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TOUR ITINERARY:
Day 01 Depart from New York – Fly to Istanbul
Day 02 Arrive Istanbul Airport
Your tour guide will meet you after you pass through
customs and claim your baggage. You will betransferred to
the hotel for dinner and overnight. (D)
Day 03 Istanbul
Today will be a full day tour of Istanbul. Visit the St.
Chora Church, Hippodrome Square, Hagia Sophia Church, and
the important Istanbul Archaeological Museum containing the
Gezer Calender, the Jerusalem temple Inscription, the
Hezekiah tunnel inscription, City Walls from Babylon, and
other important items. Dinner at an outside seafood
Restaurant in Kumkapı district. (B,D)
Day 04 Istanbul Airport – Fly Adana – Antioch
Transfer to Istanbul Airport for a morning flight to
Adana. After we land we will drive to Antioch, the place
where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.
Here we will visit the Church of St. Peter, a site
discovered by the Crusaders and reputed to be the cave
church where the early Christians met. At the Mosaic Museum
in Antioch we will see an unusually rich collection of
mosaics from this area. Following our visit at the museum,
we’ll go to the Seleucia Pieria, the ancient port from which
Paul & Barnabas set out on their first journey. Finally, we
will check into the hotel in Antioch for dinner & overnight.
(B,D)
Day 05 Antioch – Tarsus – Cappadocia
After breakfast we will have an early departure from
Antioch as we drive to Tarsus , the city where the Apostle
Paul was born. We will visit the Church of St. Paul as well
as the recently excavated remains of the Roman city in the
town center. We will take a short walk to the site known as
the Well of St. Paul. In the afternoon, we will continue
with a drive to Cappadocia, for dinner and overnight. (B,D)
Day 06 Cappadocia
After breakfast we will have a full day of sightseeing
in Cappadocia. We’ll visit Göreme where we will see the
remains of several hundred early churches, with homes
hollowed out of the cones of volcanic ash. Some of them are
decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from the Bible. We
will drive through the Zelve valley on our way to Kaymaklı,
an underground city which was an early Christian center that
extended downward in the earth for at least eight floors and
housed several thousand people in the eighth and ninth
centuries. We’ll continue to Uçhisar, another of these early
Christian communities, before returning to our hotel for
dinner and overnight. (B,D)
Day 07 Cappadocia – Konya
After breakfast we’ll have an early departure and drive to
Derbe, Lystra and Iconium cities that Paul and Barnabas
evangelized on their first mission. Paul and Silas visited
the churches at these sites again on the second and third
missions. At Lystra, Timothy converted to Christianity and
began his journeys with Paul. We will visit the Shrine of
Mevlana before going to the hotel in Konya (ancient Iconium)
for dinner and overnight. (B,D)
Day 08 Konya – Psidian Antioch – Antalya
After breakfast we will depart and drive to Yalvac, the site
of the ancient city of Antioch of Pisidia. Paul visited this
town on all of his missionary journeys and it is here that
he addressed the congregation in the synagogue. Paul later
wrote an epistle to the Galatians, including those at
Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra & Derbe. We will visit the
excavations here and then continue to Antalya with a very
scenic drive through the lakes and mountains. Dinner &
overnight will be at the hotel in Antalya. (B,D)
Day 09 Antalya
After breakfast we’ll begin with a visit to Perga, an
ancient city even when Paul visited there. He and Barnabas
went through Perga on their way to Antioch on their first
journey. We will visit the Theater, the Stadium, the Agora,
and the columned streets. We’ll also visit Aspendos, the
best preserved ancient Roman theater in the world, and Side,
a pirate’s haven where we’ll visit the museum, theater, and
temple. Dinner and overnight will be in the port city of
Antalya. (B,D)
Day 10 Antalya – Colossae – Pamukkale
After breakfast we will drive to Colossae (the city
addressed in Paul’s letter to the Colossians) on the
foothills of Mount Honaz. We’ll continue to Laodicea , one
of the Seven Churches of Revelation, and Hierapolis where we
will visit the monuments, thermal baths, the theater with
its well preserved stage, the tomb and martyrion of Philip
and the Temple of Apollo. Dinner and overnight will be in
Pamukkale. (B,D)
Day 11 Philadelphia – Sardis – Izmir
After breakfast we will travel to Philadelphia , now called
Alasehir. We’ll see remains of a Byzantine basilica as well
as some eleventh century frescoes. Philadelphia and Smyrna
were the only two churches among the Seven about which
nothing bad was said in John’s Revelation. From there we’ll
travel to Sardis, one of the most picturesque areas of any
of the Seven Churches. We’ll see the remains of the a huge
Jewish synagogue, a gymnasium and the Temple of Artemis.
Finally, we will proceed to Izmir (ancient Smyrna ), one of
the Seven Churches and one of the oldest continuously
inhabited cities of the world. We’ll check in to the hotel
for dinner and overnight. (B,D).
Day 12 Ephesus – Izmir
After breakfast we will leave Izmir and drive to Ephesus,
the largest city of Asia Minor and the first of the Seven
Churches addressed in the book of Revelation. We will see
the amazing ruins of this great city: the theater, the
library, the Temple of Hadrian and the newly excavated Roman
Terrace Houses. Dinner and overnight in Izmir. (B,D)
Day 13 Pergamum – Alexander Troas – Assos
After breakfast today we will leave for Bergama which is
the site of ancient Pergamon, another of the Seven Churches
of Revelation. We will visit the acropolis there and see the
impressive theater, the Temple of Athena, and other ruins of
the former civilizations. We will continue to the port of
Alexandria–Troas where Paul raised the boy, Eutychus. Paul
visited this area at least twice. We will then go to Assos
for dinner and overnight. (B,D)
Day 14 Troy – Ferry to Dardanelles – Istanbul
We will begin our day with a visit to the ancient and
historic city of Troy, site of the Trojan war and Homer’s
Illiad. We’ll cross the Dardanelles Strait by ferry. Drive
to the hotel in Istanbul for check–in. We will have a
Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant. (B,D)
Day 15 Transfer to Istanbul Airport for flight back to
New York. End of our services.
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