In the Footsteps of the Apostles

• Morning

  Arrival, transfer, hotel check-in

• 2:00 p.m.

  Lunch

• 3:00–7:00 p.m.

  Tour of the Old City of Kaleiçi

  • Christian quarter: memory of the martyrs Victor, Zoe, Esper, and George of Attalia
  • Churches that became mosques: hidden traces of faith in stone
  • Hadrian's Gate (2nd c.) — an arch the apostles may have walked through
  • The overlook and harbor — landing place of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:25)
• 7:00 p.m.

  Free time, dinner

Attalia — the first “threshold” of Asia Minor for Christian missions.

• 6:00 a.m.

  Breakfast (lunch box)

• 6:30 a.m.

  Departure for Demre (~2.5 hrs)

• 9:00–11:30 a.m.

  Tour of Myra of Lycia

  • Basilica of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (8th c.) — one of the oldest Christian churches in the region
  • Tomb and sarcophagus of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
  • Alakent Church — a witness to the life of the early Church
  • Rock-cut tombs and the theater of Lycian Myra — the world the Gospel entered

• Olympos — an early Christian episcopal center in Asia Minor: nature and ruins preserving the witness of the faith's endurance

• 4:30–6:30 p.m.

  Return to Antalya

• 7:00 p.m.

  Dinner, rest

• 6:00 a.m.

  Breakfast

• 7:00 a.m.

  Departure (via Konya — viewed from the bus)

• 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

  Sille

  • Church of St. Helena, founded by Empress Helena on her way to Jerusalem
  • Cave monasteries — a living memory of a millennium of faith among the cliffs
• 12:30–1:30 p.m.

  Lunch

• 1:30–2:30 p.m.

  Drive to Çatalhöyük

• 2:30–4:30 p.m.

  Çatalhöyük

  • A settlement from 7500 BC — one of the oldest cities on earth
  • A communal way of life — a foreshadowing of apostolic community
• 7:30 p.m.

  Arrival in Cappadocia, check-in, dinner

• 8:00 a.m.

  Depart the hotel for the Liturgy

• 9:00–11:00 a.m.

  Ürgüp

  • Divine Liturgy at the chapel of St. John the Russian
  • The holy spring — the righteous John lived here as a slave but remained free in Christ
  • Church of St. George
• 12:00 p.m.

  Lunch

• 1:30–3:30 p.m.

  Underground city of Kaymaklı

  • 8 levels down — a refuge for Christians during the persecutions
  • Refectories, baptisteries, altars — the Liturgy was sung underground
• 4:00–5:30 p.m.

  Soğanlı Valley

  • Monasteries and churches preserved without restoration
  • An avenue of “domed” churches set in nature
• 5:30 p.m.

  Dinner in the apple orchards

• 6:30 p.m.

  Transfer to Kayseri airport (1.5 hours)

• 10:30 p.m.–12:05 a.m.

  Flight Kayseri — Istanbul (Turkish Airlines, 1×8 kg carry-on + 1×20 kg checked bag)

Soğanlı — a forgotten holy valley, untouched by time.

• 10:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

  Tour of the historic center

  • Hagia Sophia — the heart of the universal Church
  • Topkapı Palace — relics: the sword of David, the cup of Solomon, a fragment of the Cross
  • The forum and column of Constantine
  • Hippodrome Square — arena of Christian triumphs and tragedies
• 2:00 p.m.

  Lunch

• 5:00–7:00 p.m.

  Boat ride on the Bosphorus — the waterway dividing two continents

• 7:30 p.m.

  Dinner, hotel check-in

• 8:00 a.m.

  Breakfast

• 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

  Christian holy sites of the Golden Horn

  • Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George: relics of three Ecumenical Hierarchs
  • Chora Monastery — 14th-century frescoes and mosaics
  • Zeyrek Mosque — the former Pantokrator Monastery
  • Bulgarian Church of St. Stephen (the Iron Church)
  • Church of Blachernae — site of the Protection of the Mother of God
  • Church of St. Anthony of Padua
• 2:00 p.m.

  Lunch in Fener

• 5:30 p.m.

  Free time (dinner not included)

Fener and Balat — a holy geography where Orthodox Christianity still lives today.