In the footsteps of St. Paul

Departure from Italy with scheduled flights. Aircraft change in Istanbul. Arrival in Hatay (Antioch on the Orontes) and handling of customs formalities and baggage collection. Meeting with our local representative and transfer to hotel accommodation in hotel. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Start of the visits from the archaeological museum of Antioch (Hatay in Turkish) which houses one of the best collections in the world of Roman and Byzantine mosaics, as well as some artifacts found in the area including the splendid Sarcophagus of Antakya. We continue with a visit to the cave of San Pietro, an early Christian church carved into the rock at the foot of Mount Staurin, where the first Christians presumably gathered around Paul, Barnabas, Luke and Peter. Departure for Tarsus through the mountain pass of the Cilicee Doors. Lunch in a restaurant near the waterfalls of the Cidno river, where Frederick Barbarossa drowned. After lunch, visit of Tarsus, the hometown of Paul whose house remains a Roman well identified as the "well of St. Paul", and stop at the Arch of Cleopatra. Continuation to Cappadocia. Hotel accommodation: dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Day dedicated to this region located on the Anatolian plateau, one of the most fascinating environments in Turkey for its characteristic lunar landscape, troglodyte villages and rock churches once inhabited by anchorites who enriched them with frescoes. Visit of the open-air museum of Göreme and Zelve with the forest of gigantic rocky mushrooms pierced by cells and chapels called "fairy chimneys"; of the troglodyte villages of Avcilar and Uchisar. Lunch in a local restaurant and dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for Konya. Along the way stop at the underground city of Kaymakli, well ventilated, structured on ten floors for a length of 10 km. The next stop will be the caravanserai of Sultani, from the 13th century. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon, continuation to Konya and visit to the mausoleum of Mevlana, a mystical figure of Muslim spirituality, founder of the sect of the dervishes. Continue to the church of San Paolo, the memorial of Paul's preaching to the young Christian community of Ikonio. In the evening, accommodation in the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for Lystra, where Paul and Barnabas took refuge by fleeing from Ikonio. Continuation to Antioch of Pisidia which received the Christian message from Paul and Barnabas during the 1st missionary journey: visit of the site. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon, continue to Pamukkale and visit the "petrified waterfalls" and the remains of the church of San Filippo, martyr in the Roman Hierapolis in 87 AD. In the evening, accommodation in the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for Miletus, the birthplace of famous architects and philosophers of the ancient world. Paul disembarks there during the 3rd missionary journey and the last. In Miletus Paul summons the elders of the church of Ephesus to entrust them with his spiritual testament. At the end, continuation to Ephesus and lunch in a restaurant. In the afternoon, climb to the hill of the Nightingales near Ephesus where the house of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana) is venerated, according to the Ephesian tradition. Visit to the site of Ephesus, to whose Christian community St. Paul addressed himself in lively tones. Among the impressive monuments of the ancient Roman city are the Celsus library; theater; the temple of Hadrian, the basilica of the homonymous council which proclaimed the divine maternity of Mary, the basilica of San Giovanni on the tomb of the apostle. In the evening, arrival in Izmir (Izmir), hotel accommodation, dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Panoramic tour of Izmir, the third largest city in the country by population and the most progressive. Departure for Pergamum where we visit the excavations of the Hellenistic city with the Acropolis and the Esculapius, and the basilica of the Red Court. Lunch at a local restaurant during the excursion. In the afternoon departure for the visit of the ruins of Troy.
Arrival in Canakkale, dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for Istanbul crossing the Dardanelles by ferry and by land Gallipoli-Tekirdag. Lunch in a restaurant on the way.
In the afternoon, arrival in Istanbul and visit of the Topkapi palace which was the residence of the Ottoman sultans and visit of the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Day dedicated to visiting the city: the Byzantine church of San Salvatore in Chora which preserves precious mosaics depicting the life of the Virgin Mary, the Museum of Santa Sofia, the Cistern-Basilica (Yerebatan Sarayi), a splendid underground cistern with hundreds of columns and where all 'now the water flows. Lunch in a local restaurant. After lunch visit the Grand Bazaar. In the late afternoon, transfer to the airport for the return flight.