9 Day-8 Nights
Daily Tour
Unlimited
English, German
“CITIES OF THE FIRST 8 ECUMENICAL COUNCILS OF THE CRISTIANITY”
This trip passes on the traces of the “young” church. In the cities, in which the early Christian belief had supposed itself developed and shape, today important works of art are out of the antique and out of the world of the Islam. Each stage of this trip enables the user’s impressions unforgettable of Greek to gather Byzantine and Ottoman cultivation. The eight ecumenical councils, of which Roman (late East Roman) emperors call; al of them took place on the ground of the current Turkey in Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon.
ISTANBUL:
This metropolis, with its geographic situation at shores the Bosporus played a large role. For the foundation of this world in the antique time on the Asiatic bank of the strait, Chalcedon (today: Kadıköy) was located and on the European bank Constantinople (today: Istanbul).
In Constantinople, altogether 4 councils took place:
Second ecum. Council = May until July 381
Subject: “Divinity of the holy intellect”
Fifth ecum. Council = May until June 553
Subject: “conviction of the ’3 chapters’ the Nestorians”
Sixth ecum. Council = November 680 until September 681
Subject: “conviction of the apprenticeship of the one will in Christ”
Ecum respect. Council = October 869 until February 870
Subject: “removal of the schism of the patriarch Photius”
Fourth ecum. Council place. (October until November 451)
Subject: “two natures in the one person Jesus”
Flight to Istanbul. Arrive at the airport of Istanbul. Welcome and assist by our English speaking tour guide. All of the ladies will have fresh flowers and the gentlemen will have souvenir as a present by YCL Tours & Incentives. Transfer to the hotel and check-in. During the key distribution “a welcome cocktail” will be served. Rest of the day at leisure. Dinner will be served at hotel. Overnight.
After the breakfast visit to the Sergius-Bacchus, Church of the Emperor Justinian, the St. Sophia, the Hippodrome, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) and the Topkapi Palace (Treasury and Harem Sections not included !) . Then drive to Kadıköy (the earlier settlement Chalcedon), which is located on the Asiatic part of the city. Dinner and overnight will be at hotel.
Breakfast at the hotel. Then it goes to visit the main Church of the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchat (Patrikhane!) at the Golden Horn, the Chora Church, with beautiful late Byzantine gold mosaics and the Theodosian City Walls from the 5 Century AD. In the afternoon visit to the famous Mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and the Aqueduct of Emperor Valens. Then shopping will be done in and around the Grand Covered Bazaar. Dinner and overnight will be at hotel.
IZNIK: Probably of Thrakian immigrants in the 6th Century BC. Established, received the city the name Nicaea at the time of the Diadochen Lysimachos. In Nicaea, two very important councils took place.
First ecum. Council = May until July 325
Subject: “Being equivalence of the son with the father”
Seventh ecum. Council = September until October 787
Subject: “Icons deserved reverence (Gr. Proskynesis) but not adoration (Gr. Latreia) which was due to God alone”
Breakfast at the hotel. Drive over Izmit (the antique Nicomedia) to Iznik. Today on the program stands Lefke Gate, ruins of the St. Sophia, Roman Theatre and the early Ottoman army kitchen, Nilüfer Hatun Imaret. In the afternoon continue drive to Bursa (the antique “Prussia”). Bursa was earlier the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. Dinner and overnight stay in Bursa.
After breakfast at hotel, visit to the Green Mosque, the Green Mausoleum and the Ulu Mosque. Then continue drive via Balikesir to Ayvalık. Dinner and overnight stay in Ayvalik.
Breakfast and drive to Bergama (the antique Pergamon). We will visit here the Acropolis (remainders of the king palaces, the theatre, the foundation of the famous Zeus Altar, the Trajan Temple, the Roman Baths and the Gymnasium…) and in the Asclepion (the Asklepios Temple, the lower rotunda, the holy spring…) In the afternoon drive via Izmir (the antique Smyrna) to Kusadasi. Visit in Izmir the Pagos Hill with a nice view over the city of Izmir. Dinner and overnight will be at hotel in Kusadasi.
EPHESUS: First of Carians and Lydians established, was expanded the settlement later by the Ionian Greeks. In the Roman time, Ephesus experienced a large economic and political upswing. Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. In Ephesus in the double church received of the Maria, the large third ecumenical council took place.
Third ecum. Council = June until July 431
Subject: “God motherhood Mary’s against Nestorius”
After breakfast at the hotel, in the morning detailed visit to the Hellenistic – Roman Ephesus and in the environment: the Archaeological Museum of Selcuk, the Basilica of St. John, the temples and baths, the library and the large theatre. In the afternoon drive to Panaya Kapulu to the residential and dead House of the Virgin Mary. Dinner and overnight stay in Kusadasi.
After breakfast, transfer to the airport of Izmir and flight to Istanbul. Dinner and overnight will be at hotel.
After breakfast, transfer to the Istanbul Airport for the return flight.
END OF TOUR WITH THE SWEET MEMORIES OF TURKEY!!!
