Argeus
Tourism & Travel

Address
Istiklal Cad. No:7
50400 Urgup/Nevsehir
Phone
+ 90 384 3414688
Fax
+ 90 384 3414888

 
 


HIGHLIGHTS OF CENTRAL ANATOLIA TOUR (8 Days)
Starting from Ankara Airport and
Ending at Konya Airport
DAY 1 Your arrival day.
   
DAY 1 ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS MUSEUM
For travelers visiting the Hittite and Phyrgian settlements, Ankara's Museum of Ancient Anatolian Civilizations is a must to see. The museum takes the visitor through a perfectly organized chronological set of stands. The museum was awarded 'The Museum of the Year in Europe' in 1997.
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DAY 2 ATATURK'S MAUSOLEUM

Following the death of Ataturk on 10 November 1938, Rasattepe was selected as the side for a mausoleum which would command a view right over Ankara. A competition was opened for a design befitting the founder of modern Turkey, and that by Professor Emin Onat and Associate Professor Dr Orhan Arda was selected.

Visitors to Atatürk's Mausoleum first see the towers of Freedom and Independence, and groups of statues by sculptor Huseyin Ozkan. They then pass along the 262m long Lion Road leading to the ceremonial square. On the exterior of the great hall of the mausoleum are inscribed Atatürk's Address to Turkey's Youth and extracts from his Tenth Year Speech ending in the famous words, "Happy is he who calls himself a Turk". These inscriptions in gold are the work of Emin Barin.
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DAY 2 HATTUSAS
Dating back to Paleolithic times, Hattusas was the capital city of the Hittites. The site is extensive and is surrounded by city walls about 6½km in length.
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DAY 2 YAZILIKAYA
It was a religious sanctuary. There are two natural rock galleries. The longer one was the empire's sacred place, and the narrower was the burial place of the royal family. The fast-fading low reliefs of numerous cone-headed gods and goddesses.
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DAY 2 ALACAHOYUK
This is the only place that you can see the best Seljuklian tiles on the exhibition rooms remaining from 13th Century. The tiles, plates and kitchen equipments used at the palaces of the Seljuklians that found from the ruins. The museum building itself was used as a medrese for education.
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DAY 3 DEVRENT
One magical corner in the countless panoramic valleys of Cappadocia, here is an unbelievable landscape with its rock formations and savage feeling; one of the best introductions to understanding the formation of fairy chimneys.
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DAY 3 ZELVE OPEN AIR MUSEUM
The ancient town of Zelve lies in three adjacent valleys with buildings carved into the steep sides of the cliffs. The deserted cave dwellings and rock-cut churches give a feeling of an open-air museum, which is the right name for the site.
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DAY 3 PASABAG
The best place to see three-headed fairy chimneys. Pasabag, the Pasha's Vineyard, is surrounded by incredible natural rock formations; a spectacular scene.
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DAY 3 AVANOS
A center of terra cotta art since 3000 BC, it is a town where you will be invited to visit a traditional pottery workshop, which is possibly set deep into the hillsides. The clay, which comes from the Red River passing through the town, gives life both to the land and to the local economy.
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DAY 3 GOREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM
Goreme was known, in the ancient times, as Korama. The first references to it are in the early 7th c Acts of St Hieron, a 3rd C. saint who was a native of Matianoi, or the modern Maccan. Goreme is an amphitheatre of ample portions surrounded by steep cliffs leading to a pleasant, verdant valley, which puzzles every single visitor, by the interesting access to many of the caves. The place we refer as the Goreme Open Air Museum is located in a small part of the whole valley, and right next door to the modern village of Goreme. It must have been such a convenient place to dwell that Goreme acted as one of the most important monastic settlements in the early Christian ages.
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DAY 3 THE DARK CHURCH
Goreme Open Air Museum has so many churches, monasteries, chapels and refectories carved in nearly the same century. Some of these churches painted in different periods with different techniques. The Dark Church has the best frescoes of Cappadocia, maybe Turkey !!! The art is living on the walls of the Dark Church.
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DAY 3 UCHISAR ROCK-CASTLE
Uchisar is a troglodyte town situated right in the middle of Cappadocia. It is named after the enormous piece of rock in the center of the town, which was once used as a castle. This extraordinary rock is the highest peak of the area with the view of whole Cappadocia and Erciyes (Argeus) Mountain.
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DAY 4 MUSTAFAPASA
Named 'Sinasos' in Greek, Mustafapasa is one of the villages that was under active construction until the population exchange in 1924. Consequently the village has many fine examples of both the Greek and the Turkish Architecture.
