Turkey and Greece Travel Tour 271

1. Arrival in Athens. || 37.987832060176075, 23.72734948367517

Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry and more from Ancient Greece.

2. Hotel check in. || 37.98973860711357, 23.725054896302975

3. Athens City Tour

This tour will be a 4 hour tour and inlcude transportation and a local certified guide.

4. Acropolis of Athens. || 37.97592783610977, 23.7220581578482

The Acropolis of Athens is the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still existing in our times. It is situated on a hill of average height (156m) that rises in the basin of Athens. Its overall dimensions are approximately 170 by 350m.

5. Parthenon. || 37.971663795320666, 23.72672732513719

The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical Greek art, and the Parthenon is considered an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, democracy, and Western civilization.

6. Ancient Agora of Athens. || 37.97524188290233, 23.72205577433897

The ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Agoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill.

7. Temple of Olympian Zeus. || 37.969502963081695, 23.73315364047723

Vast temple begun in 6th century B.C. on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus.

8. Free time

9. Night in Athens

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.9896794177436, 23.725033438632895

2. Flight from Athens to Skopelos.

3. Arrival in Skopelos. || 39.122456530776994, 23.725653332889927

Skopelos is a Greek island in the western Aegean Sea. Skopelos is one of several islands which comprise the Northern Sporades island group, which lies east of the Pelion peninsula on the mainland and north of the island of Euboea. It is part of the Thessaly region.

4. Rental Car pick up

5. Skopelos Tour

Explore Skopelos on a self-guided tour, starting in the charming Skopelos Chora with its whitewashed buildings and the stunning Church of the Virgin Mary. Relax on beautiful beaches like Kastani and Stafilos, or hike scenic coastal trails. Savor local dishes at a traditional taverna before enjoying a sunset stroll along the harbor, soaking in the island's vibrant atmosphere. Discover the natural beauty and rich culture of this Aegean gem!

6. Free time

7. Night in Skopelos. || 39.119151848120055, 23.72803188286202

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 39.11908525759028, 23.727999696356903

2. Free day

Spend the day relaxing at the hotel or exploring on your own.

3. Night in Skopelos

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 39.119176819552486, 23.72803188286202

2. Rental car drop off

3. Flight from Skopelos to Istanbul

4. Arrival in Istanbul. || 41.01173324888678, 28.987247613970144

Istanbul is a major city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. Its Old City reflects cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. The iconic Byzantine Hagia Sophia features a soaring 6th-century dome and rare Christian mosaics.

5. Hotel check in. || 41.013778649193675, 28.907518509945053

6. Free time

7. Night in Istanbul

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 41.013734124136136, 28.907497052336062

2. Free day

Spend the day relaxing at the hotel or exploring on your own.

3. Night in Istanbul

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 41.01369769452125, 28.907561425285206

2. Istanbul Panoramic Tour

3. Süleymaniye Mosque. || 41.01620887482105, 28.964024740625486

The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan.

4. Ancient City Walls

These walls wereone of the most elaborate fortification systems of the ancient world and were designed to provide defense against land and sea attacks. Today they are still standing in various stages of preservation, and you can explore them at your leisure. The walls date to the 5th century CE and stretch for miles.

5. The Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey.

6. Fish District

7. Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. || 41.00887664792229, 28.98013579783331

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537.

8. Taksim. || 41.03784154200575, 28.98534897875306

Fanning out from Taksim Square with its Republic Monument, Taksim is a busy nightlife, shopping, and dining area. Vintage trams shuttle along Istiklal Caddesi, the city’s main pedestrian boulevard, which is lined with 19th-century buildings housing international shopping chains, movie theaters, and cafes. The dense network of side streets is filled with bars, antiques shops, and rooftop eateries with Bosphorus views.

9. Galata Tower. || 41.025730851414316, 28.974128596450708

The Galata Tower, officially the Galata Tower Museum, is an old Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. Built as a watchtower at the highest point of the Walls of Galata, the tower is now an exhibition space and museum, and a symbol of Beyoğlu and Istanbul.

