Istanbul, Ephesus & Troy

Istanbul, Ephesus & Troy from only £799 per person

Selected departures from July to November 2012

A city of great diversity, Istanbul is a combination of tree-lined boulevards, cafés and cosmopolitan restaurants set against a backdrop where little else has changed for centuries. You still see the thriving street market-stalls, groaning with immense displays of produce and even live poultry for sale, with noise and atmosphere in abundance. High-class jewellery and fashion shops equalling the best Paris or London can muster jostle with hawkers selling freshly prepared food, shoeshine boys and the largest covered bazaar in the world. Consecutive capital to both Christian and Ottoman Empires, you can at once admire a fascinating Byzantine church whilst listening to the haunting chant from the mosque calling the faithful to prayer.

We also visit three of the most famous ancient sites in the country: Troy, Pergamon and Ephesus. Each one is very different, with Troy being the oldest, dating from 3,000BC and during more than a century of excavations, nine separate cities have been unearthed, all built in layers over each other. Pergamon, once a Greek colony of 100,000 people built high on a huge rock, is an impregnable defensive site, with amazing views in all directions and flourished as one of the ancient world’s greatest centres of learning and healing. During Roman times the greatest city in the eastern Mediterranean was Ephesus, which boasts an extraordinary number of superbly preserved monuments – including the stunning 2-storey Library of Celsus. For many, this is the Pompeii of the East.

Turkey is the perfect place if you are looking for something a little bit different and it will not disappoint - a genuinely unique blend of diverse cultures, centuries of history and an atmosphere which links the mysterious east and modern west.

Price Includes:

• Return flights from London Heathrow, Birmingham or Manchester,
• Taxes & transfers
• Six nights four-star hotels with breakfast and three dinners
• Tour the extraordinary Topkapi Palace and visit Haghia Sophia
• Walking tour of Istanbul including the Blue Mosque, the Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn and the Grand Bazaar
• Follow in the footsteps of St Paul and St John in Ephesus
• Visit the mountainside site reputed to be the house of the Virgin Mary
• Guided tour of the remarkable Acropolis of Pergamon
• See the remains of Homer’s Troy Visit the Commonwealth cemeteries in Gallipoli and Anzac Cove
• The services of an experienced tour manager

Terms and conditions:

The code must be quoted at time of booking to receive offer prices

Prices are per person, based on two sharing and subject to availability. Operated by Riviera Travel Atol 3430 protected, Abta V4744, a company independent of Independent Print Ltd. Single rooms are subject to availability and at a supplement. Optional insurance available at a supplement. When you respond to offers we may use your information to contact you with offers/services that we believe will be of interest. Please give your mobile or email details if you wish to receive offers by sms or email. We will not give your data to other companies without your permission; please let us know if you are happy for us to to so. Prices are correct at the time of publishing. Please call or email for details. 0844 calls charged at 5ppm from BT landlines

Supplier info: Riviera Travel

Since their inception 25 years ago, Riviera Travel have endeavoured to exceed the expectations of the discerning traveller, on their fascinating and innovative European and Worldwide escorted tours.

They have passion for quality and looking after all their guests in the most personal manner possible and really ‘go the extra mile'. Over the years they have received many commendations from many household names in the publishing industry. They have recently been voted by the members of one of the country's most respected consumer organisations in their biannual survey of travel companies, as one of the UK's top two Tour Operators and the most outstanding of all in terms of value for money - by some considerable margin.

Riviera Travel offers European and Worldwide Escorted Tours by Eurostar and by Air.

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Call: 0844 571 1980

Offer Code: The Independent website

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