Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s). Onboard, meals will be served to you.

Upon arrival in Istanbul Airport you will find your luggage and exit the baggage claim into the arrivals hall where you will be greeted by our tour escort and/or driver. You will be transferred to your hotel in Istanbul. Attend a welcome briefing. Dinner and a restful overnight.

Following breakfast we begin our full day of the old City with a guided tour exploring the ancient city including the magnificent Topkapi Palace (main residences of Ottoman Sultans) and the Byzantine Hippodrome that was the scene of chariot races. Around the corner we will visit St. Sophia Basilica, historic seat of the Byzantine church, built in 360 AD and now a museum whose mosaics, stained glass windows and decorated domes have been crafted to create an environment of breathtaking beauty. Enjoy a short walk through gardens and proceed to the Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmet 1 built in 1616, famous for its unparalleled ceramic tile work. Dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast we will visit the Galata Tower and Bridge. In the Galata district many Catholic Churches are located. We will visit The Basilica of St Anthony of Padua, the most prestigious Catholic Church in Istanbul, originally built on this site in 1725, but was demolished in the early 20th Century, in order to make way for a tramway. The church was rebuilt by the architect, Giulio Mongeri and completed in 1912. Celebrate Mass. Following lunch visit The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes is a historic parish of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church in the district of Bomonti of the Istanbul district of Şişli.

We also will stop by SS Peter and Paul is a Catholic church in Istanbul, important for historical reasons. The church owns an icon of the Virgin of the Hodegetria type, which originally lay in a Dominican church in Caffa, Crimea.

Ending our day with a visit of the Grand Covered Bazaar, a maze of streets and shops aroma and sounds of old Turkey. Dinner and overnight in Istanbul.

After breakfast transfer to the airport for your return flight home to the USA.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.