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DAY 4 KESLIK MONASTERY
Keslik Monastery, is one of the biggest monastic areas in Cappadocia with several churches carved into the rocks, and definitely the biggest refectory in the whole area.
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DAY 4 SOGANLI VALLEY
An Open Air Museum in a wild natural setting near a typical Cappadocian village with its different style rock-cut churches with their unique frescoes. Spectacular "table top" mountains surround the village in the valley.
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DAY 4 TASKINPASA
A typical Cappadocian Village with a Medrese (theological school) and a mosque, both dating back to the Seljuk period.
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DAY 4 PIGEON VALLEY
Pigeon valley name comes from the pigeon dovecots carved on the cliffs of it. The valley starts from Uchisar and goes down to Goreme village. It has got some connection tunnels which seem like the biggest examples of Cappadocia. There still some locals have their gardens and working on them during summer days.
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DAY 5 KAYMAKLI UNDERGROUND CITY
Kaymakli and Derinkuyu underground cities are the two largest and deepest of the 40 others in Cappadocia. They both have eight floors, although not all are open to the public.
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DAY 5 IHLARA VALLEY
At the bottom of the Ihlara Canyon, a "mirage" in the steppes of Anatolia, the Melendiz River winds its way down through Belisirma village, the ancient Peristrema. In this "Valley of the Sky", rock-cut churches that are found in the most unlikely crevices, surprise you with their successfully painted representations from the Bible.
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DAY 5 SELIME
Ancient Peristrema is definitely the best spot to give a break after several miles of walking in the Ihlara Valley.
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DAY 5 AGZIKARAHAN CARAVANSERAI
One of the greatest achievements of the Anatolian Seljuks was the construction of a network of large caravanserais in Anatolia. Having achieved political stability, centralisation of power and control of the overland trade, Seljuks began to open up a network of international trade routes, adapting their military and economic policies to the trade, to which they accorded very great importance. International trade between Anatolia and the Near East, Central Asia and Europe was carried by the carvans, with caravanserais providing overnight accommodation, food and security for the travellers, as well as serving as staging post for the armies.
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DAY 6 RED VALLEY
Red Valley, with its fabulous rock formations, is in the heart of Cappadocia, but away from the tourist crowds. Rock-cut hermit churches with frescoes fit the valley's mystic atmosphere.
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DAY 6 HACIBEKTAS
The town is named after a very well known Anatolian mystic, the founder of the Bektasi sect. A visit to the Hacibektas museum is essential to understand another aspect of Cappadocia. Every year on August 16 a special festival is held in Hacibektas in honor of the founder of the sect and in 1990 this festival was given an international dimension.
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DAY 7 KONYA
Called “ Iconium” or “ Ikonion” during the Roman period, Konya developed significantly and became the governing center of the Proconsulate of Asia Minor. The city’s history can be seen in the extraordinary rich archeological site, Catalhoyuk, which is only 65 km. From Konya. As capital city of Seljuklians, it had been the cultural centre of Anatolia.
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DAY 7 MEVLANA MUSEUM
Perhaps the most important Islamic shrine in Turkey where Mevlana, the mystic philosopher, lies. It is more than a museum for his followers, who still study his teachings, perform the 'sema', the ritual of the whirling dervishes.
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DAY 7 KARATAY MUSEUM
This is the only place that you can see the best Seljuklian tiles on the exhibition rooms remaining from 13th Century. The tiles, plates and kitchen equipments used at the palaces of the Seljuklians that found from the ruins. The museum building itself was used as a medrese for education.
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DAY 7 ALAADDIN MOSQUE
This big and magnificent mosque standing next to the Kilic Arslan Palace’s ruins on the Alaeddin Hill, is one of the most original and splendid examples of Seljuk civilian and religious architecture. Having started in the beginning of the 12th century, its construction could only be completed 120 years later, during the reign of Alaeddin Keykubat I. It is a remarkable work with its monumental door, its columns taken from the ruins of antique ages and its size.
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DAY 8 Your departure day.


 
 

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2 Pax
USD 2390
3 Pax
USD 1920
4 Pax
USD 1685
5 Pax
USD 1560
6 Pax
USD 1465


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