INTRO
Every Day
Gaziantep’s history of the city goes back to the paleolithic ages and with cities ancient heritage this city I exactly the cradle of cultures.
Zeugma Ancient City was saved from damn flood and it was a race against time where archaeologists won. Located on the banks of Euphrates River, the city was founded by the Greeks around 300 B.C and later became the headquarters of the Roman Legions.
Zeugma Mosaic Museum is one of the biggest mosaic museums of the world where majority part of the museums huge collection is recovered from Zeugma Ancient City.
Yesemek Open Air Museum is a quarry and sculpture workshop for the Hittite Empire. Situated around 110 kilometers from Gaziantep and near the border of Aleppo , Yesemek is both a national park and belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list in Turkey.
Itinerary
Day 1 - Take the early morning flight to Gaziantep. Upon arrival you will be met at the airport by your private guide and transferred to the Ancient City of Zeugma in Nizip Province of Gaziantep which is 50 km's away from the city . It is important to see this Ancient site before the Zeugma Mosaic Museum visit in order to understand the importance of those mosaics.
After Zeugma Ancient city visit return back to Gaziantep and have a lunch break in one of the well -known meat restaurants of Gaziantep. After lunch your first stop will be to one of the best mosaic museums of the world which is Zeugma Museum. Today in the Zeugma Mosaics Museum 500-meter square-wide mosaics, 35 mosaic panels as well as the famous 1,50 cm long bronze Mars and Aphrodite statutes are in display. The Museum will easily take at least 2 hours to visit. Later on, your local guide will take you to the Old Town of Gaziantep where you will discover many interesting old streets, small museums about the daily life of Ayuntap which is now known as Gaziantep. You will visit the lively market place, baklava shops , you will have time to shop and see the daily life of the city before checking into your comfortable hotel. Overnight in Gaziantep.
Day 2 - After breakfast in the hotel, drive to Yesemek open Air Museum also known as the Yesemek Quarry and Sculpture Museum, the site was discovered in 1890 by the archaeologist Felix Von Luschan. Extensive excavations conducted between 1989 and 1991 unearthed several pieces of statuary and the site has now been converted into an open-air museum and has been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Return back to Gaziantep and has some free time for the shopping and in the evening transfer back to Airport to fly back to Istanbul
