Tour Program

TURKEY

Day 1:

2 pm onwards: check in to our hotel in Sultanahmet and free time at the hotel.

Day 2:

After breakfast at the hotel we will meet our guide in the lobby before departing for a walking tour of Sultanahmet. We will visit Sultanahmet Mosque (due to Friday prayers we will not be able to enter the mosque), Yerebatan Underground Cisterns and the Hagia Sophia Museum. After lunch at the traditional Turkish restaurant Köfteci Selim Usta we will walk to the Spice (or Egyptian) Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar. We round the day off with a boat tour on the Bosphorus and return to the hotel by around 6 pm, where we will have free time before dinner in the hotel.

Day 3:

After breakfast at the hotel we depart for Istanbul Atatürk Airport for our Turkish Airlines flight to Konya. On arrival in Konya, we will take a bus tour around some of the city’s most important sights from the Seljuk Empire era, including the Karatay Madrasa (museum), Ince Minaret Madrasa (museum) and Mevlana Museum, where we will see the Tomb of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî, the famous Sufi poet. After lunch at Cemo Restaurant, we will check in to our hotel around 2 pm and have the rest of the afternoon free. At around 7 pm we will take a short bus trip to the Mevlana Culture Center, where we will watch a Mevlevi Sema Whirling Dervish show. Afterwards we return to the hotel for dinner.

Day 4:

After breakfast we check out from our hotel in Konya and depart by bus to Aksaray, where we will visit the Carpet Repair Workshop Atelier and Sultanhanı Caravanserai. Lunch will be at the caravanserai or Aksaray Orhan Ağaçlı Station. After lunch we transfer to Kaymaklı Underground City, where will have a guided tour. We will then check in to our hotel, where we will have an hour or two to rest before departing for dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 5:

Today there is an early morning balloon ride (optional and extra) over Cappadocia before breakfast at the hotel. We then check out before visiting the Göreme Open Air Museum, Paşabağı and Devrent Valley. Lunch is at Hanedan Restaurant in a historic caravanserai. Afterwards we visit the Haji Bektash Veli Museum before driving to Kayseri for a visit to the Gevher Nesibe Museum of Medical History. After a bus tour of the city we depart for Kayseri airport for our evening flight to Istanbul Atatürk Airport on Turkish Airlines. We will wait in the international departures lounge before boarding our early morning flight to Ganja, Azerbaijan.

AZERBAIJAN

Day 1:

On arrival in Ganja airport we will meet our guide and depart for our hotel in Ganja. After resting we depart at midday to drive to the city of Naftalan to explore the Naftalan oil baths, stopping on the way to look at the Nizami Shrine. After lunch and a tour of the oil baths at a spa hotel in Naftalan, we visit the Imamzadeh Mosque before making our way back to Ganja for a city tour, visiting the Sheikh Bahauddin Complex (comprising a caravanserai, Shakh Abbas mosque and medieval baths), the Shrine of the last Khan of Ganja “Javad Khans” and the museum of Mahsati Ganjavi. Dinner will be at the Ganja Entertainment Center, accompanied by national songs and dancing. After dinner we will transfer to our hotel.

Day 2:

After breakfast at the hotel in Ganja we depart for Sheki, where we will visit the Old Palace of the Sheki Khans. The palaces have been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. We will also visit the Sheki Caravanserai and see the Shebeke artisan workshop, where they make stained-glass windows. After lunch we visit a local silk production studio, where we will have the opportunity to see how the silk is made. Afterwards, we drive to the village of Kish (Kiş) to look at the first Alban Church. After checking in to our hotel we will have a tour of Sheki and dinner at the Khan Chelebi restaurant, accompanied by national songs and dancing before returning to our hotel.

Day 3:

After breakfast we depart for Qobustan, where we will have a tour of the petroglyphs (ancient rock engravings from the Upper Paleolithic period, 35000-34000 BC) in the Beyukdash and Kichikdash Mountains. Afterwards, we will drive to Baku to have lunch at Ciz-Biz restaurant in the Old City. After lunch we will take a walking tour of the Old City, including the Shirvanshah Palace, historic mosques and bathhouses, the Market Square, the caravanserais Multani and Bukhara and the Maiden Tower. We will then visit the "Ateshgah", the Temple of Eternal Fire, and the Yanar Dag burning mountain and have dinner at the museum restaurant Shirvanshah, accompanied by live traditional music. The next morning after breakfast, we check out from our hotel and transfer to Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport for final departure.