ISTANBUL 45ºF - 45ºF

Welcome to Europamundo! Upon arriving at the airport, we will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. Check the information boards in the hotel reception area for details of the welcome meeting with your guide and fellow travelers.

ISTANBUL 45ºF - 45ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Visit to Istanbul city, transfer to Taksim.Panoramic tour of the city, we are in a city built on two continents. On our tour we will enter the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent (the largest in Istanbul), we will visit the walls, the golden horn, the fishing district and admire the exterior of Hagia Sophia.At the end of the afternoon, we will provide a transfer to the neighborhood of Taksim, the most commercial and local area of the city. Time for dining in one of its many restaurants, you can also take the old tram that crosses the area or approach the nearby Galata Tower.

ISTANBUL 45ºF - 45ºF - ANKARA 45ºF - 46ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Visit to Topkapi palace, boat trip on the Bosporus, dinner included in Ankara.Early in the morning we will include the entrance and visit to the Topkapi Palace, which was the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire with its magnificent courtyards and pavilions.After that, we will take a boat trip on the Bosporus of about two hours. We will travel on a private boat for Europamundo travelers. The Bosporus is a strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara separating Istanbul into two parts: European and Asian. We will enjoy watching the animation of the strait with all its boats, we will pass under the two bridges that connect Europe and Asia and we will admire the palaces of the sultans, the typical wooden houses, the Ottoman villas.We will disembark on the Asian side and we will have time to walk through the neighborhood of Uskudar, with its large mosques, where Yemi Valide, the maiden´s tower and its quiet streets are a stand out. Time for lunch. In the afternoon we continue our route to the Anatolian peninsula. Arrival in ANKARA, dinner included.

ANKARA 45ºF - 46ºF - CAPADOCIA

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Visit of Ankara, beautiful landscapes in Cappadocia, dinner included.After breakfast we include a visit to Ankara, the cosmopolitan capital of Turkey, with more than 5 million inhabitants and a lot of cultural life with its performing arts center, which houses the State Ballet and Opera, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and many national theater companies. We will visit the impressive Mausoleum of Ataturk, the powerful castle of Ankara, whose first construction was 8 centuries before Christ. We also include the entrance to the Museum of Anatolian civilizations that allows us to understand the different cultures that left their mark on Turkey. At the end of the morning, we will stop at a large shopping mall, with different choices of food in its food court.After lunch we continue to the region of Cappadocia, on route we will stop next to the SALT LAKE, with its incredible landscapes and visit HACIBEKTAS, with the utmost respect to the pilgrims (appropriate clothing and silence suggested during the visit). This sanctuary houses the tomb of Hacibecktas, a Sufi mystic of the thirteenth century. Continuation to NEVSHEIR -dinner included-.

CAPADOCIA

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: landscapes of spectacular shapes. Picturesque towns. Dinner included.Full day in the fantastic region of CAPPADOCIA, with its lunar landscapes, its churches and troglodyte villages. We will discover the GOREME Valley with its open air museum and its churches carved into the rocks, entry tickets included. We will visit UCHISAR, a natural fortress. In KAIMACLI we will visit the underground city that could house 30,000 people. Returning to Avanos we stop at PASABAG, the valley of the fairies, we will walk in this spectacular natural area. Free time and dinner included.

CAPADOCIA - IHLARA 43ºF - 43ºF - KONYA 41ºF - 41ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ihlara Valley, Caravanserai, Konya. Dinner included.At the far end of Cappadocia, we will visit the IHLARA Valley; known for the freshness of its waters, its churches and villages excavated in the rock. Then we continue our route, with a stop in an old CARAVANSERAI from the 13th Century before arriving in KONYA where we visit the Mausoleum of Mevlana (Rumi). Here we will learn about the sect of the Dervishes (entrance included). Dinner included. At night, we suggest that you attend the dance performance of the whirling dervishes in the cultural centre.

KONYA 41ºF - 41ºF - EGRIDIR - PAMUKKALE 50ºF - 50ºF

We take a scenic road between the lakes, and get to know EGRIDIR, a beautiful town next to a large lake, with its walls and mosques. There’s time to have lunch. We then continue to PAMUKKALE-Hierapolis, whose calcareous waters have created the Cotton Castle (entrance included). Dinner included.

PAMUKKALE 50ºF - 50ºF - EPHESUS 77ºF - 77ºF - KUSADASI 50ºF - 55ºF

TODAY´S HIGHLIGHTS: Ephesus. Dinner included. We leave in the direction of EPHESUS, the best preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We will discover the house of the Virgin Mary, the Basilica of Saint John and the impressive ruins at Ephesus (entrance included). We then go on to KUSADASI, a popular coastal town with a lot of atmosphere, commercial life and a small castle. Dinner included.

