7 Days Routes of Wine and History Turkey ? Educational Tour
“Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it” (Anonymous)
ROUTES OF WINE AND HISTORY – TURKEY / EDUCATIONAL TOUR
(7 NIGHTS -6 DAYS)
Ankara, Capital of Hittite Kingdom Hattusas, ?stanbul, Cappadocia are among the main sites that we will be visiting with this custom designed specialty tour .
Combine the culinary culture, wine and history in Turkey is the purpose of this tour.
We enjoy Byzantine and Ottoman days with culinary specialties of these two great civilizations in Istanbul. We follow wine tastings and courses of Turkish Wines both in Istanbul and in Cappadocia while sampling Turkish music both classical and folkloric. We do not miss historical places and we follow a very detailed schedule in terms of cultural visits of not to be missed, together with all these activities.
Menus are prepared according to gourmet & local recipes in all our restaurants.
All wines are chosen among the local ones with the local wine grapes cultivated on these lands for thousands of years. We taste wines, in ?stanbul, made with grapes since Byzantine times as well as those described by Homer in Iliad.
Wines, more than 35 different specially selected, will be tasted during this tour.
DAY 1 : ARRIVAL AND TRANSFER TO YOUR HOTEL
You will be welcomed at airport and privately transfer your hotel and check-in.
Leisurely time on your own and evening meeting with our Wine Expert for a short introduction and talk about details over the dinner.
DAY 2 : BYZANTINE DAY IN ISTANBUL
Day starts with the discovery of Byzantine monuments of Istanbul. The Church of Pammacharistos ( Fethiye Camii), The Acquaducts of Valens, Saint Sophia and
TheUnderground Cistern are among the Byzantine sites that we discover. The lunch will take place in a local restaurant located in the historical region of Istanbul.
The menu will be based on Byzantine recipes like; Tarhana (Traganos) soup, lamb cooked with spices as main and Tavuk Gogsu (breast of chicken as dessert).
Wines at lunch will be those made with the grapes also known in Byzantine age. Buyulubag Adakarasi (Dry red wine with Adakarasi grape) Kavaklidere Muscat (Dry white wine with moskhatos/misket grape) Our Byzantine exploration of the city will continue with the Church of Saint in the afternoon. Saviour in Chora which is also considered as one of the jewells of Byzantine art and architecture of the late period. Then we will proceed to fortification walls of Constantinople built in 5th century by Theodosius 2nd.
In an old Byzantine cistern dinner will take place and will be composed of Byzantine specialties. Wines at dinner are those produced with the Byzantine grapes still cultivated today like Moskhatos (misket) and Papazkarasi. Kavaklidere Sauvignon Blanc- Sultaniye (Dry white wine with blend of French and Turkish grapes) Cankara Misket-Sultaniye (Dry white wine with Misket and Sultaniye grapes) Melen Papazkarasi (Dry red wine with papazkarasi grape) Overnight in our Istanbul hotel.
DAY 3 : OTTOMAN DAY
Ottoman monuments of ?stanbul are full day reserved. We are going to discover the buildings of the classical period, not only bazaars but also the mosques. We are going to start with the Blue Mosque and The Topkapi Palace where Ottoman sultans resided almost 400 years. We will take lunch in a local restaurant with typically Ottoman menu after visiting the Mosque of Suleymaniye . Wines at lunch:
Karasalkim Papazkarasi ( Dry red wine with Papaskarasi grape)
Çankara Misket (Dry white wine)
Doluca Moskado (Semi dry white wine with Misket grape)
In the afternoon we stroll in Eminonu area. We will see the RustempaĢa Mosque, taste Turkish Coffee in a typical shop located at the position of the first coffee-shop established in
Istanbul. We are going to taste Pastirma at Namli, we will visit the Egyptian Bazaar and walk in the streets of Tahtakale, the center of the business activity both in old and present times.
Dinner will be served in a restaurant known for the traditional dishes.During the dinner we will listen to Turkish classical music which takes it‟s roots from Byzantine times and continued to be the court music during Ottoman Empire. At dinner we will taste wines which come from Tenedos Island on North Aegean mentioned also by Homeros in Illiad on Troy.
Wines at dinner:
Corvus Tenea (Dry white wine produced with Vasilaki grape)
Corvus Aegea (Dry red wine produced with Kuntra grape )
Corvus Vinium (Dry red wine produced with Karalahna grape)
Overnight in our Istanbul hotel.
DAY 4 : ISTANBUL – ANKARA – CORUM
We fly to Ankara early in the morning. Upon arrival at Esenboga Airport we go to the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara
where we can make the best introduction to the history of wine in Turkey- a history which goes back to Early Bronze age 5000 years ago. We then drive to Kalecik town the local famous grape called Kalecik Karasi.
Wines at lunch:
Kavaklidere Ancyra (Dry red wine produced with Kalecik Karasi local grape)
Kavaklidere Kalecik Karasi (Dry red wine produced with Kalecik Karasi local grape)
Chateau Kalecik Kalecik Karasi (Dry red wine produced with Kalecik Karasi local grape)
We pass Kalecik town and proceed to Corum following the bed of Kizilirmak (Red River).
