Turkish
Treasures

Arrival in Istanbul

Arrive in Istanbul and be met by your tour management team for a private transfer to your hotel. The accommodation in Istanbul is the Four Seasons Sultanahmet, or a property of equivalent standard, positioned in the historic heart of the city between the Blue Mosque and the Bosphorus. The evening begins with a welcome reception dinner, a chance to meet your fellow travellers before the journey begins.

Welcome dinner included. Hotel accommodation in Istanbul.

Istanbul: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque and Topkapi

The first full day in Istanbul covers the city's most significant historical sites. The Hippodrome was the social centre of Byzantine Constantinople, a racing circuit and public space that once held 100,000 spectators and is still lined with ancient monuments including the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, brought from Karnak in 390 AD. The Blue Mosque, built between 1609 and 1617, is distinguished by its six minarets and its interior of over 20,000 hand-painted Iznik tiles.

After lunch at Deraliye Restaurant, which serves dishes rooted in Ottoman palace cuisine, the afternoon takes in Topkapi Palace and the Underground Cistern. Topkapi was the administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years and its treasury, harem and courtyards give a remarkable sense of the scale and complexity of Ottoman court life. The Underground Cistern, built in the 6th century during the reign of Justinian I, is one of the strangest and most atmospheric spaces in Istanbul: a vast vaulted chamber supported by 336 columns, quietly lit and completely silent. The day ends with a private cruise on the Bosphorus before dinner at Hamdi Restaurant overlooking the Golden Horn.

Breakfast, lunch at Deraliye, dinner at Hamdi. Bosphorus cruise and all excursions included.

The Spice Market and Boarding the Train

The morning gives time to explore the Spice Market, one of the oldest covered markets in the world, and the surrounding neighbourhood of Eminonu before a final lunch in the city. In the afternoon the group transfers to board the Golden Eagle Danube Express. Your cabin will be set up and waiting, and the remainder of the day and evening can be spent relaxing as the train moves south-east through the Anatolian landscape. The first dinner aboard the train is served in the restaurant car.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight on the Golden Eagle Danube Express.

Izmir and Ephesus

Wake to Izmir, Turkey's third largest city and one of its most historically layered: Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman influences are visible in equal measure. The tour begins at the Agora of Smyrna, one of the best-preserved Roman-era market places in the world, its colonnade of marble columns still largely intact above the lower vaulted levels.

From Izmir the group continues to Ephesus, one of the great ancient cities of the Mediterranean world. At its height in the 1st century AD, Ephesus had a population of around 250,000 and was the second largest city in the Roman Empire after Rome. The marble streets, the Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre that once seated 25,000 and the Temple of Hadrian are among the sights that have survived. The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, who held that fire is the fundamental substance of the universe, was born here and walked these streets. After the tour, reboard the train for the journey east.

Breakfast and lunch on board. Guided Izmir and Ephesus excursion included. Dinner on board. Overnight on the Golden Eagle Danube Express.

Hierapolis and Laodicea

The train arrives at Denizli for a full day visiting two ancient sites of quite different character. Hierapolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was a Greco-Roman city built above natural hot springs on a hillside above the Menderes valley. The city was a centre of healing and spiritual life, and its vast necropolis, theatre and colonnaded streets survive in remarkable condition. The springs themselves created the extraordinary white travertine terraces of Pamukkale immediately below the ruins, one of the most photographed natural formations in Turkey.

Laodicea, a short distance away, is a different experience: a city still being excavated and revealed. One of the Seven Churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation, it was famous in antiquity for its banking, wool trade and an eye salve manufactured here that was exported across the Roman world. The excavations in recent years have revealed a striking Syrian-style agora, two theatres and a stadium of considerable size. The juxtaposition of these two sites, one a UNESCO-listed major attraction and one a work in progress, makes for a thought-provoking afternoon. Reboard the train for the overnight journey towards Ankara.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Guided Hierapolis and Laodicea excursions included. Overnight on the Golden Eagle Danube Express.