KUSADASI 50ºF - 55ºF - BODRUM 45ºF - 54ºF - MARMARIS 50ºF - 50ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Views over the Aegean. Beautiful Bodrum. Dinner included.We leave for one of the natural wonders of Turkey, Lake BAFA. We continue to BODRUM, a very beautiful fortified city of Greek origin. You can visit its castle, stroll through its streets full of life and tourism or go around its sports marina. After lunch, we go on our way to MARMARIS, another very beautiful coastal tourist enclave with its castle, its marina and its fountains. Dinner and accommodation.

MARMARIS 50ºF - 50ºF - RHODES 72ºF - 72ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ferry to Rhodes (Greece)- City tour of Rhodes- We will embark toward Greece first thing in the morning. Express ferry, the journey will last about an hour. Immigration checks. Arrival in Rhodes. City tour of this incredible walled city and the old quarter, which bears the imprints of the different cultures that shaped it (Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Knights of Saint John, Ottoman, Italian..). Free time during the afternoon.- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The timetable for the ferry between Rhodes and Marmaris is frequently modified and doesn’t operate every day (except in the Summer months), this part of the trip’s itinerary may have to be modified accordingly.

RHODES 72ºF - 72ºF - FERRY RODAS ATHENS

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Excursion in Rhodes. Night ferry-boat to Athens. Today, an excursion around the island of Rhodes is included. We will travel to FILERIMOS up on a hill where you will be able to visit its small monastery sitting amid amazing landscapes. Afterwards, we will travel to LINDOS where its medieval fort and Greek Acropolis own the sea. You will be able to take a stroll along the whitewashed and commercial downtown streets, rest up at one of its beaches or walk up (on a donkey if desired) to the Acropolis. Afterwards, we will meet up at the port of Rhodes and embark on the ferry to Athens.

FERRY RODAS ATHENS - ATHENS 46ºF - 52ºF - CORINTH 46ºF - 46ºF - MYCENAE 36ºF - 50ºF - TRIPOLI 63ºF - 63ºF - OLYMPIA 77ºF - 77ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Peloponnese region. Corinth canal. Mycenae archaeological site. Dinner included. Arrival first thing in the morning. We leave for the Peloponnese region. We make a stop at the CORINTH CANAL. After this, we have time in the immense fortress of ACCRA CORINTH (entrance included). At the top of the settlement are the foundations of what was a temple to Aphrodite. We go on to MYCENAE, a colossal citadel from the eighteenth century BC, the birthplace of the first European civilisation (entrance included). We stop in TRIPOLI, the provincial capital of a region that produces excellent wines. In the middle of the afternoon, we go on our way to OLYMPIA. Dinner included.

OLYMPIA 77ºF - 77ºF - PATRAS 37ºF - 48ºF - NAFPLIO 46ºF - 46ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Olympia archaeological site. Patras Cathedral. Dinner included. With a local guide, we visit OLYMPIA, where you can see the archaeological complex (entrance included) which was the birthplace of the Olympic Games in antiquity. After this, we cross the mountainous interior of the Peloponnese on our way to PATRAS where we visit the Orthodox cathedral of the city, the largest in Greece. Time for lunch and to get to know Greece´s third largest city. We go on through inland Peloponnese to NAFPLIO, a delightful coastal city which takes its name from the Venetian Citadel and fortress. Dinner included.

NAFPLIO 46ºF - 46ºF - EPIDAURUS 30ºF - 45ºF - AEGINA 48ºF - 50ºF - ATHENS 46ºF - 52ºF

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Beautiful stage by land and sea. Epidaurus theatre. Aegean Sea boat crossing.Today we have a beautiful stage by land and sea. First of all we will see EPIDAURUS, its ancient theatre built 2400 ago is magnificently preserved and still used, and can accommodate up to 14,000 people (entrance included). After this, we go to the coast of the Aegean Sea to continue our trip on the water. A short boat crossing takes us to POROS, a charming place full of tourist life, where its ancient houses climb up to the clock tower and we have time for a stroll and lunch. After this we take the ferry to AEGINA, an island inhabited for more than 4000 years, where we can stroll around its ancient churches, its picturesque port and its typical districts of little houses. In the evening, we will go back on the ferry, which will take us back to ATHENS in around 45 minutes – Arrival in Piraeus - Note: The ferry timetable changes depending on the season and crossings are very limited between Poros and Aegina. In the low season, the island of Aegina may be replaced by the island of Hydra.

ATHENS 46ºF - 52ºF

TODAY´S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour in Athens. Evening transfer.We will enjoy a panoramic tour of the city with a local guide which includes the Presidential Palace, the Panathinaikos stadium where the first modern Olympic games were held, the national library, the bustling squares of the center; the new neighborhoods that emerged after the 2004 Olympic games. The tour will end at the Acropolis site (entry not included). In the evening we include a transfer to the PLAKA quarter, a place full of small Greek taverns where you can also enjoy this country´s folklore.

ATHENS 46ºF - 52ºF

After breakfast, end of our services.