Ivan Aivazovsky (1817–1900) - Constantinople and the Bosphorus

TOUR ITINERARY

DAY ONE/: Arrival in Istanbul, the ancient city of Constantnople. Be met at the Airport and transfer to a very nice boutique hotel in Sultan Ahmed within walking distance to all major historical sites. Dinner. Introduction from the tour guest speakers.

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DAY TWO/: Breakfast in the hotel and the transfer to AHL Airport to take Turkish Airlines flight to Urfa at lunchtime. Check into the Hilton Garden Inn hotel. Dinner in the evening. Orientation for guests.

(Guests going directly to Sanliurfa should arrive on this day)

DAY THREE/: In the morning make the short journey out to the Göbekli Tepe, the world's oldest temple complex, built by the founders of civilization nearly 12,000 years ago. Lunch in Sanliurfa. In the afternoon visit the ancient city of Harran, home of the Sabians and Chaldeans. See the ruins of the ancient university, the site of the temple of the moon god Sin, along with the city's prehistoric mound, its Seljuk castle and beehive hut village. Visit the local shop and café in the nearby village.

Above left, Göbekli Tepe's Enclosure D. Above right, Enclosure D's Vulture Stone (Pillar 43).

Left, the ruins of the Paradise Mosque, Harran. Right, beehive huts at Harran.

DAY FOUR/: After breakfast visit Sanliurfa's brand new museum of archaeology, with its breath-taking display of objects, pillars and stone structures from Göbekli Tepe and other early Neolithic sites in the region. In the afternoon visit Sanliurfa's Pools of Abraham and the cave said to be the birthplace of the great prophet. Experience the city's famous bazaar.

Exhibits in Sanliurfa's new archaeological museum.

DAY FIVE/: In the morning visit the Tektek Mountains to see Göbekli Tepe's sister site, Karahan Tepe. Lunch. In the afternoon visit Göbekli Tepe for a second time, on this occasion without guidance to experience the site on a more personal level. Be at the site as the setting sun illuminates the interior of the main enclosures, providing a perfect opportunity for photographs and contemplation.Stay final night in hotel.

Above left, unfinished monolith at Karahan Tepe. Above right, stone row at Karahan Tepe
Below left, standing pillars at Karahan Tepe. Below right, Andrew Collins with a fragment of a porthole stone at Karahan Tepe.

Left, Nimrod's Castle, Sanliurfa. Right, the Pools of Abraham, Sanliurfa.

DAY SIX/: Departure from Sanliurfa airport. Lunchtime flight to Istanbul, with arrival in Istanbul with plenty of time to catch connecting flights.



Top left & right, Göbekli Tepe's Enclosure D. Below left, Göbekli Tepe's Enclosure A, and, below right, Göbekli Tepe's Enclosure E - the Rock Temple, complete with guardian dog.

Harran's Astronomical Tower

PRICE STARTING IN ISTANBUL £ 900 PER PERSON (Staying in a double room) SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT £175 Includes one night's stay in Istanbul hotel. Domestic flights between Istanbul and Sanliurfa (prices based on current prices. In case of an increase on the rates this will be reflected in the given price). Four nights in the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, Sanliurfa, including breakfast and evening meals. Airport transfers in Istanbul and Sanliurfa. All transportation to and from sites. Museum entrance fees. Comfortable minibus with air-conditioning and reliable drivers during the tours. English speaking professional guidance.

Fox on one of the twin monoliths in Enclosure B

PRICE STARTING IN SANLIURFA £ 750 PER PERSON (Staying in a double room) SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT £150 Includes four nights in the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, Sanliurfa, including breakfast and evening meals. Airport transfers in Sanliurfa. All transportation to and from sites. Museum entrance fees. Comfortable minibus with air-conditioning and reliable drivers during the tours. English speaking professional guidance.

Pay your deposit now to secure your place by using the Paypal button below

Deposit Options

May Tour Deposit £200.00 GBP September Tour Deposit £200.00 GBP

The cost of the tour does not include: Turkish visa (obtainable in advance or at Istanbul airport).
Tips for the guide and driver. Lunchtime meals. Drinks at dinner.

Guest speakers will provide audio-visual presentations in the evenings where permissible

Please read Terms and Conditions before making your booking

Andrew Collins at Göbekli Tepe in May 2015.

Göbekli Tepe is a name familiar to anyone interested in the ancient mysteries subject. Billed as the oldest stone temple in the world, it is composed of a series of megalithic structures containing rings of beautifully carved T-shaped pillars. It sits on a mountain ridge in southeast Turkey, just 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the ancient city of Urfa, close to the traditional site of the Garden of Eden. Here, for the past ten thousand years, its secrets have remained hidden beneath an artificial, belly-shaped mound of earth some 330 by 220 yards (300 m by 200 meters) in size. Agriculture and animal husbandry were barely known when Göbekli Tepe was built, and roaming the fertile landscape of southwest Asia were, we are told, primitive hunter-gatherers, whose sole existence revolved around survival on a day-to-day basis.

So what is Göbekli Tepe? Who created it, and why? More pressingly, why did its builders bury their creation at the end of its useful life?

Click here for more information on
Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods by Andrew Collins

Click here for more information on Gobekli Tepe by Hugh Newman

Karahan Tepe

Discovered as recently as 1997, Karahan Tepe might be described as Gobekli Tepe's sister site. Located in the Tektek Mountains, some 40 miles from Sanliurfa it is an early Neolithic stone sanctuary constructed on an elevated platform some 10,000 to 10,500 years ago. A series of stone avenues ascend toward an exposed area of bedrock covered in cupules (bored cup marks), twin holes and rock-cut cisterns. Everywhere are fragments of cut and dressed stone from porthole stones and standing pillars. More remote than Gobekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe possesses an eerie ambience that tells of rites and rituals during some forgotten age that archaeology might one day unravel. From the summit of its northern knoll, during the epoch of its construction the observer would have been able to watch the stars of Cygnus and the Milky Way set into a nearby tabletop mountain peak.

Click here to read Andrew Collins's article
Karahan Tepe: Another Temple of the Stars

Click here for an article on Karahan Tepe megalithic complex by Hugh Newman

Visiting Göbekli Tepe? Buy your copy of Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods AMAZON.COM AMAZON.CO.UK BARNES & NOBLE

For more information on Göbekli Tepe:

Göbekli Tepe's Cosmic Blueprint by Andrew Collins

Andrew defines Göbekli Tepe's cosmic blueprint, showing that it is aligned to the Milky Way's Dark Rift and the bright star Deneb in Cygnus.

One Week in Kurdistan by Andrew Collins

Andrew's epic journey in eastern Turkey in May-June 2004, visiting some of the sites that will feature in the Origins of Civilization tour in September, including Harran, Sanliurfa and Göbekli Tepe.

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