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TREASURES OF TURKEY April 22-May 14, 2011
FRI, APR 22 - DEPART U.S. Our adventure begins today as we board a jet bound for Istanbul. SAT, APR 23 - ARRIVE ISTANBUL Upon arrival in Istanbul, we transfer to our hotel on Istiklal Cadessi, the main thoroughfare in the Beyoglu neighborhood. Once called the Grand Rue de Pera, it's now a vibrant pedestrian mall with an old-time streetcar running its entire length. The afternoon is at leisure to rest or explore on your own before our welcome dinner this evening in a local restaurant. Richmond Hotel (D) SUN, APR 24 - ISTANBUL We begin our day with Dolmabahce Palace, a reminder of the decadent grandeur of the later Ottoman Empire. Unlike ancient Topkapi, with its many courtyards, Dolmabahce was built European style and stuffed with wealth to refute rumors of the empire's poverty. Our tour here includes the family quarters, reception rooms, and sultan's bath. This afternoon we walk to the nearby Museum of Divan Literature's Mevlana Hall to see the Whirling Dervishes perform their mystical, trance-like dance. The remainder of the day is at leisure. Richmond Hotel (B) MON, APR 25 - IZMIR / PERGAMUM This morning we fly to Izmir, then make an excursion to Pergamum. Towering 1,000 feet above the city of Bergama, the ruins of Pergamum command an extraordinary view in nearly all directions. This great Hellenistic city, a center of culture, commerce, and medicine, once rivaled the other centers of Mediterranean Hellenism such as Ephesus, Alexandria, and Antioch. We visit the Red Basilica, Acropolis, and Asclepion before returning to Izmir. Movenpick Izmir (BD) TUE, APR 26 - IZMIR-PAMUKKALE Today we drive south to Ephesus, unmatched by any archaeological site anywhere in terms of sheer magnitude. We explore the many important ruins here -- the Great Theater, the marble-paved Arcadian Way, the beautiful Library of Celsus, Curetes Way, and more. We then depart for Pamukkale by way of Aphrodisias. The dazzling white marble theater at Aphrodisias is virtually complete, while the stadium is one of the finest Greco-Roman structures in the world. Pamukkale, or the "Cotton Fortress," is a shimmering white cascade formed by limestone-laden hot springs which have formed stalactites, potholes, and magical fairy-tables. Time permitting, we'll also visit the nearby ruins of ancient Hierapolis, founded by the King of Pergamum in the second century B.C. so people could enjoy the healthful waters. Richmond Pamukkale Thermal (BD) WED, APR 27 - PAMUKKALE-CAPPADOCIA This morning we drive east to Konya, the central Anatolian city which was the capital of the Seljuk Empire between 1071 and 1308. It was here that the order of "Whirling Dervishes," called the Mevlevi, was founded by the great poet and mystic Jeladdin Rumi, called Mevlana. Konya was the home of this dervish sect for centuries until the sect was disbanded under the republic, and it's still perhaps the most religious city in Turkey. Many women are veiled, Islamic law is observed by most of the townspeople, and the tomb of Mevlana has become a place of pilgrimage. After a visit to the Mevlana Museum, we depart for Cappadocia, a region of wildly different topography inhabited since the earliest times. Goreme Kaya (BD) THU, APR 28 - CAPPADOCIA Goreme is in the midst of the famous "lunar landscape" of Cappadocia, a wide, flat plateau with valleys gouged out of its middle, valleys filled with tall, ghostlike pinnacles of rock. This wonder of nature was formed millions of years ago when a volcano erupted and spewed a layer of volcanic ash several hundred feet thick over the surrounding countryside. The ash cooled to form a bed of soft, sandstone-like rock called tuff. Wind and water eroded the tuff, sculpting it into fanciful shapes. Harder stones captured within the tuff resisted weathering and acted as umbrellas, producing the "fairy chimneys" dotting the Goreme Valley. We visit the Valley of the Fairy Chimneys (Peribacalar Vadisi), Red Valley, and the Fairy Chimney Family. We see the principal churches in the Goreme Open-Air Museum, their walls and ceilings covered with early Christian