Kings and Sultans

DAY 01 MEXICO – ISTANBUL Arrive at Mexico City airport 3 hours before the departure of the transatlantic flight to Istanbul. Overnight on board. DAY 02 ISTANBUL Arrival at Istanbul airport, reception and transfer to the hotel. Rest of the day at leisure. Accommodation. DAY 03 ISTANBUL – MOSCOW Breakfast. At the indicated time, take the flight to the city of Moscow. Transfer to take our brief “Panoramic Tour of Moscow.” During this tour, we will visit Red Square, the historic center that has been the scene of political and social upheavals; St. Basil’s Cathedral, with its vibrant onion-shaped domes; the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre, Tverskaya Street, Gorky Park, Novodevichy Monastery, the Swan Lake, Luzhniki Stadium, Lenin Hill, and Moscow State University. At the end of the tour, transfer to the hotel and free time for personal activities or an optional activity. Accommodation. DAY 09 SAINT PETERSBURG – ISTANBUL Board your flight to the city of Istanbul. Arrival in Istanbul. Transfer to the hotel, rest of the day free for personal activities or to take an optional excursion. Accommodation. DAY 10 ISTANBUL Breakfast. Day free for personal activities or to take an optional activity. Accommodation. Optional excursion: MARKAMOS EL DESTINO www.megatravel.com.mx Tel.: 55 5241 0333 Pearls of the Golden Horn and Bosphorus. Departure approx. at 08:00 (time to be confirmed by the guide) (includes lunch at a typical food restaurant): Visit the old Jewish quarter in Balat, the Greek quarter in Fener, and admire the magnificent views of the “Golden Horn”; then visit St. George’s Cathedral, the main patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church; continue to the Suleiman the Magnificent Mosque, designed by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan and featuring the largest dome of all the mosques in Istanbul. We then head to the Spice Bazaar, a place with a special charm for its color and aroma, the perfect place to buy teas, herbs, nuts, typical sweets, and of course spices; culminating with a boat ride along the Bosphorus, the strait that divides the city between Europe and Asia, where we will admire the wonderful views of Ottoman fortresses, palaces, villas, and the bridges that connect both sides of this city. DAY 11 ISTANBUL Breakfast. Free morning and afternoon for personal activities. Accommodation. Optional excursion: Jewels of Constantinople. Departure approx. at 08:00 (time to be confirmed by the guide) for a tour of the historic center of the city, where you can observe the variety of vestiges of the different empires that shaped present-day Istanbul: the Roman Hippodrome, center of social life in Constantinople for thousands of years, where you can also see the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Obelisk of Constantine, and the German Fountain; the Blue Mosque, with more than 20,000 hand-made ceramic tiles brought from Iznik; enjoy a panoramic view of Hagia Sophia, built in the year 537 as an architectural wonder that has served as a church, mosque, and also museum. From the outside, the structure impresses with its enormous dome, which was a remarkable technical achievement in its time and remains one of the largest domes in the world. We continue with the majestic Topkapi Palace, home to the Ottoman sultans for over 400 years, where we will visit the beautiful royal gardens, the kitchens, and the royal treasury rooms. Discover the mysterious Harem, where the sultan’s wives and children lived, famous for its luxurious decoration. We continue with the church of Aya Irini, a Byzantine church that was never converted into a mosque, and we will finish our tour at the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, where bargaining is a tradition. DAY 12 ISTANBUL Breakfast. Morning and afternoon free for personal activities. Check-out (12:00 pm) and luggage stored at the hotel; at the indicated time, transfer to the airport to take the flight to Mexico City. DAY 13 ISTANBUL – MEXICO At the indicated time, transfer to Istanbul airport to board the flight to Mexico City.