Eastern Turkey Tour: Gobeklitepe to Ani

Your journey begins at Kayseri Airport or Nevsehir Airport, where our representative meets you and transfers you by private vehicle to your cave hotel in Cappadocia. The rest of the day is free. Over centuries the soft volcanic rock of this region was carved into homes, churches and dovecotes, and the valleys around Goreme give a first look at the landscape you explore tomorrow, from the air and on foot. Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia.

The day starts at dawn with a hot-air balloon flight over the valleys of Cappadocia, followed by breakfast at the hotel. At the UNESCO-listed Goreme Open-Air Museum, the rock-cut churches of early monastic communities still hold Byzantine frescoes. Pasabag Valley has some of the region’s tallest fairy chimneys, and riverside Avanos keeps a pottery tradition said to reach back to the Hittites. After a lunch of local dishes, Devrent Valley shows the rock at its most sculptural, and the day closes at a panoramic viewpoint over the valleys. Overnight in Cappadocia.

After breakfast the road leads south through the Taurus Mountains, from volcanic hills to rugged peaks and fertile plains. Lunch is in Adana by the Seyhan River, in one of Turkey’s great kebab cities. In the afternoon you reach Gaziantep and the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of the largest mosaic museums in the world, where Roman floors rescued from the ancient city of Zeugma on the Euphrates include the famous Gypsy Girl. The evening is free in Gaziantep, a city known for its baklava. Overnight in Gaziantep. (about 6 hours of driving in total)

A morning drive brings you to Halfeti, where parts of the old town and nearby villages disappeared beneath the reservoir of the Birecik Dam. A private boat carries you through the Euphrates canyon, past sunken villages, toward the clifftop fortress of Rumkale. After lunch in Halfeti the route crosses to Kahta and climbs Mount Nemrut, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where colossal stone heads from the kingdom of Commagene under Antiochus I stand on the summit terraces. After sunset, continue to Sanliurfa, arriving in the evening for a traditional Sira Gecesi dinner with music. Overnight in Sanliurfa. (about 9 hours of driving in total)

Today belongs to the Neolithic. Gobeklitepe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built by hunter-gatherer communities between about 9600 and 8200 BC: circular enclosures of massive T-shaped limestone pillars carved with foxes, boars, snakes and birds. At Karahantepe, another Pre-Pottery Neolithic site still under excavation, sculpted human figures and rock-cut chambers add to the picture. After lunch in Sanliurfa, visit Balikligol, the sacred pools associated in local tradition with Abraham’s deliverance from the fire, and walk through the covered bazaar with its spices and copperwork. Overnight in Sanliurfa.

Head south to Harran, associated with the Haran of Genesis, where Abraham’s family settled before he set out for Canaan. Walk among its mudbrick beehive houses and the remains of the Ulu Mosque and the city walls. The road then rises to Mardin, a hill city of honey-colored limestone houses above the Mesopotamian plain. After lunch in the old city, visit Deyrulzafaran Monastery, a historic center of Syriac Orthodox Christianity and a former seat of its patriarchate. The evening ends with a walk through Mardin’s stone lanes and arched passages. Overnight in Mardin. (about 4 hours of driving in total)

Leave Mardin for Dara, a frontier city of the Eastern Roman Empire, where partly excavated walls, rock-cut tombs and a great cistern survive. In Midyat, stone mansions with carved facades and Syriac churches line the old lanes, and silversmiths still work in the bazaar. Lunch is at Beyazsu, a green stream valley near Nusaybin where local families sit on platforms above the water. The afternoon drive climbs north to Tatvan on the western shore of Lake Van, Turkey’s largest lake, and into the cooler highlands of Eastern Anatolia. Overnight in Tatvan. (about 5 hours of driving in total)

Drive along the lake to Ahlat and its medieval cemetery, where carved tombstones from the 12th to 15th centuries stand across the field. Continue to Gevas and take a small ferry to Akdamar Island, where the 10th-century Armenian Church of the Holy Cross is covered with stone reliefs of biblical scenes, among them David and Goliath. After a lakeside lunch, reach Van and climb to Van Castle, the fortress rock of the Urartian kingdom, in the late afternoon to watch the sun set over the lake. Overnight in Van.

The morning starts with a traditional Van breakfast of local cheeses, honey, fresh herbs and flatbread. The road to Dogubayazit runs beneath Mount Ararat, Turkey’s highest mountain, linked in tradition with the resting place of Noah’s Ark. On a hillside above the town, Ishak Pasha Palace, begun in 1685 and completed in 1784, opens through monumental gateways onto carved stonework and wide courtyards. In the afternoon you cross the plateau north to Kars, arriving in the evening. Overnight in Kars. (about 5 hours of driving in total)

The morning belongs to Ani, the medieval Armenian capital known as the City of 1,001 Churches and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on a plateau above the Arpacay River, which forms the border with Armenia. Walk among the Cathedral of Ani, the Church of St. Gregory of Tigran Honents with its carved stonework, and the remains of the old Silk Road bridge. Return to Kars for lunch and a walk through the 19th-century Russian quarter with its basalt buildings, then climb to Kars Castle for the view over the town. Dinner brings regional specialties such as Kars gravyer cheese. Overnight in Kars.

After a final breakfast, transfer to Kars Airport for your domestic flight to Istanbul and your onward international connection. Flights are not included; we plan the transfer around the flight times you send us. End of services.