paintings of saints and angels and biblical scenes. At Derinkuyu, we explore an underground city which reached down eight stories into the earth. The first two levels are thought to have been begun by the Hittites, though most of the work was done by Byzantine Christians who retreated here to escape the fury of Arab Muslim raids in the 7th century. After dinner we see a captivating performance of the Whirling Dervishes in an old caravanserai. Goreme Kaya (BD) FRI, APR 29 - CAPPADOCIA Today we explore more of Cappadocia's wonderful landscape, including Kizilcukur (Rose Valley), Ballidere (Honey or Love Valley), and the Zelve Valley. We'll do our best to take easy hikes in some of the most beautiful valleys among the fairy chimneys. Goreme Kaya (BD) SAT, APR 30 - CAPPADOCIA-KAHTA Those who would like to enjoy an awe-inspiring (optional) hot-air balloon ride over the lunar landscape of Cappadocia can do so at sunrise this morning before we depart for Kahta with photo stops en route. Zeus Hotel (BD) SUN, MAY 1 - NEMRUT DAGI Today we head for Nemrut Dagi National Park. Nemrut Dagi (Mount Nimrod) rises 6,500 feet toward the sky. Scattered along the road to its summit are a variety of ruins, including a beautifully preserved Roman bridge and the citadel of Old Kahta. And resting on its peak are twin temples, one facing the rising sun, the other the setting sun. In mute testimony to the megalomaniac dreams of King Antiochus I (64-32 B.C.), the bodies of gigantic limestone statues of gods sit stiffly upright, their heads resting on the ground before them, toppled by earthquakes. Nemrut Dagi is certainly among the most fascinating and dramatic sights in Turkey. Zeus Hotel (BLD) MON, MAY 2 - KAHTA-SANLIURFA Now we drive south, passing the impressive Ataturk Dam, to Sanliurfa (Urfa), once called Edessa, which is known to be the city of prophets. We stroll through the old bazaar, almost medieval in character, and Balikli Gol, the mosque complex surrounding Abraham's Cave, which is revered as the birthplace of Abraham. We also visit Sanliurfa Fortress, on a hill overlooking the town. Hotel El Ruha (BD) TUE, MAY 3 - SANLIURFA-MARDIN This morning we visit Harran, a Biblical town near the Syrian frontier, where, according to the Bible, Abraham stayed several millennia ago, and which is still made up of very biblical-looking beehive houses built of mud. Here was the site of the Temple of Sin (erroneously called the first university), famous throughout the ancient world for its star readers and savants. Farther east is Mardin, a very old town crowned with a castle and a set of immense radar domes, all overlooking the vast Syrian plains. Artuklu Kervansarayi (BD) WED, MAY 4 - MARDIN Today we explore Mardin. We stop for a look at the monastery and intriguing graveyard of Deyr-az-Zaferan, founded in 792, once the seat of the Syrian Orthodox patriarch and still in use as an orphanage. We see Zinciriye Medrese, Kasim Pasa Medresesi, and Sultan Isa Medresesi, the latter dating back to 1385. We visit the Arab-style Ulu Camii (Great Mosque) built by Seljuk Turks from Iraq in the 1000s, and experience the bazaar, stone houses, narrow streets, and alleys of the old city. Artuklu Kervansarayi (BD) THU, MAY 5 - MARDIN-VAN We continue driving eastward toward Van, stopping en route at Midyat, a well-preserved historical town of stone houses and an Assyrian Christian monastery, and at Hasankeyf, with old cave dwellings and an impressive castle near the River Tigris. Time permitting, we'll visit Van University to see the famous Van cats with one blue eye and one green eye. The explosion of Nemrut volcano (not the Mt. Nemrut we visited previously) led to the formation of Lake Van, Turkey's largest inland body of water and one of the world's highest lakes at some 5,500 feet above sea level. Merit Sahmaran (BD) FRI, MAY 6 - VAN This morning we visit the 18th-century fortress of Hosap and the ruins of an old Urartian settlement from the 7th century B.C. at Cavustepe. An essential part of any visit to Lake Van is a boat trip to the 10th-century Armenian church on Akdamar island. Built in the standard Armenian style of conical dome atop four