-long siege.

Gain context on excavations that revealed successive Troys, from Bronze Age levels to classical remains. The windswept landscape and coastal light add drama to tales of heroes, stratagems, and the blurred lines between myth and history.

Witness the solemn Anzac Cove Dawn Service as first light washes the shoreline where troops landed in 1915. Continue to Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair, pausing among windswept ridges and memorials to honor lives lost on both sides.

Hear accounts of the campaign’s terrain, tactics, and legacy in the birth stories of modern nations. This powerful commemoration invites you to pause for photos and reflection amid pine-scented air and views over the Dardanelles.

Walk marble avenues through Ephesus, where colonnades frame the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre arcs toward the hills. Trace the ruts of ancient carts and imagine merchant ships once docking nearby.

Travel to Mt. Koressos to visit the House of the Virgin Mary, a tranquil pilgrimage site surrounded by olive trees. Combined, these places reveal layers of Greco-Roman splendor and early Christian devotion in Asia Minor.

Admire the glistening travertine pools of Pamukkale’s Cotton Castle, a natural cascade of white stone formed by mineral-rich waters. Photograph the luminous terraces that tumble toward the valley under shifting light.

Explore nearby Hierapolis, a Roman spa city of colonnades, baths, and necropolis lanes. Learn how warm springs made this a place of healing, where the ancient world’s pursuit of health met elegant architecture and sacred geography.

Join a warmly hosted Be My Guest lunch in a Taurus Mountains village, where family recipes, oven-fresh breads, and garden produce showcase rural Anatolian flavors. Hear how mountain life shapes seasonal dishes and hospitality.

Share stories with your hosts and learn about enduring local traditions and craftsmanship. The setting—stone homes, mountain breezes, and the scent of herbs—frames an intimate cultural exchange around the table.

Discover one of Turkey’s finest collections at the Antalya Archaeological Museum, where marble statues from nearby Perge stand in silent ranks. Trace civilizations from prehistory to Rome through sarcophagi, mosaics, and ritual objects.

Curated galleries provide context for the region’s cities and sanctuaries, highlighting craftsmanship and mythology. This encounter with antiquity deepens your appreciation for the coastal landscape you’ve been exploring.

Stand within the world’s best-preserved Roman theatre at Aspendos, renowned for acoustics that carry a whisper to the highest tier. Inspect the towering stage building and perfect semicircle of limestone seats.

Built in the 2nd century, the theatre’s engineering and ornament convey the civic pride of a prosperous Pamphylian city. The surrounding hills and citrus groves provide a timeless Mediterranean backdrop to this masterpiece of performance architecture.

Visit the heart of Sufi tradition at the Mevlana Museum and Mausoleum, resting place of Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Beneath the iconic turquoise-tiled dome, explore exhibits of musical instruments, robes, and manuscripts.

Understand the philosophy behind the Whirling Dervishes and how Konya became a sanctuary of spiritual poetry and music. The museum’s courtyards and dervish lodges evoke a contemplative world devoted to love and unity.

Enter a former Seljuk medrese to admire lustrous turquoise and cobalt tiles at the Karatay Tile Museum. Look up to an exquisitely Seljuk-tiled dome that shimmers like a night sky.

Panels, mihrabs, and geometric motifs reveal the science and beauty behind medieval Anatolian glazing. This serene space showcases the artistry that once adorned palaces, mosques, and shrines across the Seljuk realm.

Descend into the cool passageways of Saratli Underground City, carved from volcanic tuff. Navigate narrow tunnels to see storerooms, kitchens, and ventilation shafts that once sheltered entire communities.

Hear how people retreated here during times of threat, using rolling stone doors and hidden chimneys for protection. The labyrinth’s textures, dim chambers, and echoes bring Cappadocia’s resourceful past vividly to life.

Meet your local host, Ali, at King’s Valley Eco Farm to see how traditional methods sustain Cappadocia’s terroir. Walk orchards nourished by pigeon natural fertilizer, sample freshly baked bread, and taste seasonal fruits and dried delicacies.

Hear how reviving heritage practices preserves biodiversity and community livelihoods. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience advances responsible production while celebrating the knowledge passed down through generations.

Greet daybreak from a panoramic lookout as hundreds of hot air balloons drift above fairy-chimney valleys. Capture the sunrise over the valleys as tuff spires glow pink and the plateau breathes crisp morning air.

Photographers will relish shifting colors and silhouettes, while others simply take in the hush, punctuated by distant burners. It’s a serene moment that frames Cappadocia’s surreal geology in soft, golden light.

Explore the Goreme Open-Air Museum, a monastic valley where chapels and refectories are carved into the rock. Step inside rock-cut churches to admire frescoes that glow with saints, angels, and biblical scenes.

Learn how early Christian communities worshipped and taught here, adapting sacred spaces to the terrain. The fusion of geology and faith creates a gallery of medieval art set within sculpted stone.

Discover Turkey’s deep past at the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, housed in restored Ottoman buildings. Encounter Hittite reliefs, Bronze Age treasures, and Neolithic artifacts that chart the rise of cultures on the central plateau.

Curated timelines connect ancient innovations to the landscapes you travel through. This museum offers a compelling overview of Anatolia’s role as a cradle and crossroads of civilization.

Cruise the Mediterranean on a comfortable yacht to admire cliff-backed bays and the curve of Antalya’s coast. Return to wander Kaleici, the Roman-era harbor quarter of cobbled lanes and Ottoman houses.

Hear tales of traders and sultans as you pass landmarks like Hadrian’s Gate and the clock tower. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to minimum numbers and weather.

Attend an evening Sema, the sacred ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes, accompanied by reed flute and devotional verse. Watch as white-robed performers turn in meditative circles, symbolizing ascent toward the divine.

Your guide explains the Mevlevi tradition and its roots in Rumi’s teachings. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering a contemplative glimpse into living Sufi heritage.

Cruise the Bosphorus to see palaces, mosques, and wooden yali mansions glide by as Europe and Asia frame the strait. Keep your camera ready for Dolmabahce Palace, Ottoman fortresses, and bustling ferry piers.

From the waterline, Istanbul’s skyline reveals centuries in a single panorama, punctuated by domes and minarets. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to sailing conditions.

Trafalgar

Explore Istanbul’s storied peninsula with your guide, tracing the spine of the ancient Hippodrome where chariots once thundered past the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius. Admire the Hagia Sophia and its soaring dome, and view the Blue Mosque with its elegant cascade of minarets framing Sultanahmet Square.

Hear how empires shifted from Byzantium to Ottoman rule as you stand amid monuments that shaped faith and power. Sense the city’s rhythm in the call to prayer and the murmuring crowds that link medieval streets to a modern metropolis.

Stroll among Pasabag’s fairy chimneys, fantastical pillars crowned with mushroom-shaped caps. Trace sandy paths between tuff spires where hermits once carved simple cells into the rock.

Geology takes center stage as wind and water etch soft stone into sculptural forms. Your walk reveals textures, quiet alcoves, and viewpoints that highlight Cappadocia’s otherworldly landscape.

Pay respects at Anitkabir, the monumental resting place of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey. Cross the ceremonial boulevard to a colonnaded courtyard, where solemn architecture frames the mausoleum.

Exhibits and reliefs illuminate the War of Independence and reforms that shaped the republic. The site’s scale, symmetry, and quiet dignity invite contemplation on national identity and leadership.