10. Free time

11. Night in Istanbul

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 41.013705789992954, 28.907593611790322

2. Topkapi Palace. ||41.011658755599775, 28.983363335667388

The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.

3. Bosphorus. || 41.151239217968346, 29.060885600424637

The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental boundaries between Asia and Europe. It also divides Turkey by separating Asia minor from Thrace.

4. Uskudar district. || 41.0333990258135, 29.032023617377007

5. Yeni Valide. || 41.02487077117635, 29.015109354120806

The Yeni Valide Mosque is an 18th-century Ottoman mosque in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul, Turkey.

6. Maiden's Tower. || 41.02122860598107, 29.00417434062576

The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey. The tower appeared on the reverse of the Turkish 10 lira banknote from 1966 to 1981.

7. Free time

8. Night in Ankara. || 39.939799509688775, 32.85154316756184

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 39.93983241370699, 32.85150025222168

2. Ankara. || 39.92924223320854, 32.85884043449921

Ankara, Turkey’s cosmopolitan capital, sits in the country’s central Anatolia region. It’s a center for the performing arts, home to the State Opera and Ballet, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and several national theater companies. Overlooking the city is Anitkabir, the enormous hilltop mausoleum of Kemal Atatürk, modern Turkey’s first president, who declared Ankara the capital in 1923.

3. Mausoleum of Ataturk. || 39.92505551063103, 32.83708866415949

Anıtkabir is a mausoleum complex located in the Çankaya district of Ankara, Turkey. It serves as the resting place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first President of the Turkish Republic. Designed by architects Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, the construction of Anıtkabir began in 1944 and was completed in 1953.

4. Ankara Castle. || 39.93916748896702, 32.8653997387267

Ankara Castle is a historic fortification in the city of Ankara, Turkey, constructed in or after the 7th century. The earliest fortification on the site was constructed in the 8th century BC by the Phrygians and rebuilt in 278 BC by the Galatians.

5. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. || 39.938360469109945, 32.86191725406694

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is located on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazarı area in Ankara, Turkey. It consists of the old Ottoman Mahmut Paşa bazaar storage building, and the Kurşunlu Han.

6. Lake Tuz. || 38.99703359115076, 33.4632044776463

Lake Tuz is the second largest lake in Turkey with its 1,665 km² surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the Central Anatolia Region, 105 km northeast of Konya, 150 km south-southeast of Ankara and 57 km northwest of Aksaray.

7. Hacibektas. || 38.94282747466392, 34.55991890742332

Hacıbektaş is a town and district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Hacıbektaş District. Its population is 5,325. Located in Cappadocia, its elevation is 1,275 m. The town is named after Haji Bektash Veli, a 13th-century Sufi saint who founded the Bektashi Order.

8. Nevsehir. || 38.625496520654224, 34.71322513821986

Nevşehir is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Nevşehir Province and Nevşehir District. Its population is 123,882. It is 290 km from the capital Ankara and lies within the historical region of Cappadocia.

9. Free time

10. Night in Cappadocia

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.86893291041432, 32.51367098095718

2. Cappadocia

Cappadocia, a semi-arid region in central Turkey, is known for its distinctive “fairy chimneys,” tall, cone-shaped rock formations clustered in Monks Valley, Göreme and elsewhere. Other notables sites include Bronze Age homes carved into valley walls by troglodytes (cave dwellers) and later used as refuges by early Christians. The 100m-deep Ihlara Canyon houses numerous rock-face churches.

3. Göreme Valley. || 38.64740944736267, 34.828876630910145

Göreme is a town in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. Just east of town is the Göreme Open Air Museum, with cave churches and frescoes from the 10th to 12th centuries. Southwest is Uçhisar Castle, a fortification carved into a large rock, with panoramic views from the top. To the north, the landscape at Paşabağ Valley is known for Cappadocia’s “fairy chimneys,” cone-shaped rock formations.

4. Uchisar. || 38.6300535589279, 34.80362528706921

Uçhisar is a town in the Nevşehir District, Nevşehir Province in Cappadocia, Turkey. Its population is 3,555. It is 7 kilometres east of Nevşehir, 12 kilometres west of Ürgüp, and 10 kilometres south of Avanos.

