to Türkiye
Cultural tours
In a country like Türkiye, where people living far away from tourist centers hold the authentic hospitality of Turkish culture, and time flows slower with the oriental serenity, you will find yourself in a different world and time period.
Not only the people and their mentality, but the scene around you with the legendary sites, gorgeous coasts, breathtaking landscapes and sun blessed areas will enchant you.
Türkiye offers more Greco-Roman ancient settlements than Greece and Italy combined. Significant prehistoric centers are scattered throughout Anatolia, so are natural geological wonders. The landscape is so varied that one never gets bored during a trip through Türkiye.
These factors always make a culture tour in Türkiye a special experience.
Pilgrimages
Although Christianity has its roots in the Middle East, it became a world religion in Asia Minor. After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, most of his apostles came to Anatolia. Thus Peter founded the first Christian church in Antioch on the Orontes. Apostle Paul led all his journeys through Anatolia. According to conjectures, Apostle John came to Western Anatolia together with Mother Mary. It is possible that the tomb of Mother Mary is near Ephesus.
The first empire that made Christianity a state religion was established in East Anatolia. The first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, who opened the way for Christianity to become the world religion, ruled in Istanbul with the name of Constantinople at that time. The seven churches of Revelation in the Bible are all in western Anatolia. The first and all of the seven Ecumenical Councils that laid the foundation for Christian dogma were held in Anatolia. The most famous saints such as St. Nicholas or most of the 14 emergency saints had lived and worked here.
Many events narrated in the Old Testament happened here in Asia Minor. Traveling through Anatolia, one can admire Ararat, Edessa and Haran and visit the cities of Abraham. An important part of the history of the Crusades, which had their consequences in the Orient as well as in the Occident, was also experienced here.
When the Catholic bishops of Türkiye made their ad limina visit to Rome in 1994, the Pope called Anatolia “a holy land of the early Church.” In 1998, the Pontifical Council for People on the Move held its 5th International Congress for Pastoral Tourism in Ephesus. Cardinal Cheli justified the venue in his letter of invitation by saying that Anatolia was chosen because of its extraordinary importance for the history of Christianity. Just as Palestine is the land of Jesus, Anatolia is the land of the Church.
Here in this land you will come closer to the origins of Christianity physically and spiritually. We invite you to Anatolia; visit the sites of Paul’s journeys, the churches of the Apocalypse, the meeting places of the first seven Ecumenical Councils and experience Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople with its over 100 churches.
Hiking tours
With its coasts, mountains and plateaus, Türkiye is richly endowed with natural beauty. One has many options to create alternative and diverse hiking itineraries. Do you want to have a program where you stay in a single hotel and make star trips to nearby hiking trails? Or do you want to make the hikes from sights to sights, without having to carry your entire luggage? Do you want to hike in the mountains? Do you want to hike on the crystal clear turquoise coast? Do you want to hike in a landscape where you can admire bizarre tuff formations? Do you want to see ancient remains during your hikes or even walk on paved Roman paths? Do you want to have difficult hikes, easy hikes, balanced hikes? Everything is possible.
In the last 15 years, efforts are being made in Türkiye to create long and marked hiking routes that have a special content and concept. Among these hiking routes, Lycian Way is the pioneer and also the most famous. St Paul’s Way, the Carian Way, Via Egnatia and many other marked hiking routes are available today. A hiking trip in Türkiye is varied and always adorned with the remains of ancient times.
City Break Tours
Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans two continents, a city founded on the Bosporus, a very important waterway. Its core is located on a peninsula with an excellent location, surrounded by the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn.
Even the Greeks recognized that its location is incomparable. In the 7th century BC the first settlement was established. Constantine the Great made it the capital of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD. Later it became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and was one of the richest cities in the world at that time. After the Ottoman conquest, it became the residence of the Ottoman sultans. Today it is the most important metropolis of modern Türkiye with 16 million inhabitants.
In Istanbul, you will admire magnificent buildings from the Byzantine period, immerse yourself in the fairy-tale world of the sultans, haggle in the labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar and sniff the delightful scent of spices in the Egyptian Bazaar. The world metropolis, where the contrasts of ancient and modern, Orient and Occident are transferred to a harmonious synthesis, will inspire you at every turn!
Türkiye
Introduction
Anatolia, with another name Asia Minor, is the cradle of civilization. Surrounded by three seas, it lay in the middle of the three continents now known as the ancient world. It still connects Orient and Occident like a bridge. Therefore, it is not surprising that important historical events took place here…
History
Anatolia, also known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia. Geographically it encompasses the most of the main land of the modern Republic of Türkiye, from the coastal plain of the Aegean Sea east to the western edge of the Caucasian Highlands and from the narrow coast of the Black Sea south to the Taurus Mountains and Mediterranean Sea coast.
The history of Anatolia can be roughly subdivided into: Prehistory of Anatolia (up to the end of the 3rd millennium BCE), Ancient Anatolia (including Hattian, Hittite and post-Hittite periods), Classical Anatolia…
Geography
Türkiye is a transcontinental country bridging Southeastern Europe and Western Asia. Asian Türkiye, which includes 97 percent of the country’s territory, is separated from European Türkiye by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles. European Türkiye comprises only 3 percent of the country’s territory. Türkiye covers an area of 783,562 square kilometers (302,535 square miles), of which 755,688 square kilometers (291,773 square miles) is in Asia and 23,764 square kilometers (9,175 square miles) is in Europe…
Demographics
According to the Address-Based Population Recording System of Türkiye, the country’s population was 85,279,553 in 2022, 93.4% of whom lived in province and district centers, while only 6.6% lived in towns and villages. In 2022, Türkiye had an average population density of 111 people per km2. People within the 15–64 age group constituted 68.1 percent of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponded to 22.0 percent; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older made up 9.9 percent…
