ITINERARY

Day 1: NEWARK– ISTANBUL

At the agreed time, arrive at Newark Airport to board an overnight flight to Istanbul.

Day 2: ISTANBUL

Arrive at Istanbul International Airport, assistance and transfer to the hotel via private coach. Dinner and overnight stay at hotel.

Day 3: ISTANBUL

Breakfast. Departure for city tour: Old Church- Museum of San Salvador in Cora (currently under renovation, if the renovation is still underway, we will visit the church of St John), Hagia Sophia (originally designed to be the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Sultan Ahmet I Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque due to its magnificent turquoise blue tile interior; Roman Hippodrome; Topkapi Palace, once the residence of the Ottoman rulers. Lunch at the Topkapi Palace Restaurant restaurant. We will take a private boat ride on the Bosphorus and visit the Grand Bazaar. Return to the hotel and accommodation.

DAY 4: ISTANBUL – FLIGHT TO ADANA

Breakfast and transfer to the airport to board the flight to Adana. Arrival and transfer to the city of Antakia, known as Antioch in ancient times, peacefully located on a fertile plain surrounded by grandiose mountains. Lunch. Visit the church of San Pablo, one of the first churches in the world, and the Museum of Antioch, where you can see the most beautiful examples of Byzantine mosaics. Dinner and accommodation.

Day 5: ANTAKIA – TARSUS – CAPPADOCIA

Breakfast at the hotel. Early morning departure to Tarsus, St. Paul's hometown. Visit the church of St. Paul and St. Paul’s Well. We’ll continue the trip to Cappadocia. Arrival in Cappadocia. Dinner and o hometown.

Day 6: CAPPADOCIA

Breakfast. Departure to visit the open-air museum of Goreme with rock churches and convents, Buckle Church (Tokali), the Dark Church, the Church of Saint John, the underground city of Kaymakli, and panoramic valleys and landscapes of a very unique geological formation, which gave rise to a multitude of legends and myths about giants, fairies and geniuses in those days when men could not find an explanation. Dinner and accommodation.

Day 7: CAPPADOCIA - KONYA

Breakfast. Departure early in the morning, towards Konya. En route we will visit the Caravan Serallo (caravansary in Turkish) of Sultanhani. Continue to Ekinozu, where the remains of the Derbe church are located, which was the first in Christianity. Lunch en route and continue the trip to Lystra to reach Konya, the first city to emerge from the Flood, according to Phrygian legend. Visit the Alaeddin Mosque, Syrian style, and the Mavlana Museum, located in the former monastery of the Dervish Order. Dinner and accommodation.

Day 8: KONYA – PAMUKKALE

Early morning departure to Pamukkale whose meaning name "cotton castle" describes it very well, given the formations resulting from the thermal waters loaded with calcium oxide, which have formed a curious white cascade of petrified stalactites. Arrival and lunch. Visit the Necropolis and the theater of the ancient Roman city of Hieropolis, as well as the church of San Felipe. Dinner and overnight

Day 9: PAMUKKALE – EPHESUS – IZMIR

Breakfast. Departure to Ephesus and visit the church of St. John and the house of the Virgin Mary. This city was designed following the lattice structure employed in Miletus in the fourth century, which consists of intersecting streets. Visit the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus, with the largest theater in Anatolia, without a doubt, the best preserved in the world. In addition, Ephesus was one of the cities with the most worship of Artemis, the Greek version of the, even older, Anatolian goddess Cybele, goddess of fertility. Of its famous temple which was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, only a column remains as a vestige. Lunch en route. Continue to Izmir. Dinner and overnight.

Day 10: IZMIR – PERGAMUM – TROY- ÇANAKKALE

Breakfast. Departure to Pergamum, the current Bergama. Visit the ruins of the Acropolis, to visit the ruins of the great theater, the temple of Trajan, the gymnasium and the Library, the Asclepeion which was the first hospital in Asia Minor, with its therapeutic center, and finally the ruins of the Roman Basilica called Red Basilica, considered one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse. Continue for Troy. Visit the famous city that evokes the poetic name of Homer's Iliad. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Çanakkale.

Day 11: ÇANAKKALE- FILIPOUS – LIDIA – KAVALA – THESSALONIKI
Early departure for the Turkish-Greek border. We will cross the border with the Turkish bus and then, once we enter Greece, we will change buses to take the Greek bus (the Turkish bus returns to Turkey). We will take the Greek bus and guide at the border and depart to the ancient city of Filipous to visit the archaeological area and the Museum. It was in this city that St. Paul wrote his second "Epistle to the Corinthians." Continue to the village of Lydia, where St. Paul baptized the first European to convert to Christianity, a woman named Lydia. Continue to Kavala, ancient Neapolis. Panoramic tour of the city and departure to Thessaloniki. Accommodation.

Day 12: THESSALONIKI – EGES – BERIA – KALAMBAKA/METÉORA

Breakfast. We start the visit of the city: The White Tower, one of the symbols of the city, The Arch and Roundabout of Emperor Galerius, Aristotle Square, and the two Byzantine churches: St. Demetrius and Hagia Sophia. At the end, departure to Eges (Bergina), the first and oldest capital of the ancient Macedonians (in 400 BC when King Archaeal moved the capital to Pella, the city of Eges became a sacred monumental city and necropolis of the Macedonian kings). Visit the royal tombs, among which the one of Philip, father of Alexander the Great, and that of the emperor himself stand out. Departure to Beria and visit of the tribune from which St. Paul addressed the town. Departure to Kalambaka Metéora passing through the gorge of the Temple of Mount Olympus, famous since ancient times. Arrival in Kalambaka- Metéora. Accommodation.

Day 13: KALAMBAKA/ METEORA – ATHENS

Breakfast. Departure to Metéora, a forest of monolithic and enormously high rocks, at the top of which there are Byzantine monasteries built in the fourteenth century, of which we will visit two. Following the visit, departure to Athens. Arrival at the hotel Dinner and overnight.

Day 14: ATHENS

Breakfast. We start the half-day visit to the city of Athens. We will visit the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, the Areopagus (supreme court of Antiquity where St. Paul spoke), and the Agora. Panoramicly, you will visit the most important monumental sites of the city. Lunch in a typical Greek restaurant. Free afternoon to continue admiring the treasures of the city. Accommodation.

Day 15: ATHENS – NEWARK

Breakfast. At the indicated time, transfer to Athens airport to take flight to Newark. End of services.