5. Kaymakli. || 38.457502779944804, 34.75178677070437

Kaymakli Underground City is contained within the citadel ofKaymakliin the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey.

6. Pasabag. || 37.08600596216999, 33.39902045171628

7. Free time

8. Night in Avanos

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.86887362370897, 32.513767540472536

2. Ihlara Valley. || 38.23951486703661, 34.306448608594174

Ihlara, formerly known as Chliára is a town and municipality in the Güzelyurt District, Aksaray Province, Turkey. The population is 2,289. It is situated at about 40 km from the province seat of Aksaray and near the town of Güzelyurt.

3. Caravanserai Visit

Caravanserais wereroadside inns that provided food, shelter, and water for travelers and their animals along ancient trade routes.They were often located along the Silk Road and other major trade routes in Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe.

4. The Mevlâna Museum. || 37.87081889032184, 32.505042530668334

The Mevlâna Museum, in Konya, Turkey, started life as the dervish lodge of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes. It houses the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic.

5. Free time

6. Night in Cappadocia

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.86893291041432, 32.51372462513237

2. Lake Eğirdir. || 38.218197930257496, 30.74500288662178

Eğirdir is a lake in the Lakes Region of Turkey. The town of Eğirdir lies near its southern end, 107 kilometers north of Antalya. With an area of 482 square kilometres it is the fourth largest lake in Turkey, and the second largest freshwater lake.

3. Hierapolis-Pamukkale. || 37.9135876925943, 29.118715945981926

Pamukkale is a town in western Turkey known for the mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine terraces on a nearby hillside. It neighbors Hierapolis, an ancient Roman spa city founded around 190 B.C. Ruins there include a well-preserved theater and a necropolis with sarcophagi that stretch for 2km. The Antique Pool is famous for its submerged Roman columns, the result of an earthquake.

4. Free time

5. Night in Cappadocia

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.86887362370897, 32.51369243862725

2. Ephesus. || 37.94110385436642, 27.34138028494015

Landmark archaeological site with monumental ruins of Roman & Greek temples, a theater & library.

3. House of the Virgin Mary. || 37.9119398036227, 27.33419134998991

The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos in the vicinity of Ephesus, 7 kilometres from Selçuk in Turkey.

4. The Basilica of St. John. || 37.95267052944966, 27.36785732329112

The Basilica of St. John was a basilica in Ephesus. It was constructed by Justinian I in the 6th century at a site where John the Apostle was said to have been buried. It was modeled after the now-demolished Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

5. Kuşadası. || 37.85772779611271, 27.26149880657524

Kuşadası is a beach resort town on Turkey’s western Aegean coast. A jumping-off point for visiting the classical ruins at nearby Ephesus (or Efes), it’s also a major cruise ship destination. Its seafront promenade, marina, and harbor are lined with hotels and restaurants. Just offshore on Pigeon Island is a walled Byzantine castle that once guarded the town, connected to the mainland via causeway.

6. Free time

7. Night in Cappadocia

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 37.86888209324123, 32.513660252122136

2. Izmir. || 38.41613737179732, 27.135965984361164

Izmir is a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Known as Smyrna in antiquity, it was founded by the Greeks, taken over by the Romans and rebuilt by Alexander the Great before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. Today, its expansive archaeological sites include the Roman Agora of Smyrna, now an open-air museum. The hilltop Kadifekale, or Velvet Castle, built during Alexander’s reign, overlooks the city.

3. Bursa. || 40.18240164649977, 29.04871459980883

Bursa is a large city in northwest Turkey, lying in the foothills of roughly 2,500m-high Mount Uludağ near the Sea of Marmara. The city is known for its mosques and historical sites from the early Ottoman Empire. It's nicknamed "Yeşil Bursa" (Green Bursa), owing to its many parks and trees, as well as its dramatic mountain backdrop. The 14th-century Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) features Seljuk-style arches and 20 domes.

4. Free time

5. Night in Istanbul. || 41.013649121670035, 28.907539967615126

1. Breakfast at hotel. || 41.01371388546367, 28.907539967615126

2. Transfer to airport