8 DAYS TURKEY AND ARMENIA SHORT BREAK TOUR ITINERARY:

Day 1 – Istanbul – Arrival Day
Welcome to Turkey Istanbul Airport. Meet with TravelShop Turkey staff and transfer to your hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 2 – Istanbul City Tour
(Breakfast included)
Pick up at 08:30am from your hotel for the a day tour of old Istanbul city. Visit to ST. SOPHIA This ancient basilica, built by Constantine the Great in the 4th century and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century, is one of the architectural marvels of all time. TOPKAPI PALACE The great palace of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to the 19th centuries housing an exquisite collection of cyrstal, silver, and Chinese porcelain, robes worn by the sultans and their families, the famous jewels of the Imperial Treasury, miniatures, the Holy Mantle; enshrining relics of the Prophet Mohammed. SULTANAHMET IMPERIAL MOSQUE Across from St. Sophia built in the 16th century by the architect Mehmet, is known as the BLUE MOSQUE because of its magnificent interior decoration of blue Iznik tiles. HIPPODROME Ancient Hippodrome, the scene of chariot races, with the three monuments; the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. Murtis Tour will then take you to the GRAND COVERED BAZAAR In this labyrinth of streets and passages are more then 4,000 shops with each trade having its own area: the goldsmiths’ street, the carpet sellers, Turkish arts and crafts, such as handpainted ceramic plates, hand-honed copperware, brassware and trays, water ewers, onyx-ware and meerschaum pipes. After the tour, transfer back to your hotel. Free Evening and optional Istanbul Evening Shows or Bosphorus Dinner Cruise incluing traditional Turkish entertainment and dinner. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 3 – Istanbul Bosphorus Cruise and Shopping Tour
(Breakfast included)
Pick up at 08:30am from the hotel and depart for the Istanbul Bosphorus Cruise and Shopping Tour. Visit the SPICE BAZAAR (Egyptian Bazaar) The air here is filled with the enticing aromas of cinnamon, caraway, saffron, mint, thyme and every other conceivable herb and spice.

BOSPHORUS BY BOAT a traditional excursion by boat along the waterway separating Europe and Asia. The shore is lined with old wooden villas, palaces of marble, fortresses, and small fishing villages. During the excursion you will see the magnificent sights of the following attractions from your boat. See Dolmabahce Palace, and further along, the parks and imperial pavilions of Yildiz Palace. On the coastal edge of this park, is Çiragan Palace, 300 meters of its marble facade faces the shore. At Ortakoy a great variety of artists gather every Sunday to display their work along the street. Ortakoy is a symbol of tolerance with a church, a mosque and a synagogue existing side by side for centuries. RUMELI FORTRESS Built by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1452 prior to the conquest of Istanbul was completed in only four months to control and protect the infamous Bosphorus passage. It is one of the most beautiful works of military architecture anywhere in the world. BEYLERBEYI PALAS (PALACE) The summer residence of Ottoman sultans exists in its original renovated glory featuring original antique furniture and magnificent gardens with the Harem on the Asian side of Istanbul. BOSPHORUS BRIDGE enjoy a unique chance to step from one continent (Asia) to another (Europe). CAMLICA HILL the highest point in Istanbul. At the top of it you can rest and admire the magnificent panorama of Istanbul and the Bosporus from the beautiful gardens, landscaped in traditional Turkish Ottoman style. SHOPPING TOUR (after cruise) Experience the traditional silk weaving skills of Turkish women at the carpet weaving courses provided by The Ministry of National Education. You will get the opportunity to see jewellery, handcrafts centre and a modern leatherwear show. Enjoy the experience of shopping whilst gaining the knowledge of the ancient craftsmen, with Murtis Tours local escort full of knowledge about how to haggle the streets of Istanbul. The rest of the evening is yours to explore Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 4 – Istanbul – Armenia
(Breakfast included)
After breakfast check out from the hotel and depart by international flight to Armenia. Upon arrival in Yerevan, you will meet with our local representative at the airport and be transfered to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to explore this historial cultural city. Overnight in Yerevan.

Day 5 – Yerevan City Tour and Etchmiatsin
(Breakfast and dinner included)
After breakfast, we will pick you up from your hotel at 10.00AM. Firstly we will go to see the panoramic view of Yerevan.

Matenadaran Museum: The Institute of Ancient Manuscripts is one of the oldest and most well-endowed libraries in the world dominates the centre of Yerevan from its location on top of the hill at the end of Mashtots Avenue. The Matenadaran has a collection of more than 17000 books and manuscripts, many from ancient times, covering not only different facets of Armenian history and culture, but also of many other countries as well.

Along the way you will get to see the Sports and Concert complex, Kievyan Bridge, Baghramyan Avenue-the Presidential Palace, Academy of Sciences, National Parliament, Writers Union, and the Opera House, Republic Square

History Museum of Armenia: The State History Museum of Armenia was founded in 1919. The Museum had Archeology, Ethnography, Historiography and Fine Arts sections. The Museum collections became the main resource for starting up a number of museums (Museum of History of Yerevan, Armenian Ethnographic Museum, etc.). The archeological groups of the Museum conduct excavations on various sites and publish monographs and collections of research papers. Currently the Museum has about 400,000 exhibits, over 5,000 of which are on a permanent display. Pilgrimage to Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the first official Christian church in the world, built in 301.

