8 Day Seven Churches of Revelation Tour

In the morning around 8:30, we will pick you up from your hotel in Sultanahmet or Taksim and we will have a nice sightseeing tour in Istanbul ‘” the old City tour”: Today we will see the Topkapi Palace where the Ottoman sultans had their residence years ago, after the Topkapi palace we will go for lunch. In the afternoon our program starts with the underground water Basilica “’ Yerebatan Sarnic”’ After we have seen this underground cistern we will go, tot, the famous Hagia Sophia, in its time the praying place for the Christians and later in 1453 which became a mosque you will see some beautiful mosaics in the mosque. From here on we will continue with the Sultan Ahmet mosque also known as the blue mosque because of all its Iznik tiles in blue colors on the inside of the mosque. After the blue mosque, we will go to our last piece of the tour the Hypodrome, where you can see the Egyptian obelisk and feel the growth of the city Constantinople till Istanbul from now. From here on we will bring you back to your hotel in Sutanahmet or Taksim.

In the early morning, we will pick you up from your hotel and we will bring you to the airport from Istanbul for your flight to Izmir. In Izmir, our other driver is waiting to ring you from the airport. After the pickup, We will start the tour. We start with the House of the Virgin Mary is the place where Mary may have spent her last days. Indeed, she may have come to this area together with Saint John. This place was officially declared a shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1986, and since then it has become a popular place of pilgrimage. Pope Paul VI visited the shrine in 1967. The visit to the House (church) takes about 45 minutes and after our visit; there will be a 5-minute drive to Ephesus. 

Ephesus is an exceptional testimony to the cultural traditions of the Hellenistic, Roman Imperial, and early Christian periods. Ephesus is an important site for Christianity; being one of the seven Churches of Revelation Paul probably spent two and half years in Ephesus during his third missionary journey. In two hours, you will be exploring the city by walking on the marble streets, accompanied by our professional English-speaking tour guide.

On our tour, we will be seeing the Odeon, State Agora, Prytaneion, Memmius Monument, Domatian Temple, Hercules Gate, Curetes Street, Hadrian Temple, and theatres. The visit to Private Houses (So-called Terrace Houses’) is an optional visit for an extra 170 ₺/ per person and your guide should be informed before the tour. After the Terrace Houses, we will carry on with our exploration with Celsus Library, Marble Road, Commercial Agora, Great Theather,andArcadiane (Harbour Road).

After lunch; we will move on with the visit to the Temple of Artemis; which is one of the 'Seven Wonders' of antiquity. From this point, you have the best chance to take very nice pictures of the church of St.John and the Isa Bey mosque.

Sirince is an old village of ‘Rum’ (Byzantine Greeks) situated on the hills of Selcuk and 7 km from Ephesus. As part of the peace pact after the Turkish National War (1919-1922), there was a formal exchange of Turkish and Greek people. So the Greeks left and Sirince is inhabited by Turkish now. The village is popular for its beautiful traditional houses and fruit-flavored wine productions, and here you will have some free time to taste the wines or to buy some nice handmade souvenirs.

We will finish this daily tour around 4:30 pm and you will be transferred back to your hotels. Overnight in Kusadasi.

After breakfast we will pick you up from your hotel and start our day by driving to Laodicea, here we will visit The rejected church-church of the final adiposity, and from here on we will go to Pamukkale and Hierapolis. Pamukkale / Hierapolis is listed in Unesco's World Heritage List as a 'Natural Site' and 'Ancient City'; and is famous for her hot springs which are believed to have healing powers. The travertines are formed by a multifaceted chemical reaction and subsequent precipitation of various causes and environments. Water springs from the ground with a high level of Calcium Hydrocarbonate at a temperature of 35.6 degrees C; and this causes carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to evaporate and leave calcium carbonate to precipitate and form the travertine.

Hierapolis has been a settlement of different cults and cultures throughout history; and the city is believed to have been founded by Eumenies II, the Attalid king of Pergamon at the end of the 2nd Century BC; and to has been named after Hiera, the beautiful wife of Telephos, the legendary founder of Pergamon. However, ancient historians like Strabon and Ptolemaios state that Hierapolis was a Phrygian settlement.

Hierapolis played an important role in spreading Christianity in Anatolia, and it was the place where Phillip, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, died. For this reason, Hierapolis became an important religious center in the 4th century AD. Later it assumed the title of the ‘Guide of the East’; and the city came under the control of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, and became a metropolitan bishopric.

Our tour in Hierapolis includes the Necropolis, Domitian Gate, Frontinus Street, the Agora, the North Byzantine Gate, the Gymnasium, the Foundation with Triton, Apollon Temple, the Martyrium of St Philip and Bridge, the Column Church, the ruins of Basilica, Plutonium, Latrina and the Romans Baths. Our guide will show you Pamukkale and it will take about one and a half hours, after that, you have free time to look around, if you bring your swimming clothes you can also visit the Cleopatra pool but they charge an entrance from 50 lira extra this is not included our tour program.

After our Hierapolis and Travertine tour, you will be transferred to your hotel in Pamukkale.

After breakfast we will go to Sardes first: The Reformation church-sixteenth and seventeenth-century om here on we will go to Philadelphia - The missionary church-puritan movement and after that we will drive to Bergama where we will spend the night.

Today we will visit the ancient city of Bergama, and we will see the Red Basilica. Bergama’s name comes directly from its ancient name Pergamum, it was a great city and the center of the Pergamon kingdom based high in the mountains. Its location made it strategic and during the time of Attalos I and his son Eumenes II, the city had golden times, in this time they completed the acropolis, theatre, and other important projects. It was an important city in the Roman period. The city developed during the Hadrian period 117-138 AD and the city was adored by its Roman works of art and had many fountains which made it exclusive at his times. In the Byzantine period, Christianity was spread in the city. Pergamon was first under the influence of the bishopric of Ephesus and then became a metropolis.

After Bergama, we will bring you to Izmir airport for your flight to Istanbul, in Istanbul our other driver is waiting for you at the airport and will bring you to your hotel in Istanbul.

Free day.

Today we will pick you up from your hotel in Istanbul and bring you back to the airport for your flight back home.