Ankara: Anatolian Civilisations and Ataturk

Wake in Ankara, Turkey's capital since 1923 and a city that contains two of the most important historical sites in the country, set only a short distance apart. The Museum of Anatolian Civilisations is one of the finest archaeological museums in the world, tracing human settlement in Anatolia from the Palaeolithic era through the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, through the Hittite Empire and the Phrygian, Urartian and Lydian kingdoms. The collection includes artefacts from Catal Hoyuk, the Neolithic settlement occupied around 7500 BC, and the extraordinarily accomplished gold and bronze work of the Hittites at their height in the 14th and 13th centuries BC.

Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, stands on a hilltop overlooking the city. Built between 1944 and 1953, it is a monumental building of a particular kind: not simply a memorial but an expression of a new nation's ambitions. The processional avenue, the ceremonial hall and the museum below contain a comprehensive account of the Turkish War of Independence and the establishment of the republic. Lunch is at Divan Cukurhan, a restored Ottoman inn now operating as a luxury hotel restaurant in the historic centre. The train departs in the afternoon for the overnight journey to Kayseri.

Breakfast and lunch included. Museum of Anatolian Civilisations and Anitkabir excursions included. Dinner on board. Overnight on the Golden Eagle Danube Express.

Arrival in Cappadocia: Underground Cities and Fairy Chimneys

Arrive at Kayseri and transfer to Cappadocia, the volcanic plateau in central Anatolia whose landscape is unlike anything else on earth. Thousands of years of eruption from the volcanic massifs of Erciyes and Hasan deposited deep layers of soft tufa rock across the plateau; subsequent erosion over millions of years carved out the extraordinary formations of pillars, cones and table-topped peaks that are known as fairy chimneys. The region has been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic period and the soft rock made underground living not merely possible but practical.

The afternoon visits the Ozkonak Underground City. Discovered in 1972 by a local farmer who noticed his irrigation water disappearing into the ground, Ozkonak proved to be a Byzantine-era underground settlement of ten floors extending 40 metres beneath the surface. Four floors are open to visitors. Unlike the more famous underground cities at Derinkuyu and Kaymakli, Ozkonak is quieter and less visited, and has some distinctive features: a unique system of communication holes running between the floors, and a network of passages above the main gateways through which the inhabitants could pour hot oil on any invading force that had broken through the stone doors. After the visit, transfer to your hotel for an evening at leisure. Dinner at Bizim Ev Restaurant, a traditional Cappadocian house serving local food.

Breakfast on board. Transfer to Cappadocia included. Ozkonak Underground City excursion included. Dinner at Bizim Ev Restaurant included. Hotel accommodation in Cappadocia.

Balloon Ride, Goreme and the Open Air Museum

The day begins before sunrise with an optional hot-air balloon flight (available at a supplement), the activity for which Cappadocia is internationally famous. As dawn breaks over the plateau, dozens of balloons rise above the valleys, drifting over the fairy chimneys, the vineyards, the pigeon houses carved into the cliff faces and the rose-coloured rock of the Goreme valley. It is an experience that is very difficult to replicate elsewhere. Those who prefer to remain on the ground can watch the spectacle from the ground.

The morning continues with a visit to the Goreme Open Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important rock-cut church complexes in the world. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, monastic communities carved churches, chapels and refectories into the soft rock of the Goreme valley and decorated the interiors with Byzantine frescoes of considerable sophistication. The Dark Church, the Snake Church and the Apple Church are among the named churches open to visitors, each with preserved fresco cycles depicting biblical scenes.

The afternoon takes in Pigeon Valley, named for the thousands of pigeon houses carved into the rock faces by local farmers over the centuries to collect the birds' droppings as fertiliser, before visits to the hilltop towns of Uchisar and Ortahisar, each dominated by a great volcanic rock fortress that was hollowed out and inhabited for centuries. The day ends with a farewell dinner at Maara Konak, a traditional Cappadocian venue known for its food and setting.

Breakfast, lunch and farewell dinner included. Goreme Open Air Museum excursion included. Optional balloon flight at supplement. Hotel accommodation in Cappadocia.

Farewell to Cappadocia

Breakfast at the hotel before the group transfers to Kayseri Airport for onward travel. Departure arrangements will be confirmed in your final itinerary. The journey has covered over 2,000 kilometres across Turkey by road and rail, taking in four UNESCO World Heritage Sites and nine days of the country at its finest.

Breakfast included. Transfer to Kayseri Airport included.