GREECE, BULGARIA, AND TURKEY 13 DAYS – EUROPAMUNDO

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Arrival. Transfer to the hotel.
• Welcome to Europe! Upon arriving at the airport, we will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. You can enjoy free time until your tour starts. Please, check the informative posters placed at the hotel reception area which have all the information about your upcoming services such as meeting place, time, and the guide’s name.
• Overnight stay at hotel

Meals

• TODAY´S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour in Athens. Evening transfer.
• We will enjoy a panoramic tour of the city with a local guide which includes the Presidential Palace, the Panathinaikos stadium where the first modern Olympic games were held, the national library, the bustling squares of the centre; the new neighborhoods that emerged after the 2004 Olympic games. The tour will end at the Acropolis site (entry not included). In the evening we include a transfer to the PLAKA quarter, a place full of small Greek taverns where you can also enjoy this country´s folklore.
• Return to hotel and stay

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Meteora Valley with entrance to a Monastery. Dinner included. We set off in the early morning for the North of Greece. A stop at KAMENA VOURLA, a beautiful tourist centre by the sea amidst magnificent countryside. Continuation northbound. We make a brief stop at the gorge where the battle of Thermopylae took place. We will visit KASTRAKI, a picturesque village with beautiful views over the whole valley. Time for lunch before visiting the Valley of the METEORA, an impressive place declared UNESCO World Heritage. We will see the whole of the valley and will have the chance to enter one of the most famous monasteries (entrance included).
• Dinner and accommodation.

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Beautiful landscapes of Macedonia. Dinner included.
• We travel through the North of Greece, amidst pretty mountain scenery, to the Aegean Sea. Arrive in THESSALONICA with time for a stroll and lunch in Greece’s second largest city. After this we continue towards BULGARIA, and the border pass. In Bulgarian Macedonia we stop in MELNIK, a picturesque museum village in beautiful scenery amidst a wine producing area. Arrive in SANDANSKI, at this beautiful small spa city, the birthplace of Spartacus.
• Dinner and accommodation.

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Rilla monastery. City tour of Sofia. We visit the beautiful Rilla Monastery, the heritage of mankind, with its appearance of a fortress surrounded by forests. We continue to SOFIA, where we arrive at the end of the morning. After lunch, we include a tour of the capital of Bulgaria, where we will see the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the Russian Church, the Mosque, its squares, and avenues of Stalinist architecture.
• Rest of day at leisure.
• Overnight stay at hotel

Meals

• TODAY´S HIGHLIGHTS: Flight from Sofia to Istanbul.
• After breakfast, transfer to the airport. We take a regular flight (included, variable times) to Turkey. Arrival in ISTANBUL. Transfer to the hotel and free time. You will receive information on this part of your trip in the afternoon, or it will be placed on the informative signs located in the hotel reception.
• Overnight stay at hotel

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Sightseeing tour. Cable car to Pierre Loti viewpoint. Top Kapi Palace Night transfer to Taksim.A sightseeing tour of the city. We find ourselves in a city built in two continents. On our tour, we will include a cable car ride up to the Pierre Loti viewpoint and we will lenter the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent (the largest in Istanbul). We will see the walls, the Golden Horn, the fishing district, and we will admire the exterior of Hagia Sofia.
• After the visit, we will offer tickets and a visit to the Top Kapi Palace, which was the administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire, with its magnificent courtyards and its pavilions. At the end of the afternoon, we will provide a transfer to the Taksim neighbourhood, the most commercialised and lively area of the city. There will be time to dine in one of its many restaurants, and you can also take the old tram that crosses the area or go to see the nearby Galata Tower.
• Overnight stay at hotel

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Boat trip on the Bosphorus. Today we include a boat trip on the Bosphorus that will last about two hours. We will undertake the trip on a boat exclusively for you. The Bosphorus is a strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, which separates Istanbul into two parts: the European part and the Asian one. We will enjoy seeing the liveliness of the strait with its multitude of boats. We will pass under the two bridges that unite Europe and Asia and we will admire the palaces of the sultans, the typical wooden houses, and the Ottoman villas. Free time.
• Overnight stay at hotel

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ephesus. Dinner included.
• We left early from Istanbul. We continued route through the interior of Turkey. At lunch time, we arrive at EPHESUS, the best-preserved ancient city of Asia Minor; 2000 years ago, it had a quarter of a million inhabitants. We know Saint John´s Basilica, after it, the house of the Virgin Mary and the archaeological site (tickets included). We then continue to KUSADASI, a popular coastal town with a lot of atmospheres, commercial life and a small castle.
• Dinner and accommodation.

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Views over the Aegean. Beautiful Bodrum. Dinner included. We leave for one of the natural wonders of Turkey, Lake BAFA. We continue to BODRUM, a very beautiful, fortified city of Greek origin. You can visit its castle, stroll through its streets full of life and tourism or go around its sports marina. After lunch, we go on our way to MARMARIS, another very beautiful coastal tourist enclave with its castle, its marina, and its fountains.
• Dinner and accommodation.

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Ferry to Rhodes (Greece)- City tour of Rodhes- We will embark toward Greece first thing in the morning. Express ferry, the journey will last about an hour. Immigration checks. Arrival in Rhodes. City tour of this incredible walled city and the old quarter, which bears the imprints of the different cultures that shaped it (Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Knights of Saint John, Ottoman, Italian.). Free afternoon
• Later transfer to the hotel and stay
• IMPORTANT NOTICE: The timetable for the ferry between Rhodes and Marmaris is frequently modified and doesn’t operate every day (except in the summer months), this part of the trip’s itinerary may have to be modified accordingly.

Meals

• TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Excursion in Rhodes. Night ferryboat to Athens.
• Today, an excursion around the island of Rhodes is included. We will travel to FILERIMOS up on a hill where you will be able to visit its small monastery sitting amid amazing landscapes. Afterward we will travel to LINDOS where its medieval fort and Greek Acropolis own the sea. You will be able to take a stroll along the whitewashed and commercial downtown streets, rest up at one of its beaches or walk up (on a donkey if desired) to the Acropolis. At the cited time, we will meet up at the port of Rhodes and embark on the ferry to Athens.
• Transfer to hotel and stay

Meals

• Arrival in the morning.
• End of our services. Please, check the time of your flight in case you might need an additional night.

• Travel by bus with English speaking guide, basic travel insurance and breakfast buffet.
• Includes arrival transfer
• City tour in: ATHENS, SOFIA, ISTANBUL, RHODES
• Boat: On the Bosphorus in Istanbul
• Evening transfer: Plaka neighbourhood in Athens, Taksim Square in Istanbul
• Ticket admission: Meteora monastery, Monastery, Suleiman the Great Mosque and Top Kapi Palace in Istanbul, house of the Virgin Mary, Basilica of St. John, Ruins of Ephesus
• Ferry: Rhodes/ Athens
• Funicular: Cableway Viewpoint of Pierre Loti in Istanbul
• Flights included: Sofia/ Istanbul
• 4 dinners included in: Kalabaka, SANDANSKY, Kusadasi, MARMARIS

• Airfare
• Visa cost
• GST 5%
• TCS 5%
• Meals: Lunch
• Anything that is not mentioned in the Itinerary