EXPLORE ANATOLIAN ARCHITECTURE
from 10.000 BC to 2.000 and more..
Discover the Architecture and design of Anatolian Style Buildings
 

Day 01: Welcome to Istanbul.
Sometimes described as the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Istanbul is a big metropolis with an imperial history. No longer Turkey's capital but still the cultural heart of the nation, this city of 13 million sprawls across both sides of a land bridge spanning two continents.
Transfer to your hotel. Short briefing about the tour. Overnight.

Day 02: Istanbul (Discover Byzantion Period)
(City Walls – St.Chora – Hagia Sophia – Galata Tower)
We start our day from the ancient city walls. The 5th-century city walls built by Emperor Theodosius II stretch for 6.5 km (4 miles).
Visit St Chora. Built in the 11th century and decorated in the 14th, the Church of St. Savior in Chora (formerly the Kariye Camii and now the Kariye Müzesi) in Istanbul contains one of the best-preserved collections of Byzantine mosaics and frescoes anywhere.
Drive to Sultanahmet area and visit Great Hagia Sophia. The Church of the Holy Wisdom, known as Hagia Sophia (Άγια Σοφία) in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin, and Ayasofya or Aya Sofya in Turkish, is a former Byzantine church and former Ottoman mosque in Istanbul. Now a museum, Hagia Sophia is universally acknowledged as one of the great buildings of the world. The architects of the church were Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, who were professors of geometry at the University of Constantinople. Their work was a technical triumph, even though the structure was severely damaged several times by earthquakes. The original dome collapsed after an earthquake in 558 and its replacement fell in 563. Steps were taken to better secure the dome, but there were additional partial collapses in 989 and 1346.
We will finish our day in Galata and Pera quarters. See the 19.th century houses, buildings. All off them have different stories. Then visit the Galata Tower. See all Istanbul from 14.th century tower. The nine-story tower is 66.90 meters tall (62.59 m without the ornament on top, 51.65 m at the observation deck), and was the city's tallest structure when built. The elevation at ground level is 35 meters above sea-level. The tower has a diameter of 16.45 meter at the base, with 8.95 meters diameter inside, and with walls 3.75 meters thick. Transfer tou your hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 03: Istanbul (Ottoman Architecture)
Ottoman architecture was a synthesis of Iranian-influenced Seljuk architectural traditions, as seen in the buildings of Konya, Mamluk architecture, and Byzantine architecture; it reached its greatest development in the large public buildings, such as mosques and caravanserais, of the 16th century.The most significant figure in the field, the 16th century architect and engineer Sinan, was a Muslim convert of Armenian descent, having a background in the Janissaries. His most famous works were the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne and the Suleiman Mosque in Constantinople. One of his pupils, Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa, designed the early 17th century Blue Mosque, considered the last great building of classical Ottoman architecture.
Start to visit Istanbul from Soğukçeşme street. The best examples of Ottoman Turkish style houses. Visit Topkapı Palace, the palace which served to the Ottoman Dynasty for about 400 years.
Then we continue to Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque).
1609-1616.
This is the mosque that most visitors see first. In many cases it's the only mosque that they see. Built on the orders of Sultan Ahmet 1 and still bearing his name, the Blue Mosque of Sultanahmet dominates, in conjunction with Aya Sofya, the Hippodrome area which has always been the center of the city. Mehmet Aga was the architect and the Mosque took 7 years to build. The Sultan himself joined the builders on several occasions to lend a hand but died within 12 months of its completion at the age of 27.
Soliman the Magnificent Mosque. The Suleiman Mosque was built on the order of sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and constructed by the great Ottoman architect Sinan. The construction work began in 1550 and the mosque was finished in 1557.
Rustem Pasha Mosque, The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was designed by Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan for Grand Vizier Damat Rüstem Pasha (husband of one of the daughters of Suleiman the Magnificent, Princess Mihrimah) Its building took place from 1561 to 1563. New Mosque
Egyptian Bazaar. Boat tour on Bosphorus (included) to discover 19.th century palaces and new constructions.

