Day Excursion by Boat (Blue Voyage)

Would you like to take part in a relaxing day excursion and travel along the Mediterranean Coast on a wooden schooner called Gulet? Then the boat trip parallel to the Taurus mountain range is what you’re looking for. Departure mostly takes place from the harbours in Alanya, Antalya, Kemer or Side. Enjoy the beautiful Turkish coast with a perspective from the sea!

On the way you have plenty of possibilities for swimming, snorkelling or fishing in dreamlike bays with crystal-clear water. At lunchtime a tasty meal is served freshly from the boat’s kitchen.
 

The Most Beautiful View Over the Bay of Antalya

From the road between Antalya and Kemer you see a building on top of a mountain. It’s the Magic Mount Hotel. From there you have a perfect view over the Bay of Antalya. At good weather conditions you can see almost as far as Side.


Jeep Safari Into the Mountains

Quite a different excursion, but a fascinating adventure! This tour takes you on dusty roads through the Taurus Mountains. You’ll discover things, which you’d never found on your own. Those who wish can take over the steering-wheel themselves. Under the care of a tour-guide you drive in a small convoy through cedar forests and up the mountains. Close to a mountain village you stop for a lunch break; some jeep tours have a nice barbeque picnic on the way.

Jeep safaris mean Turkey pure and the experience of a unique nature very close. Depending on the different hotel locations the tours are organized with varying routes. They are a must for all friends of nature and adventure. One hint: If you sit in one of the first jeeps, you’ll swallow less dust and stay cleaner than towards the end of the convoy. In any case please take a protection for your head with you. The sun is very strong and the jeeps’ tops are open.

Please follow the instructions of your tour-guide by all means and don’t undertake any risky or daredevil manoeuvres. At the end everybody wants to get back home safely.


Rafting on the Mountain River Köprülü

You are picked up from your hotel and taken by bus directly to the starting point at the River Köprülü in Beşkonak. Experts supply you with the necessary equipment and brief you on the rafting tour awaiting you. Safety is a must and therefore all participants receive a helmet and a safety west. Then off you go!

With an experienced boat-guide and in a safe rubber boat the journey takes you approximately 12 km down the large river. Over stones and rapids all participants should join in paddling so that the boat manages to keep on floating down the river. For lunch a stop is made on the way and mostly there’s grilled trout on the menu. An exciting day is awaiting you!



Bus Trip to Pamukkale

Pamukkale (“The Cotton Castle”) is one of the most interesting natural sightseeing spots in Turkey. From a well with 35 °C warm water lime is set free, which over the many years has formed white terraces by cooling off above the ground.

From the city Denizli you can already see the white slope. On the two-days-tour amongst others you also visit the semi-amphitheatre, the largest necropolis in Anatolia and Domitlan’s Gate and Street in the antique site of Hierapolis.

On the way back a short stop is made in a carpet village, where you have the opportunity to watch a carpet show. The village is located in one of the most important carpet knotting centres in Turkey. Since the distance from Antalya to Pamukkale is around 320 km and thus each way takes between three and four hours, it would be too strenuous to do this excursion only in one day.


The Antique Cities Perge and Aspendos

It’s the classical tour as such. On this day trip amongst others you’ll visit the antique city of Perge, which is located at the edge of the coastal plain of Antalya. The ruins of the city gate and the agora are well preserved. This city as well as Aspendos formed a centre of the Roman culture in old Pamphylia in the period between the second century BC and the year 395 AD.

The antique theatre of Aspendos counts as one of the best preserved ones of its kind. Even nowadays concerts, operas and ballets are performed there. The unique acoustics still impress also experts. In former times up to 20.000 persons could find place in the theatre of Aspendos.

Every year in June the big Aspendos Festival takes place. Many concerts, operas, ballets and operettas are put on stage. If you should happen to spend your holiday in Antalya in the time when this magnificent festival is on, you should definitely not miss it. It’ll be an unforgettable experience for you! Travel agencies offer organized tours from the hotels including tickets.


Excursion to Cappadocia for Several Days

This excursion could become the highlight of your travel to Turkey. You visit an area, which leaves unforgettable memories in terms of its landscape as well as its history. Towards the afternoon you reach the city of Konya, the former capital of the Seljuk Empire and centre of the Mevlevi Order (Dervishes).

The Dervishes are a group of strongly mystically orientated muslims, for who a dance (“sema) driving to ecstasy plays an important role. Even today the founder of the Mevlevi Order is utmost respected.

On the way you visit a wooden mosque from the 13th century AC at the Beyşehir Lake and the tomb of Mevlana, where you can see gilded korans and precious handwritings and carpets. The Caravansary Sultanhanı is another destination of this tour. For dinner and the night you stay in Nevşehir in Cappadocia.


Curious and more resembling the surface of the moon - that’s Cappadocia with its structures and formations consisting of pumice stone. Most of the times the underground city Kaymaklı in Göreme, the highlight of Cappadocia, is visited and you can wander around the open-air museum, where the frescos in the churches make out the enchanting atmosphere of the old Christian community.

