Legends of Anatolia & Black Sea: 9 Day Heritage Tour

You are met at Ankara Esenboga Airport and begin your discovery of the Turkish capital. You visit the outstanding Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, which traces the region's history from the Stone Age to the Roman era, climb to Ankara Castle with its old wooden houses and sweeping views, and pay your respects at Anitkabir, the monumental mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic. Overnight in Ankara.

Departing at 08:00, you drive east to Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire between the sixteenth and twelfth centuries BC. Here you explore the ruins of the temples, royal houses and great city walls, and the open-air sanctuary of Yazilikaya, where the Hittite gods are carved into the rock. You then continue to the beautiful river town of Amasya. Overnight in Amasya.

A morning tour of Amasya takes in the rock tombs of the Pontic kings carved high into the cliffs above the Green River, the Beyazit Mosque complex, the Hazeranlar Konak, the Amasya Museum with its royal mummies and the Ferhat and Sirin Museum. In the afternoon you drive to Samsun, where you visit the Amazon Village museum and the statue of the warrior queen Penthesilea, ride the cable car to Amisos Hill, and see the First Step Monument and the Bandirma Ship that mark the start of Turkiye's War of Independence. Overnight in Samsun.

Travelling along the coast you stop at the Yasun promontory with its Jason Church, then ride the cable car to Ordu Boztepe for a magnificent view over the Black Sea. After a visit to a hazelnut-chocolate outlet you reach Giresun, with its museum in a former Greek church, its children's library, the old Zeytinlik houses and Giresun Castle, and the clifftop Tirebolu Castle of Saint John. Arrival and overnight in Trabzon.

A full day around Trabzon. You drive up to the spectacular Sumela Monastery, a Greek Orthodox sanctuary clinging to the cliffs of the Altindere Valley, its rock-cut churches adorned with Byzantine frescoes. Back in the city you visit the frescoed Hagia Sophia, Ataturk's Mansion, the Fatih Mosque (the former church of Panagia Chrysokephalos) and the Boztepe viewpoint. Overnight in Trabzon.

You travel between the sea and the tea-covered slopes, stopping at the nineteenth-century Surmene Memisaga Mansion and a tea factory to see how Black Sea tea is made. You arrive at Uzungol, a serene lake ringed by forested mountains, with a free afternoon to walk around its shores. Overnight in Uzungol.

The most scenic drive of the tour. You stop at the Rize Botanic and Tea Garden for a tea break and views over the city, then head inland to the Ayder plateau with its waterfalls and wooden mountain houses, the medieval Zilkale castle above the Firtina Valley, the riverside hamlet of Cinciva (Senyuva) and the remote Palovit waterfall. Overnight in Ayder.

You drive through green forested mountains to Borcka, then transfer to small minibuses for the climb to Karagol, a picturesque lake set at 1,500 metres in the Borcka Natural Park. After photo stops at waterfalls and mountain viewpoints, you see the Muratli Dam Lake, where the minaret of a flooded village still rises from the water. In the afternoon you return to Trabzon. Overnight in Trabzon.

After breakfast you check out and are transferred to Trabzon Airport for your onward flight. We hope your journey through Anatolia and the Black Sea has been a memorable one and look forward to welcoming you back to Turkiye.