Is anyone experienced in Turkey travel able to improve on an itinerary? I've jotted down some options of what I'm looking at but could use help avoiding disaster, and generally working out a successful and rewarding trip...
OPTION 1 - TROY
Day 1 - arrival into Turkey - ON Ist. (arrive early am, afternoon tour, free evening or work evening)
Day 2 - arrival into Turkey - ON Ist. (working day - evening sightseeing)
Day 3 - pick up car at airport - drive to Eceabet and cross on car ferry to Canakkale, drive to Troy - ON Assos or Ayvalik
Day 4 - drive to Pergamon and area in am and drive onto lodging near to Ephesus and other areas in afternoon ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati (I know Alcati is out of the way but I'm really wanting to work it in somehow)
Day 5 - to Pammakule and Aphrodisias day - time later to see village or hang out - ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati
Day 6 - to Ephesus during the day - time to hang out and explore then - ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati
Day 7 - morning air transfer to Cappadocia from Izmir and exploration of area for the day, horseback in the evening - ON Cappa.
Day 8 - exploration of Cappodicia all day and hang out in the evening - ON Cappa.
Day 9 - hot air balloon ride in Cappa. then transfer to Istanbul by air late am or early afternoon - afternoon/evening Istanbul - ON Istan.
Day 10 - Istanbul all day - tour in am followed by free afternoon and Dervish show in evening - ON Istan.
Day 11 - fly home in the am, international flight at 11
This gives 2 nights (I), 1 night (near Troy), 3 nights (near Ephe.), 2 in Cappo., and 2 in Istanbul.
Another option involves flying out from Izmir late in the day on the Ephesus day instead of turning back into the hotel - this would provide a two rather than a three night stay in the Ephesus area.
Another option is to leave out Troy completely and spend the extra day either in Istanbul, or Cappadocia or the Aegean. If I did this, I would fly directly to Izmir - much easier (but I did really want to see Troy despite the warnings...).
OPTION 2 - NO TROY
Day 1 - arrival into Turkey, day in Istanbul etc. - ON Ist.
Day 2 - Istanbul all day - ON Ist. (working day - evening sightseeing)
Day 3 - to airport - fly to Izmir to pick up car - drive to back toward Pergamon area then back to lodging nearer to Ephesus a- ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati (Alacati isn't much further from Pergamon than Selcuk and Sirince)
Day 4 - to Pammakule and Aphrodisias day - time later to see village or hang out - ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati
Day 5 - to Ephesus during the day - time to hang out and explore then - ON Selcuk, Siring or Alcati
Day 6 - morning air transfer to Cappadocia from Izmir and exploration of area etc. - ON Cappa.
Day 7 - exploration of Cappodicia etc. - ON Cappa.
Day 8 - hot air balloon ride in Cappa. then transfer to Istanbul late in day - ON Istan.
Day 9 - Istanbul all day - etc. - ON Istan.
Day 10 - Istanbul all day - ON Istan.
Day 11 - fly home in the am
An option for the above plan is to spend Day 3 night in Pergamon or nearby before moving on.
Option 2 adds an extra day in Istanbul at the end - but as an alternative, the extra day could fall at the end - what would work better?
Thanks!