Wines at dinner:
Kavaklidere Narince (Dry white wine produced with the local grape called Narince)
Doluca Kav Narince (Dry white wine produced with the local grape called Narince)
Diren Karmen (Dry red wine with Okuzgozu-Bogazkere grapes)
Overnight in our Corum or Sungurlu hotel.
DAY 5 : HATTUSAS – CAPPADOCIA
In the morning we depart to visit to Hattusas, the capital of Hittite Kingdom which ruled in Anatolia between 1650 and 1200 B.C. The fortification walls, the gates, the temples… We then continue to Yazilikaya, the oldest open air temple of the world where we see the relief‟s of Hittite gods.We have lunch near the ruins of Hattusas. We then depart in the direction of Cappadocia through Yozgat and Bogazliyan. Upon arrival we make our first wine tasting in Cappadocia on a terrace on a vineyard in Uchisar area with the local whites and roses.
Overnight in our Cave hotel in Cappadocia.
DAY 6 : WINE ROUTES OF CAPPADOCIA
In the morning we start with a pleasant walking in Pancarlik Valley where we discover the natural color show of Cappadocia. We visit little known the beautiful church of Pancarlik.
In Urgup we will visit the cellar of Turasan winery and taste wines of Turasan which is the leading wine company in Cappadocia established in 1943. We then proceed to Goreme Valley to visit the most beautiful rock carved churches in the region a Unesco World Heritage site today. The lunch on the vineyard or in a local restaurant.
Wines at lunch:
Turasan Cappadocia (dry white wine) Turasan Emir (dry white wine)
Turasan Okuzgozu (dry red wine)
Then we drive to the underground city of Derinkuyu, the largest underground city in Cappadocia carved until 12 levels at a depth of 75 meters.
In the afternoon we will visit the village of Sinasos which presents us a poetry on the stones with beautifully decorated facades of its 19th century houses. We visit beautiful churches of Sinasos like Church of Constantine and Helena and Church of st Basil. We will also stroll in the streets of the village which has the most beautiful examples of stone carving on the houses.
Our day will end with tasting of sparkling wines of Cappadocia produced with Emir grape.
Wines to taste at Cappadocian Sunset:
Kavaklidere Lal (Rose wine produced with calkarasi grape)
Wines at dinner:
Turasan Emir-Narince (Dry white wine produced with the blend of two grape varieties)
Turasan Bogazkere (Dry red wine produced with Bogazkere grape of Eastern Turkey)
Turasan Seneler (Dry red wine produced by blending Okuzgozu and Bogazkere grape varieties of eastern Turkey)
Overnight in our Cappadocia hotel.
DAY 7 : WINE ROUTES OF CAPPADOCIA
We depart in the morning to go to discover „ Kizilcukur‟ (red valley) which is a beautiful valley with its win yards and rock churches, especially „the church with grapes‟. Kizilcukur is a nearly 6km long valley which extends from Ortahisar area to cavuĢin abaondoned village.
It takes its name from the color of its rocks. On our way to cavuĢin we walk through the small vineyards of Cappadocia where local grapes like Dimrit, Kara uzum, Razaki are grown. Almost in the middle of the valley we can also visit one of the most beautiful but little known rock churches of Cappadocia; “ The church with columns” Our walk ends at cavuĢin village where we deserve a short stop. Lunch is on a winyard or in a local restaurant depending on the weather conditions.
The menu is a typical of Cappadocian cuisine, based on aubergines cooked in claypot and cracked wheat. The wines to be tasted at lunch are red and white table wines of Cappadocia.
Wines at lunch:
Kocabag Emir (Dry white wine produced with Emir grape)
Kocabag Kapadokya (Dry red wine produced with local grapes) We then continue to the North-west along the valley of Kizilirmak (red river) which is the longest river in Turkey, to the region of GulĢehir where we visit the old rock monastery of Aciksaray and the beautiful rock church of St. John the Baptist.
We extend towards the villages like YeĢilyurt, Yuksekli and Karaburna to visit vineyards and wine production centers.
We then finish our day in Uchisar with the last tasting session of the day with top quality wines produced by Kocabag and Kavaklidere companies. The farewell dinner at a local restaurant.
Wines at last tasting:
Kavaklidere Emir-Sultaniye (Dry white wine produced with two mentioned grape varieties)
Kavaklidere Altin Kopuk (sparkling wine produced with emir grape)
Wines at dinner:
Kocabag Okuzgozu (Dry red wine produced with Okuzgozu grape)
Kocabag Bogazkere (Dry red wine produced with Bogazkere grape)
Kavaklidere Selection (Dry red wine produced by blending Okuzgozu and Bogazkere grapes)
Cappadocia being known as the oldest center in Turkey for the carpet making and pottery,
a lecture on carpet weaving for ½ hrs and demonstration of pottery making for 20 min. will be part of our activities and shopping on request.
Overnight in our Cappadocia hotel.
DAY 8 : Private Transfer to Nevsehir Airport for a flight to Bodrum, Marmaris or Gocek over Istanbul or direct flight to Izmir and Private transfer to your boat . Check in to your gullet.
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