Etchmiatsin, called New City and Vagharshapat in the past, lying 20 km from Yerevan, is the city where the Mother Cathedral – the throne of the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians – is located. It was founded in the beginning of the 4th century A.D. According to the Revelation of Gregory the Illuminator, Jesus Christ descended from the heavens and pointed to the site on which the Cathedral was to be built. That is why it was named ‘Etchmiatsin’ which means The Only Begotten Descended.At the end of the tour, we will drive back to Yerevan and you will be invited to our welcome dinner. We will transfer you back to hotel at the end of the dinner. Overnight in Yerevan.

Day 6 – Yerevan – Khor Virap Monastery – Noravank
(Breakfast and dinner included)
Today we will pick you up from your hotel at 09.00AM. We will drive to Ararat Region, visit Khor Virap Monastery – If you want to see Mt. Ararat at its best, Murti’s Tour highly recommend you to visit Khor Virap. The latter was a royal dungeon in Artashat (Artaxata), the ancient capital of Armenia which is located just in front of the biblical mountain.

Afterwards we will keep moving on, we will drive to Vayots Dzor Region to visit Winery and tasting in Areni Village. Also we will visit Noravank – The architectural complex of Noravank (13-14th centuries). At the end of the tour, drive back to Yerevan and transfer you back to your hotel. The rest of the day is leisure. Overnight in Yerevan.

Day 7 – Yerevan – Lake Sevan – Dilijan
(Breakfast and dinner included)
After your breakfast, at 09.00AM we will pick you up from your hotel and shall start our tour. TravelShop Turkey will accompany you to visit Lake Sevan and Sevan Monastery on the peninsula. Then we will drive to Dilijan where is a small paradise in Armenia with its charming nature and extraordinary architecture.

In Dilijan, we will visit Sharambeyan street, it has been preserved as an “Old Town Dilijan” complete with craftsmen’s workshops, small shops with traditional Armenian products and crafts, museum, showing a typical 19th century home with all its locally made furnishings, guest house and a Tufenkian Restaurant. Afterwards, we will visit Goshavank Monastery in Dilijan before we drive back Yerevan. At the end of the tour, drive back to Yerevan and transfer you back to your hotel. The rest of the day is leisure. Overnight in Yerevan.

Day 8 – Yerevan – Garni Temple – Geghard Monastery – End of the Tour
(Breakfast and dinner included)
Today our tour starts pick you up from your hotel at 10.00AM. Firstly, we will drive to Garni village to visit Garni Pagan Temple where is the ancient architectural complex of Garni (3rd century B.C. – 1st c. A.D.), 28 kilometers away from Yerevan, in the province of Kotayk, includes a fortress, a palace and a pagan temple. On this triangular plateau, plunging from a height of 300 meters to the rushing River Azat, stand the ruins of a powerful fortress with huge basalt slabs designed for defense of the royal summer residence of Armenia. Also we will visit Rustic House in Garni with you. In here we will organize Armenian bread-lavash making ceremony and the visitors will participate in it.

Then Murti’s Tour will visit Geghard Monastery with you. The cave monastery of Ayrivank or Geghard. – six kilometers from Garni, dates back to the 4th century. Subsequently destroyed, it was rebuilt in the 12th century. The main Cathedral of the Virgin Mary was erected in 1215. The spear that pierced Christ’s body is believed to have been kept here. That is why the monastery was named Geghard (‘Spear’ translated from Armenian). It is a unique complex of churches carved into the mountain and linked to each other by a series of tunnels and caves.

The last stop of today is the old food market. Afterwards we will drive back to Yerevan and we have arrange a farewell dinner for you before we transfer you to airport for flying back home. We hope your tour was a memorable one and we would like to see you in future in one of our tours again. Have a nice trip back home and thanks for choosing TravelShop Turkey.

8 DAYS TURKEY AND ARMENIA SHORT BREAK TOUR INCLUDES:

• Arrival airport transfer from Istanbul Ataturk airport
• 3 nights hotel in Istanbul
• 3 open buffet breakfasts
• Guided Istanbul city tour
• Guided Istanbul Bosphorus cruise and shopping tour
• Return transfer to Istanbul Ataturk airport
• Arrival airport transfer from Yerevan airport
• 4 nights hotel in Yerevan
• 4 breakfasts and 4 dinners
• Guided Yerevan City tour and Etchmiatsin
• Guided Khor Virap Monastery tour and Wine Factories
• Guided Lake Sevan tour
• Armenian bread making ceremony
• Armenian souvenir
• All entrance fees mentioned in the itinerary
• Transportation in a fully air-conditioned, non-smoking coach
• Professional English-speaking tour guides
• Return airport transfer to Yerevan airport

8 DAYS TURKEY AND ARMENIA SHORT BREAK TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE:

• International flights
• Visas