Day 04: Istanbul – Safranbolu
Drive to Safranbolu. The Old Town of Saranbolu preserves many old buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. The name of the town derives from saffron, since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.Today saffron is still alive at the village of Davutobası which is 22 km.east of Safranbolu and probably one of the best quality saffron at the world. From the 13th century to the advent of the railway in the early 20th century, Safranbolu was an important caravan station on the main East–West trade route. Surviving buildings from this early period include the Old Mosque, Old Bath and Süleyman Pasha Medrese, all built in 1322. It is a typical Ottoman city that has survived to the present day. The architectural forms of the buildings and the streets are illustrative of their period. The city is in World Heritage List of Unesco since 1994.

Day 05: Safranbolu house visits
Complete day to visit Safranbolu Houses. Overnight in Safranbolu.

Day 06: Safranbolu – Istanbul
Return back to Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 07: Istanbul – Urfa
Morning flight to Urfa. Visit Harran houses.
The famous for its beehive houses is Harran, the design of which goes back to the 3rd century BC. Beehive houses these mud-brick houses, held together with logs,take a conical shape and can actually be large elaborate structures with multiple rooms.They provide excellent abodes for this region because they are cool in hot Harran’s summers, but warm in bitter winters.Today most are used for storage. The design of these is thought to have been unchanged for at least 3,000 years, and some were still in use as dwellings until the 1980s.Overnight in Urfa.

Day 08: Urfa – Adıyaman
Drive to Adıyaman via Ataturk dam. See one of the biggest project of Modern Turkey.
Former Turkish President Turgut Ozal decided to build a series of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates river systems. The Ataturk dam, the world's fifth largest, is part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP. GAP is designed to bring electricity to the area and to provide irrigation to almost 30,000 square miles of arid and semi-arid land. The area is larger than the area of the Benelux countries combined and will supposedly allow Turkey to grow much of the food for the Middle East. The venture is projected to irrigate 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) of land that will produce an estimated $6 billion food surplus. The irrigation would enable Turkish farmers to raise cotton, sugarbeets, tobacco, soy beans and other cash crops instead of the grain they now raise.
Overnight in Adıyaman.

Day 09: Nemrut – Cappadocia
Early in the morning, visit Nemrut mountain.
The mausoleum of Antiochus I, located at the summit of the mountain, is surrounded by three sacred areas in the shape of a terrace carved into the hard rock, to the east, west and north. At the eastern terrace are located the statues of Apollo, the god of art; Tyche (Fortuna), the goddess of fertility and fortune; Zeus, the god of the heavens; Hercules, the god of strength; King Antiochus; an eagle and a lion.

The height of the statues is close to 9 meters. The steles of the Commagene Royal Family are to the north and south, and to the east of the terrace, there is a rectangular shaped altar with steps, and beside it a protective lion statue. The western terrace, where there are the same statues, is more effective in its sculpture, in spite of the fact that it has experienced more damage in comparison with the eastern terrace. Nemrut Mountain has a unique pastoral beauty, especially at sunset on the western terrace, and visitors experience moments that they will not forget as long as they live.
Drive to Cappadocia. Overnight in Cappadocia.
Overnight in a cave hotel. Unforgetable experiences in a selected Cave Hotel in Cappadocia.
During our stay we will have information about these constructions.

Day 10: Cappadocia
Complete day to discover Cappadocia. We start from landscapes of the region. Then we will visit unusal open air museum. There are over lots of churches in the Göreme Open Air Museum. Along with rectories, dwellings, and a religious school, they form a large monastic complex carved out of a roughly ring-shaped rock formation in the otherworldy landscape of Cappadocia.
Continue to an underground city.
One of the characteristics of Cappadocia is having plenty of underground cities. It's known that there are more than a hundred of underground settlements in the region and many of them are not open for visits. The underground cities, which are guessed to be used since the Bronze Age, used to be a settlement mostly in Byzantine period, doubtless. In this period, increasing invasions forced local residents to build underground cities for protection and religious purposes. Certainly the most interesting features of the Cappadocia area are the underground cities founded within. Until now even that have been determined about 40 underground cities just six of these have been opened for visit. Nobody can know how many underground cities there are in the Cappadocia area. Some say that there is one for every village and settlement in the region but certainly not all of the sites can be described as cities.
Overnight in your cave hotel. Optional Whirling Dervish show.

Day 11: Cappadocia
Visit the Anatolian houses in Cappadocia.
We will visit different houses and constructon in Cappadocia. Enjoy the Cappadocia style.
Overnight in Cappadocia.

