There are unique landscapes and then there is Cappadocia. Because we think this famed wonderland is so worth a visit, we’ve constructed this short Private Departure as an addition to our Sailing the Sapphire Seas, An Aegean Odyssey, or any of our Custom Journeys in Turkey.

Cappadocia’s fairy landscapes are the result of seas of volcanic ash solidified into soft stone, or tufa, which in turn eroded magically into deep valleys, needle-like towers, and irregular cones. Early Christians, on the run from the Arabs, carved sanctuaries into the tufa; some of these complex mazes of homes, churches, and passageways—like the fabulous underground city of Derinkuyu —were dug eight stories underground. The Byzantine frescoes of Cappadocia’s famed cave churches are among the most moving expressions of early Christian art in the world. And as Alan Weisman wrote in The World Without Us, “The muezzin’s call to evening devotion, resounding among Cappadocia’s tufa walls and spires, is like a congregation of mountains praying.”

Day 1: fly to Kayseri and on to Cappadocia • Days 2 & 3: Cappadocia • Day 4: depart Istanbul.

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