GOURMET-HISTORICAL-CULTURAL MESOPOTAMIA TOUR

Small Group & Private Tour

11 Days Magical Mesopotamia

All fees included & No extra charges

Hotel pick up or meeting at the airport available

All Musical local night shows, entertainments and taverns included.

All meals at traditional local restaurants with local foods and delicious desserts with local drinks included such as turkish tea, coffee, menengiç coffee, mırra coffee.

We will taste; Adana Kebab, Urfa Kebab, Şiş Kebab, Çiğ Köfte, Küşleme, Mumbar, Şırdan, Kelle-Paça, Tepsi Kebabı, Beyran, Humus, Ali Nazik Kebabı, Patlıcan Kebabı, Lahmacun, Ciğer Kebabı, Dalak Şiş, Adesiye, Arap Kebabı, Aşür, Bahtenis Dolması, Baklalı Bulgur Aşı, Biberli Ekmek, Domatesli Aş, Dolma, Gavurdağı, İçliköfte, Antep Ezme, Kaburga Dolması, Analı-kızlı, lamb-beef-kebab etc. many more local delicious turkish cuisine depends on seasonal vegetables.

As Desserts: Baklava, Künefe, Şıllık, Turkish Delight, Cezerye, Fıstıklı Kaymaklı Katmer, Kadayıf Dolması

As Beverages: Turkish Coffee, Menengic Coffee, Mırra Coffee, Special Ceylan Turkish Tea, Ayran, Şalgam.

Tour Information & Itinerary;

• Inclusions: hotel, entrance fees, sunken city boat tour, camel ride, all domestic flights mentioned, meals, desserts, drinks, night shows and taverns, local transportation with professional tour leader, English&German&Russian&Chinese speaking professional tour guide, domestic flights, all tips and taxes (you won’t pay any tip), Travel Insurance
• Duration: 11 days-10 night
• Fitness Level: All
• Starts from: Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport (hotel pick up available) and also Cappadocia (hotel pick up available)

Ends: Mardin Airport (flight to Istanbul airfare is included in price)

• Accommodation at 4-5 stars hotels, in Şanlıurfa and Mardin at historic mansions.
• This gourmet&historic tour guarantee that, at the end of this tour, you will taste every local delicious food and beverages and learn everything about mesopotamian culture and history.
• Our guests can continue with our other tours, this case accommodation and airfare costs between tours covered by us.
• Our guests earn a discount from every tour. If you have a discount code please get in touch with us.
• We have special surprises for our guests, because of its surprise, we can’t tell now.

Day 1: Adana

Adana is named as the capital city of Kebabs, in Turkey and it’s world famous. Adana is not only a gourmet city but also historic and cultural too. We explore the city with a panoramic city tour including mosques, churches, bridges, local bazaar and Islamic historical school from the Ottoman Empire. We taste local drinks. We also taste many kinds of Turkish delights at the Turkish Delight factory store and get information about making Turkish delight. We continue with historical bridges; one of these bridges from World War I which was built by Germans to carry weapons for the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Days 2-3: Antioch-Gaziantep

We go to the city of Antioch which it is famous about its history and delicious Turkish cuisine. Antioch was called "the cradle of Christianity" as a result of its longevity and the pivotal role that it played in the emergence of both Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. The Christian New Testament asserts that the name "Christian" first emerged in Antioch. We explore, world’s oldest archaeologic mosaic, Saint Pierre which is world’s first cave and also one of the oldest church in the world, The Charonion Of Hell, church, local bazaar, museums, historic castle and mosques also we continue with aromatic plants museum and world’s biggest one piece mosaic that survived in history. During the dinner you can enjoy excellent tavern with local musicians. We start to day 3 with “Vespasianus Titus Tunnel” which is a magnificent ancient structure constructed by 1,000 slaves and ancient water tunnel built for the city Seleucia Pieria in the port of Antioch 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD from. The tunnel was added to the tentative list in the cultural category of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discover local village which has historic monastery and ancient tree living for two thousand years. Tree has any mythological stories about between Khidr and Moses.

Day 4: Gaziantep

This city is called the Baklava capital of the world! and also famous for delicious local foods. We visit Zeugma, which is the biggest mosaic museum in the world. Museum has Hellenistik Greek and Roman mosaics and also popular with “Gypsy Girl” which has been displayed in a special safe room. Explore the history from another archaeologic museum. We continue with a panoramic city walking tour and cultural bazaar to see historic bedestens, and breathtaking monuments. We visit “Rumkale” which has an observation glass terrace and has great nature, marvelous castles and history.

