Bryn Mawr College

Early this evening you’ll depart the United States on your flight to Istanbul Turkey.

Today you will arrive in the cultural and spiritual heartland of Turkey. After settling in and appreciating the beauty of surrounding Istanbul, there will be a briefing on the trip, followed by an informal walking tour of the Taksim Square Neighborhood surrounding the hotel. Taksim Square is considered to be the heart of modern Istanbul, it remains both a current and historic district with the second oldest subway line in the world and reservoirs dating from the rein of Muhmad I. After a long day of traveling you will discover richness of Turkish cuisine at a local restaurant. Be sure to try the Turkish coffee served at the end of a meal; it comes either without sugar, a little sugar or sweet. But be warned never drink to the bottom of the cup as it will be full of ground coffee and tastes awful. Rest well, for tomorrow will be a bustling day. Meals: Dinner

A full day exploring Istanbul’s most popular sites, beginning with an intoxicating jumble of Old Istanbul, including: the Blue Mosque, with its 20,000 blue Iznik tiles and six minarets; the ancient Hippodrome; and the magnificent Hagia Sophia, a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. Then we will visit Topkapi, the medieval palace of sultans that today houses one of the world’s richest museums. The palace was constructed by Mehmed II the conqueror of Constaniople. At the height of its existence as a royal residence, the palace was home to as many as 4,000 people including mosques, a hospital, bakeries, and a mint. For Dinner tonight you are free to explore, grab some corn on the cob from a local street vendor or dine in the Sultanahmet Neighborhood on traditional Ottoman entrees including ulu yemek (stew) and pilav (rice). Whatever option you choose grab some baklava afterwards and taste the sweet treat of Istanbul. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today’s discoveries include the fabled Grand Bazaar; and the aromatic Spice Market, with exotic spices from around the world. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 covered streets and housing for 4,000 shops. Opened in 1461, it is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by the type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. Next we visit the acclaimed Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art; the collection includes notable examples of Islamic calligraphy, tiles, and rugs as well as ethnographic displays on various cultures in Turkey, particularly nomad groups. Next we will enjoy a private cruise on the Bosphorus Strait, the waterway separating Europe from Asia. We stop in the village of Ortakoy, with time to explore and have lunch on our own before returning to the hotel mid-afternoon. Use the evening to relax or explore, for those who would like to visit a new local favorite consider visiting the Miniaturk museum, an outdoor park with miniature models of historic buildings. Meals: Breakfast

WAfter a morning at leisure, mid-day we fly to Gaziantep (“Antep”), the center of Turkey’s pistachio cultivation and baklava production. Gaziantep is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It has been controlled by Akkadians, Egyptians, Mitannis, Hittites, Neo-Hittites, Assyrians, Urartians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Parthians, Commagene, Romans, Byzantines, Sassanids, and Ottomans. Upon arrival we tour Gaziantep’s Museum of Archaeology, featuring a stunning collection of well-preserved mosaics unearthed from the nearby Roman city site of Zeugma. Late afternoon we check in at our hotel, were we dine tonight. Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

This morning we visit the Gaziantep City Museum for an enlightening orientation to the city and eastern Turkey. After lunch in a local restaurant where we also enjoy a Turkish cooking lesson, we visit the semi-enclosed bazaar and several handcrafts workshops in this city known especially for its copper crafts, shoemaking, stonework, and embroidery. A renowned center of Turkish cuisine, Gaziantep boasts many acclaimed restaurants; we dine in one tonight. Some local specialties include; yuvarlama (rice and meat rolled into pea-sized balls), lahmacun (the Turkish pizza, a round dough with minced meat on top), and baklava. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Leaving Gaziantep, we coach for 90 minutes to Halfeti for a cruise on the clear waters of the Euphrates, the 1,700-mile waterway that fed the development of ancient civilization. We pass Rumkale Castle, a strategically sited fortress dating to the Assyrians and visit the “sunken city” submerged by the recent construction of a dam. After disembarking we continue on to Urfa, notable in both the Old Testament and Islam as being the birthplace of Job. Late afternoon we reach our hotel in the city’s old town and dine there tonight. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We drive this morning an hour to Harran, where Abraham is said to have lived on his way to the Promised Land. In antiquity a major Asyrian center of culture and commerce, Harran today is an important archaeological site and hardscrabble village. We visit the ruin of the cultish Moon Temple and also see the city’s adobe “beehive” houses which were inhabited as recently as the 1980s. Returning to Urfa, we visit the Halil-ul Rahman mosque, built on the site where Abraham was thrown into a fire that turned into a pool; and the atmospheric marketplace in the old city. Tonight we dine at a local restaurant overlooking Urfa’s ancient city walls. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We depart early this morning for the three-hour drive to the UNESCO site of Mt. Nemrut, the presumed 1st century BCE mountaintop burial site of Antiochus I, with temples, altars, terraces, and decapitated statues of ancient gods – and their heads – scattered about. Having withstood both time (two millennia) and attempted destruction by iconoclasts, the colossal 26- to 33-foot high statues evoke a very distant and storied past. We walk to the summit, where we enjoy a picnic lunch in this spectacular setting, then spend the afternoon touring the archaeological site and museum here. Departing late afternoon, we travel the short distance to Adiyaman, reaching our hotel in time for dinner there. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Another early morning as we depart for the daylong journey to Cappadocia, where we will arrive late this afternoon. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Centuries of volcanic eruptions dumped mud, ash, and lava here that was later sculpted by rain and wind into whimsical cone, needle, and chimney formations in which early Christians built thousands of churches in the Goreme Valley. They also built the “rock city” of Uchisar, and the underground village of Kaymakli, all of which we explore on today’s tour. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today’s touring features the vast Zelve Valley complex of caves laced with dwellings, churches, and public spaces where villagers lived until just 40 years ago. We will also visit the amazing fairy tale chimneys at Pasabag; the Urgup winery; and the medieval Ottoman town of Avanos, where we watch craftspeople as they fashion pottery and weave rugs. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Leaving Cappadocia this morning we travel to the Hittite site of Hattusha, former capital of the Hittite empire dating to the 2nd millennium BCE. Known for its thoughtful urban layout and vast religious iconography, we tour this UNESCO site; then continue on to Ankara the capital of Turkey, arriving late afternoon. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

This morning we visit the Ataturk Mausoleum, honoring the founder of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Ataturk; and the notable Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, which chronicles the history of Asia Minor. Housing such artifacts as the Mother Goddess Kybele, wall paintings from Çatalhöyük, and the relief of the God of War taken from the King's Gate at Hattusas. The afternoon is yours, before tonight’s farewell dinner at our hotel. Enjoy your lasts fleeting moments in Turkey by visiting the Ankara Citadel, the Temple of Augustus and Rome, the Kocatepe Mosque, or by having a leisurely moment in the hotel. Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Early this morning we fly to Istanbul, where we board our return flight to the U.S. Meals: Breakfast