Turkey Itinerary

Sewanee Alumni Tours
 
The Ancient Capitals of the Mediterranean World –
Athens; Rome; Byzantium.
 
It is a commonplace to say that the Ancient world of the Mediterranean shaped western civilization: but in order truly to understand why thinking and science in modern America is the way it is, or how America's political constitution, its law, its medicine , its architecture or even its sport took the form they have, we have to turn to the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome, from which all these aspects of our culture have evolved. And to understand why Greece and Rome were what they were, we have to visit the lands, seas, cities and varied geographies which have, in turn, shaped them. 
 
Over three years Sewanee has organized a series of short alumni study-tours to the three great - and vastly different - capitals that dominated in successive periods early Mediterranean history: Athens, Rome and Byzantium (or modern-day Istanbul).   The individual tours are designed to stand on their own and to be enjoyable and fascinating introductions to the monuments and the personalities of these three great cities and cultures. But they also build upon each other and, taken together, present a unified and unfolding vision of the emergence of what we call western civilization. 
 
Each tour will have primarily two bases, beginning with the first five or six days in the main city, followed by a further four or five days in a related but less familiar place, which will complement the flavor and bustle of the metropolis, and enlarge on the subjects studied there. Thus, the first of the tours, to Athens and its area, will be followed by a stay on the Aegean islands of Kos and Nisyros in the Dodecanese; the second visit, to Rome, will likewise be followed by a stay on the island of Capri in order to explore the Villa of Tiberius and some of the lesser known sites of the gulf of Naples; and the visit to Istanbul will be followed by a stay in Bursa, Turkey’s earliest Ottoman capital, and a perfect place to see the emergence of Islamic architecture. This final visit to Istanbul will look inevitably at the momentous encounter between east and west, between Christianity and Islam, which has characterized the city's history and which has so much to tell us today about the vital issues which dominate the politics of our own times.
 
There will be accompanied visits to the greatest monuments of these cities as well as to lesser known sites, ruins, churches, mosques, excavations, museums and private collections. The emphasis will be always on avoiding the busy times and regular tourist routes wherever possible , and on eating together in genuine and local places in order to sample the true cuisines of the three countries. 
 
The tours will be conducted by Nigel McGilchrist who first settled in the Mediterranean area over 25 years ago and has lived and worked in all three of the countries. Between 1988 and 2005 he accompanied numerous generations of Sewanee students to Greece, Turkey and Italy, through the European Studies program, on which he taught every year, and for which he served as Dean for seven years between 1993 and 2000.
 
Preliminary Itinerary
TRIP 1: Sunday May 17th to Monday 25th May 2009.  
ISTANBUL & THE ROMANTIC SOUTH COAST CLASSICAL SITES

 
Day 1: People would arrive by whatever itinerary they chose (say Delta or AA or Turkish Airlines, direct from JFK, or via Frankfurt). I would arrange transfers to the hotel (Probably the Yesil Ev Hotel, which is a traditional Ottoman House, unless people wanted to go up-market, in which case there are some terrific hotels we could stay at).  Evening walk around the historic area and dinner.

 
Day 2: Take ferry up the Bosphorus; visit private museum.  Evening visit to Santa Sophia and other sites after the crowds have gone.  Dinner.

 
Day 3: Boat to the Princes' Isles in the Sea of Marmara - a lovely island with no motorised traffic and old Ottoman houses.  Local walk in the evening to Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque; and dinner.

 
Day 4: Walk through the markets, visiting some of the finest tiled mosques, and then into the Grand Bazaar.  Evening Turkish Bath and dinner.

 
Day 5: Visit to the Sultan's palace at Top Kapi, Turkey's greatest treasure-house of art.  Afternoon for shopping or smoking hookahs in the market, before a final, grand dinner.

 
Day 6: Morning flight to Antalya on the south coast of Turkey.  (Staying probably at the Sherator Voyager Hotel). An afternoon visit to the ruins at Side, which extend into the sand-dunes by the shore. Dinner at  Manavgat waterfall.

 
Day 7: Leisurely morning in the beautiful old-town area of Antalya; visit the mosques and fluted Minaret.  Afternoon visit to the sites of Apendos, with one of the best preserved ancient theatres in the Mditerranean, and Perge.

 
Day 8: Morning visits to the mountain site of Termessos and then romantic, Phaselis. (?returning to Antalya by our own boat.)  Afternoon free for ?rug-shopping.  Final dinner on the shore,

 
Day 9: depart early am from Antalya to Istanbul for onward connections to the USA.
 
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TRIP 2: Monday September 21st to Tuesday 29th September 2009.  
ISTANBUL & THE EXTRAORDINARY LANDSCAPES OF CAPPADOCIA

 
Day 1: (Same as above) People would arrive by whatever itinerary they chose (say Delta or AA or Turkish Airlines, direct from JFK, or via Frankfurt). I would arrange transfers to the hotel (Probably the Yesil Ev Hotel, which is a traditional Ottoman House, unless people wanted to go up-market, in which case there are some terrific hotels we could stay at).  Evening walk around the historic area and dinner.

 
Day 2: (Same as above) Take ferry up the Bosphorus; visit private museum.  Evening visit to Santa Sophia and other sites after the crowds have gone.  Dinner.

 
Day 3: (Same as above) Boat to the Princes' Isles in the Sea of Marmara - a lovely island with no motorised traffic and old Ottoman houses.  Local walk in the evening to Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque; and dinner.

 
Day 4: (Same as above) Walk through the markets, visiting some of the finest tiled mosques, and then into the Grand Bazaar.  Evening Turkish Bath and dinner.

 
Day 5: (Same as above) Visit to the Sultan's palace at Top Kapi, Turkey's greatest treasurehouse of art.  Afternoon for shopping or smoking hookahs in the market, before a final, grand dinner.

 
Day 6: Morning flight to Ankara, a tour of the city (Turkey's capital) and a visit to a couple of its most important sites. Then pm long journey by private coach to Cappadocia.  Staying in Avanos.

 
Day 7: What I'd like to do is organise a ride in a hot-air balloon over the extraordinary rock formations of the Cappadocian landscape. We would need to have four to six balloons, I reckon.  Traditional local dinner in a Cappadocian village.  Overnight in Avanos again.

 
Day 8: A tour by private coach to the most remarkable valleys, rock churches and Early Christian, underground cities of Cappadocia.  pm return to Ankara, for overnight at the ?Meridien Hotel.

 
Day 9: depart early am from Ankara to Istanbul for onward connections to the USA.

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