Day 12: Cappadocia – Konya
Drive to Konya. On the road visit the 13th century Seldjukide Caravanserail Sultanhanı. Arrive to Konya and visit The Mevlana Museum , also known as the Green Mausoleum or Green Dome, is the original lodge of the Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes, a mystical Sufi Muslim group. It containes the tomb and shrine of the Mevlana, or Rumi, which remains an important place of pilgrimage.
Then continue to Karatay Medresesi The Karatay museum, located near to the Ince Minare museum, was built by Emir Jelaleddin Karatay who voiced out his name as an outstanging statesman as Sahib Ata Fahreddin Ali through his artistic features of works in 1251. The Karatay museum, which is its architect unknown, was served as a madrasah in Ottoman period unti the end of the 19th century. The Karatay madrasah which is having a considerable role about tile works in the period of Anatolia Seljuk, tuned into a public museum in 1955 as “A Museum of Tile Works”. In Karatay Museum, the excavation findings; wall tiles, tile and glass plates in Kubadabat Palace wherein Beyşehir lake coast and tile, porcelain plates, lamps, gypsum findings in Konya and its around of the Seljuk period and Ottoman periods are displayed in the museum.
Overnight in Konya.

Day 13: Konya – Catalhoyuk – Beyşehir
Early departure for Catahoyuk considered one of the oldest city of the World. The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük was first discovered in the late 1950s and excavated by James Mellaart between 1961 and 1965. The site rapidly became famous internationally due to the large size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintings and other art that was uncovered inside the houses .
Continue to Beyşehir. Visit the world famous Eshrefoglu Mosque. Esrefoglu Mosque, is certainly the most important monument of Beysehir, a small town in the lake region. This fine monument is surmounted with a flat-roofed stone cone in typical Seljukite style, but it's main attract comes from the wooden pillars which sustain it. The mosque is a remarkable state of preservation when one remembers that it was built in medieval times, at the end of the 13th century.

Day 14: Burdur – Pamukkale
Drive to Pamukkale and visit Hierapolis, whose name means "sacred city," was believed by the ancients to have been founded by the god Apollo. It was famed for its sacred hot springs, whose vapors were associated with Pluto, god of the underworld. it may have been called the "sacred city" because of the temples located at the site. The name Pamukkale is sometimes used just to refer to the white terraces, but the modern name of the whole area is also Pamukkale. Overnight in a SPA Hotel.

Day 15: Pamukkale – Aphrodisias – Bodrum
We drive to Bodrum via Aphrodisias which is one of the oldest sacred sites in Turkey. Dedicated to the ancient Mother Goddess and then the Greek goddess Aphrodite, it was the site of a magnificent Temple of Aphrodite and the home of a renowned school of marble sculpture. Continue to Bodrum where we will stay 2 nights.

Day 16: Bodrum
We will visit the city and Bodrum Houses and the famous Bodrum castle. We will also see the remains of Mausoleum of Mausolos.
Mausolus was the eldest son of Hecatomnus, a native Carian who became the satrap of Caria when Tissaphernes died, around 395 BC. These Carian rulers embraced Hellenic culture. He is best known for the monumental shrine, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, erected for him by order of his sister and widow Artemisia.
Overnight in Bodrum.

Day 17: Bodrum – Ephesus - Kuşadası
Drive to Ephesus. Visit the biggest archeological site of Turkey.
We will visit the state agora, Bouleterion, main street, Domitian temple, Trajanus Fountain, Terrace Houses, famous Celsus Library, and the Great Theater. More and more to see and more more to discover. Continue to Kuşadası and overnight.

Day 18: Kuşadası – Izmir
Drive to Izmir. Third biggest city of modern Turkey. We will visit Bayraklı (Tepekule) to discover the first settlements from 3.000 B.C. Then we will continue to Kadifekale and have a look to the city from Pagos mountain. Drive to Alsancak to discover 19th century architecture in Izmir (Smyrna). Overnight in Izmir.

Day 19 : Izmir airport
Today according your flight schedule drive to Izmir International Airport. End of our services.

ARCHITECTURE TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
- Cappadocia Cave Hotel Stay
- Eastern Turkey
- Harran
- Safranbolu Houses
- Catalhoyuk visit (first city in the world)
- Meet Turkish Architects