Adventure Turkey: BootsnAll Exclusive Summer Trip

Itinerary

Day 1 & 2: Istanbul

This tour will begin in Istanbul, the only city of the world located in two continents. During its 25,000-year history, it has been the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. With her gorgeous heritage, Istanbul offers various places and monuments to see. Many of the top sights such as Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia (the biggest church of the world until 16th century), the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome are in Sultanahmet, where BootsnAll Group will be staying. Sultanahmet (Old Istanbul Area) is also one of the first members of UNESCO World Heritage List. Your local guide will be at your service to reveal the secrets of Istanbul. A cruise among Bosporus strait will be part of our excursion as well.

Day 3: Cappadocia

We will take the morning flight to Cappadocia, which means “land of beautiful horses”. Cappadocia is a famous destination, as it has several cone-shaped geological formations, with many hotels inside old caves. On our first day, we are going to visit Goreme Open Air Museum, another UNESCO World Heritage site which has 1000-year-old cave churches decorated with frescoes. After the tour we will have a horse-back riding trip in the fairy-chimney valleys around Goreme. Fairy-chimneys are the names used for giant volcanic rocks. During our stay in this lunar-landscaped region, we will sleep in cave hotels.

Day 4: Hiking and Jeep safari in Cappadocia

You can start your day with an optional hot air balloon ride. After our breakfast, we will hike in Meskendir, Rose and Red Valleys in Cappadocia. After our hike, we will climb to St. John the Baptist church in old Cavusin town and visit one of the oldest churches (5th century) of Cappadocia. After our picnic lunch under a walnut tree, we will start our afternoon Jeep safari. Off-road Cappadocia will be one of the highlights of our entire trip.

Day 5: Kaymakli

Our first stop will be Kaymakli underground city, today. This settlement has 4 floors under the ground and many rooms for different purposes such as kitchen, church, vineries, sleeping rooms, ventilation shaft, stable and more. After this, we will drive to Avanos, where we will have traditional pottery kebap for lunch and see the kick-wheel pottery demonstration. In the afternoon we will visit Devrent valley to see animal shaped fairy-chimneys and have a short hike in Mustafapasa village, which was a Greek town before 1924 population exchange.

Day 6: Cappadocia

On our last day in Cappadocia, we will drive to the deepest gorge of Turkey, Ihlara Gorge. We will hike the whole valley by the river and climb to cave churches. Ihlara Valley is 7 miles and we will have fresh trout or grills as lunch in the middle of the valley. At the end of our hike, we will climb to the biggest cave monastery of Cappadocia, Selime Monastery. On the way back to Cappadocia, we will visit Agzikarahan Caravanserai, a 13th century camel-station built on the silk-road. We will have a good-bye banquet from Cappadocia with belly dancer in the evening.

Day 7: Olympos

After our breakfast, we will start our long drive to Olympos. During the trip, we will drive over Taurus Mountains and enjoy the gorgeous view. Olympos is the small town on Mediterranean coast where the ancient "Chimera", the perpetual flame on the side of the hills located. We will stay in a tree-house.

Day 8: Boat Cruise

Today, we will start our 3 nights private boat cruise from Demre harbour. Demre is known with St. Nicholas Church and believed to be the home of St. Nicholas. Before departure, we can see the church on request. On the first day of the cruise we will see Pirates Cave, Sunken City of Kekova (this Lycian-Roman archaeological site is protected, so only looking!), Simena, a traditional Turkish fishing village with no car access and Byzantine/Ottoman castle. In Gokkaya Bay optional water sports are available. Dinner, relax in this pirates haven or party the night away at the Smugglers Inn.

Day 9: Boat Cruise

We will start our day with departure to Kas and have a swim stop in a nice and quiet bay in front of the little town. We will visit this charming fishing village and have lunch in Kas, as well. Of ancient Antiphellos, as Kas was once known, only Lycian rock tombs & sarcophagi and the Roman theatre are left. But the charm of the town remains! Near Kalkan we will stop in Aquarium or Firnaz Bay

Day 10: Boat Cruise

Around sunrise we will depart for Butterfly Valley where we stop for breakfast, swimming and to visit this natural reserve, hosting 136 kinds of different butterflies and moths. Oludeniz (The Blue Lagoon) is going to be our next stop. Optional paragliding is available here. After our lunch, last stop of the day will be St-Nicholas Island. We will see the Byzantine ruins and swim.

Day 11: Boat Cruise/Flight to Istanbul

On the last day of the cruise we will depart for Samanlik Bay and have our lunch after swimming. Finally we will sail to Fethiye Harbour where we will be transferred to airport and fly to Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul

Day 12: Istanbul

This is our last day in Istanbul. You will have time to visit Grand Bazaar and Spice Market for souvenirs and then we will drive to airport.