The return travel takes you through the forests of Akseki.


Kekova (The Sunken City), Myra and Demre

You go by boat through the ruins of the sunken city of Kekova, visit the church St. Nicholas in Demre and the rock tombs and the amphitheatre of Myra. The mixture of antique ruins, nature and landscape makes this excursion a very interesting and unforgettable one.

The bus route leading there is accompanied by a wonderful landscape. Having passed the town of Finike you see beautiful hidden bays, which will appear to you as if out of a picture book. All in all it’s a very nice excursion to interesting places worth seeing.

Please don’t forget to take you swimming suits and a photo or video camera.


Tour on the Manavgat River

Like at every excursion the transfer starts from the hotel. Mostly we stop for a tea break next to the small rapids of the River Manavgat, then we go on to the town also called Manavgat, where you enter one of the small wooden boats, which are typical for this region. The boat journey takes you to the estuary of the River Manavgat, where you have the possibility to swim. The two-hours-trip back goes upstream. Enjoy the amazing green of the countryside and look out for water turtles! Finally we’ll visit the Manavgat Waterfalls.

Most of the times this excursion is big fun with a belly-dance-competition on board of the boat and depending on the mood of the participants a “water battle” follows, which leaves nobody dry. Lunch is served on the boat.


Country and People - a Drive Through Villages

This excursion takes you through villages and the mountains up to 1.800 m above sea level. You’ll see different villages and have a look into the everyday life of the local rural population. A very fascinating day is awaiting those, who are also interested in the life of Turkey outside the hotel premises. Enjoy the cordiality and hospitality traditionally shown to every stranger in Turkey!

You have lunch in a typical mountain restaurant inmidst lovely surroundings, followed by the visit of a mosque. You’ll also be guests in an old village house.

The way back to the starting point again passes by various mountain villages right through the terrific landscape of the Taurus Mountain Range.



Hamam: Cleaning of Body, Mind and Soul

The hamam wasn’t only reserved for sultans, but the strict cleanliness rules of the Koran resulted in the construction of bath houses for everybody already in the Middle Ages. High humidity, hot marble stones and water basins calm down nerves, relax the muscles, clean the skin pore-deep and soothes rheumatic complaints. At the same time warm temperatures stimulate the immune system.

It’s a very special experience to lay down on the hot marble stone in the original Turkish hamam and completely relax. Temperatures are around 50 °C. A cleaning procedure follows, which is executed with a special glove. Its Turkish name is “kese”, it’s produced with cloth from goat hair and the structure of the gloves is similar to that of potato sacks. A skilled hamam employee, whose profession is called “tellak” in Turkish, rubs down the dead upper layers of your skin, and you won’t believe how much dirt comes off with every stroke he / she does. At the end of this wonderful experience you’ll have a massage with the masseur / masseuse knowing every movement with his / her hands to let you feel like newly born afterwards. In the hamam men and women wear a large, thin cotton cloth called “peştemal” (pronounced “peshtemal”), which is rapped around the body to cover the intimate parts of the body, but you can also use your swimming suits.

Hamam as an oriental original means pure wellness and at the same time it has the function of a communication centre. In the hamam people relax, let them be spoiled and exchange the latest news under the roof of skilfully elaborated cupolas. So it may not always be the quietest place. Let yourself be carried into another world by an atmosphere and architecture from 1001 nights!


The International Metropolis Istanbul: "Those Who Have Drunk Water From the Bosporus Will Always Feel Thirsty For It! "

Already 2.500 years ago the city was such well-known that one only needed to call “eis ten polin” into the city and everybody knew what was meant. Those who visit Istanbul today can stroll around the largest bazaar in the world. In its shops gold, silver, carpets and many other precious things are waiting to be purchased. In the places where groceries are sold mountains of fresh fruits and vegetables are piled up.

During a large city tour you’ll see all the highlights of Istanbul, which is also called the “gate to the orient”. In former times it was called Byzantium and afterwards, until the beginning of the last century, Constantinople. Be enchanted by the lively public life and the activities of the people in a city, which is populated by around 15 million inhabitants!

Hagia Sofia, one of the most important churches in the world, is another item on the sightseeing agenda. Already Constantine the Great had built a basilica here. He was the Roman Emperor after whom the city was called Constantinople between approximately 330 and 1453 AC. When the muslim Turks conquered Constantinople they changed Hagia Sofia into a mosque. Its dome has a diameter of 35 m and it’s 55 m high.

Another highlight of the tour is the Blue Mosque. It received its name, because the tiles inside let it appear in azure blue colour.


You’ll visit Topkapi Palace, once palace of the sultans. Every sultan added new buildings to the palace so that a royal city with mosques, hamams, schools, libraries, pavilions and harem arose.

If you get a chance you should definitely visit one of the big shopping centres like AkMerkez or Galleria next to the marina in the suburb of Ataköy. The product variety and perfection is so overwhelming like in New York, Paris or London.

Let yourself be captured by the oriental flair of this international metropolis! The day excursion to Istanbul is organized with planes of Turkish Airlines or SunExpress.