Days 5-6-7-: Şanlıurfa

Şanlırfa is popular with traditional foods, mosques and its history. It’s calling as “Prophets City” because, in history so many prophets born and live there and many religions has history in there. We explore city starting from famous Pool of Abraham (Fish Lake). This pool is believed by Muslims to be where Nimrod threw Abraham into the fire. Abraham is an important patriarch in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Sanliurfa is where Abraham lived before his migration to Canaan. We continue with other historic buildings. Near the Abraham Pool, there is Aynzeliha lake. Zeliha is Nemrut’s daughter who in loved Abraham. According to stories, when Nemrut threw Abraham into the fire, Zeliha is jumped from Sanlıurfa castle into the fire and where she fell down there was lake created. We go to the prophet Hiob’s (Ijob’s) (who suffer because of his disease) altar of patience. Many holy writs mentioned about Hiob’s suffering and finally rewarded from God because of his faithfulness. We go to the local tavern for dinner and join traditional turkish night show and dinner. In this entertainment, our guests can eat dinner and taste local foods & desserts and also listen,dance with local live music. Musicians play local musics live, from mesopotamian culture. Out guests will eat “çiğ köfte”, “şıllık dessert”, “mırra coffee” and many more unique local food and beverages at this entertainment. This entertainment named “sıra gecesi”. Following day, we go to sunken city of “Halfeti”, join to boat tour and explore the sunken city from sea. Located along the banks of the river Euphrates in the southeastern Turkish district of Şanlıurfa, Halfeti was partially flooded in 1999 to create the “Birecik dam”. Halfeti is only location on Earth where black roses grew. After this explorings we go to biblical city of “Harran” and Jacob’s well. Harran has many historical places and unique houses, caves, historic places and ancient cities. We will ride camels and enjoy historical city. We go to Göbeklitepe, which is the first temple in the world. Foundation of Göbeklitepe caused to write all history books all over again. Gobeklitepe is After a unique journey to ancient history in Göbeklitepe. Göbeklitepe was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Prior to the archaeological discoveries at Göbeklitepe, academic circles believed that humans began to build temples after adopting a sedentary life and leaving their hunter-gatherer practices behind.

Day 8 Adıyaman Mount Nemrut-Diyarbakır:

We begin our day with a breathtaking stunning sunrise at Nemrut Mountain. It is a once in a lifetime experience and everyone needs to see these great views. In 1987, Mount Nemrut was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Our guests see tombs of the Commagene Kingdom and the Colossal Statues of Gods. We continue with Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır is a historic and gourmet city in Turkey. We visit the famous Ulu Mosque, Caravansary and the famous city walls and Diyarbakır fortress. Diyarbakır has many special covered bazaars with historic architecture. We go to the historic ten eye bridge and magical gardens called “Hevsel Gardens”, which have areas (habitats) that can meet the needs of many different species, are the largest bird paradise of the Southeastern Anatolia Region. It is home to more than 180 bird species as well as many mammals such as otters, foxes, martens, squirrels and hedgehogs. Hevsel Gardens and Diyarbakır Fortress were made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Days 9-10 Mardin-Batman:

Mardin has hosted many religions and empires throughout the history. There is many magical churches and monasteries. The old town of the city is under the protection of UNESCO, which forbids new constructions to preserve historic face. We explore Kasimiye Madrasha, Zinciriye Madrasah, Old Town, Forty Martyrs Church, Mosques and historic bazaar. We go “Dara” ancient city from Roman Empire and Dayrulzafaran Monastery. There is a lot of “Suryani” people lives in Mardin. They have special unique wine houses. We have traditional turkish music&dance tavern with dinner. We continue with Monastery of Saint Gabriel, also known as Deyrulumur, is the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world. We have special tour inside of Monastery with their local priest. We go to Batman. Batman is the city has historic sunken city named “Hasankeyf”. Hasankeyf is rich in history throughout the ages and aside from the sites below, thousands of caves exist in the cliffs that surround the city. Many of the caves are multi-storied and have their own water supply. Churches and mosques were also carved into the cliffs and numerous ancient cemeteries exist throughout the area. After Hasankeyf, we go “Midyat” city explore historic mansion terrace and old town. Midyat is very popular with its historic architecture and traditional mansions. A lot of Turkish TV series filmed in this province.

Day 11 Ending Tour:

Our tour ends this day. Our driver and tour leader host our guests to the airport and say goodbye to them. We are sure that we will meet again in our other tours. Please don’t forget to ask for discount codes for another trip with us. Our guests can continue with our other tours, this case accommodation and airfare costs between two tours covered by us.

*Prices for per person two people stayed at double room; personal expenses, alcoholic drinks not included; tour programme changes may occur due to traffic or local reasons

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