axes, the chief attraction of the Church of the Holy Cross is its ornate facade. Many of the most eventful stories from the Bible are illustrated by high-relief figures carved along the walls. Merit Sahmaran (BLD) SAT, MAY 7 - VAN-DOGUEBEYAZIT Our destination today is Doguebeyazit, a town set in the shadow of Mt. Ararat (Agri Dagi in Turkish) and less than 20 miles from the Iranian frontier. Behind the town is a range of bare, jagged mountains, while before it is a flat expanse of wheat fields and grazing lands. On the far northern side rises Mt. Ararat, an enormous volcano capped with ice and often shrouded in dark clouds, the purported resting place of Noah's Ark. Other sights include a meteor crater and the fortified Ishak Pasha Palace, begun by a local potentate in 1685 and completed by his son nearly a hundred years later. A wonderful mixture of Seljuk Turkish, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Russian styles, the palace crowns a promontory east of town. Sim-Er Hotel (BD) SUN, MAY 8 - DOGUEBEYAZIT-ERZURUM Majestic Mt. Ararat rises 17,000 feet into the clouds. Weather permitting, the best time for viewing is at sunrise before the clouds obscure it. We'll try to catch a glimpse before driving northwest to Erzurum, situated at the foot of Mt. Palankoken (popular in winter as a ski resort). Erzurum is famous for its Turkish-Islamic monuments as well as for legendary patriots who resisted the Russian invasion during World War I. Sightseeing here includes the Great Mosque and adjacent Cifte Minareli Medrese (Twin Minaret Seminary), Yakutiye Medrese, and a walk through the photogenic bazaar. Renaissance Polat Erzurum Hotel (BD) MON, MAY 9 - ERZURUM Today we make an excursion into the Kackar mountains through the lovely Tortum Valley, rich with cherry and apricot orchards, farms, villages, and old Georgian churches. Renaissance Polat Erzurum Hotel (BD) TUE, MAY 10 - ERZERUM-KARS Zigzagging back east, we wind up at Kars, famous for its proximity to the ruins of ancient Ani. Attractions in Kars itself are the immense citadel, old bridges, an Armenian church, the Drum Dome Mosque, and the Russian cathedral. Sim-Er Hotel (BD) WED, MAY 11 - KARS-ISTANBUL Forty-five minutes from Kars, near the Turkish-Armenian border, lie the ruins of ancient Ani, the skeleton of a medieval metropolis sprawled across the endless meadows of the high plateau. At the height of its fortunes, it was a city of 100,000 inhabitants and the legendary 1,000 churches. Now the dilapidated remains of some ten churches, one mosque, and a royal citadel stand in sad and silent testimony to vanished glory. We return to Kars in time to catch a flight to Istanbul, then transfer to our hotel near Sultanahmet Square in the Old City. Arcadia Hotel (BD) THU, MAY 12 - ISTANBUL This morning we visit Topkapi Palace, where the Ottoman sultans, dozens of women, and hundreds of servants lived and worked. An ancient seraglio and one of the most romantic places in the world, the palace consists of many buildings, each with a special purpose, set amid courtyards and gardens. The jewels and other treasures in the Topkapi Treasury outshine most countries' crown jewels. In the Grand Bazaar, a huge covered market containing more than 4,000 shops, we see all manner of carpets, trinkets, and clothing. We also visit the Basilica Cistern, Hippodrome, and Hagia Sophia, as well as the most distinctive mosque in old Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, so called due to the exquisite Iznik tiles on its interior walls. Arcadia Hotel (B) FRI, MAY 13 - ISTANBUL The entire day is at leisure for last-minute shopping or sightseeing on your own before our farewell dinner in the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, with its fabulous view of the floodlit Blue Mosque. Arcadia Hotel (BD) SAT, MAY 14 - ISTANBUL-U.S. Early this morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam, where we connect with flights to the U.S., arriving early afternoon of the same day. (B)
Note: Included meals are indicated by B, L, and D for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
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