INTRO
Every Day
Located in the region of Eastern Anatolia, Van is one of the biggest cities in Turkey in terms of area and has a history of human settlement dating back as far as 7000 B.C. The city has survived the Bronze Chalcolithic and the Iron Ages and its civil history began with the Urartian Period as the city served as Urartu capital. Later on, control of the city was seized by Medes, Byzantines, the Seljucks and the Ottoman Empire. Naturally the city has numerous monuments and religious sites belonging to those periods as well as the natural beauty of lake Van and its surroundings are all worth a visit to this city. Van is also very famous for its special breed of cats . Van Cats are relatively large, have a chalky white coat, and have blue or amber eyes or have heterochromia (having one eye of each color). The variety has been referred to as "the swimming cat", and has been observed to swim in Lake Van.
Itinerary
Day 1 – Take the early morning flight to Van arriving around 09:00. Your day will start with the famous Van breakfast best known for its wide variety of cheese selection , organic butter, eggs and slide. Then start the city tour with Van Castle, Van Museum, Ancient Tusna and Van University for Van Cat breeding place. Overnight in Van.
Day 2 – After breakfast check out of the hotel and start the full day tour of Van with Gun Kizkalasi Observation Terrace followed by historical Urartu Shamram Canal, Gevas, Lake Van and a boat ride to Akdamar island to visit one of the earliest Armenian churches of Akdamar. After lunch break by lake Van visit Ancient Urartian site of Cavustepe and if lucky meet with Mehmet Kusman who has mastered the Urartu language and if you are lucky, he may guide you through the site as well. Than continue to Hosap Castle which is another medieval clifftop castle built in 1643 by local Ottoman ruler on the steep rocks most likely on top of an earlier Urartian Castle.
Drive to airport take the evening flight back to Istanbul
