A city on two continents, a moonscape of fairy chimneys with balloons at dawn, white travertine terraces and a marble Roman metropolis, Turkey, where East and West have met for two thousand years.
Into Istanbul, the only city that straddles two continents, layered from Byzantium to the Ottomans to now. After the flight we keep it easy, a first kebab and a glass of tea, a sunset over the Golden Horn, an early night.
The vast dome of Hagia Sophia, the cascading domes of the Blue Mosque, the harems and treasures of Topkapi Palace, and the labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar. Two empires worth of wonder in a single peninsula.
The sunken columns of the Basilica Cistern, the scents of the Spice Bazaar, and a cruise up the Bosphorus between Europe and Asia, the palaces and wooden mansions sliding past. A Turkish bath and a long meze dinner.
A flight into the dreamlike landscape of Cappadocia, valleys of fairy chimneys, rock cut churches and whole cities carved underground. Settle into a cave hotel, and the first sunset over the Goreme valleys, the rock glowing rose and gold.
Before first light, the balloons rise, hundreds of them, drifting in silence over the fairy chimneys as the sun comes up. One of the great travel experiences on earth. Then the underground city of Derinkuyu and the frescoed churches of the open air museum.
A walk through the Ihlara or the Rose Valley, the rock castle of Uchisar, the pottery town of Avanos on the river, a Turkish night dinner of music and dance. The strangest, most beautiful landscape in Turkey, at a wandering pace.
A flight west to the Aegean; the blinding white travertine terraces of Pamukkale, cascading pools of mineral water, and the Roman ruins of Hierapolis above them. On toward Ephesus near the coast.
Ephesus, one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world, the towering Library of Celsus, the great theatre, the marble streets where St Paul once preached. The House of the Virgin Mary nearby, and a last Aegean dinner in a Sirince wine village.
A last Turkish breakfast before your flight from Izmir. Turkey gives you empires and emptiness, mosques and moonscapes, in a country that has been the bridge between worlds for millennia, you leave already planning more of it.
Three ways to do the same route: Comfort, Premium or Luxe. Breakfasts in. Mix tiers city by city if you like, it is your trip.
Priced to your dates, your hotel tier and how the two of you like to travel. Ask, the first answer usually lands within minutes.
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