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  Turkey & The Turquoise Coast • April 2012
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  From April 12 to April 26, 2012 we traveled with Smithsonian Journeys on their Turkey and The Turquoise Coast tour. Our only other tour experience was a trip to Egypt in 1990. Being used to the freedom to go anywhere the mood strikes us on previous trips, we were concerned about the restrictions a tour would impose. Our concerns quickly vanished on the first day. Ahmet Memiş, our Turkish Guide, and Stephanie Larson, our Smithsonian Archaeologist, proved to be oustanding and the other participants of the small tour group were excellent companions. It was a wonderful trip. Click on the following images to view 360° interactive images of the tour.  
  Istanbul
Istanbul
Troy-Assos
Troy-Assos
Pergamum
Pergamum
 
  We began with three days in Istanbul. Starting with a brief visit to the Grand Bazaar, we went on to the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosques) and Hagia Sophia. The next day we visited the Hippodrome of Constantinople,the Topkapi Palace, the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and cruised on the Bosporus. We took a bus from Istanbul to visit the moving Gallipoli Memorial on April 16 and then a ferry to continue our tour to Troy. While it is an interesting site, the ruins were not extensive and required a lot of imagination. On our way to our hotel for the night, we stopped at the amphitheater of Assos on a site overlooking the Mediterranean with great views. April 17 was devoted to the site of Pergamum located on a plateau above the modern town of Bergama. Access to the site is via cable car and the panoramic views are inspiring.. Following Pergamum, we visited the related site of The Asklepieion dedicated to the Greek god of medicine.  
  Cleopatra's Bath Hike
Cleopatra's Bath Hike
Karakoy
Kayakoy
Perge
Perge
 
  High winds and rain prevented 360° photography at our visit to Ephesus. After touring the site, we went to the fascinating Ephesus museum and then on to a carpet weaving center. From there we boarded gulets for a four day cruise. The highlight of the cruise was a three hour hike across a peninsula to a small site with Roman ruins known as "Cleopatra's Bath". We landed in Dalyan and took a river cruise to view Lycian tombs carved out of the side of cliffs overlooking the river. Our final visit from the gulet was to the ghost town of Kayakoy. Abandoned in 1923 as a result of a peace treaty with Greece, it stretched to the top of a mountain with a small chapel surrounded by panoramic views of the town, the mountains and the Mediterranean. Our last day was spent touring Perge and Aspendos. Perge is a large site with excellent examples of Roman baths and an extensive agora. Hellenistic towers, a Roman gate, and temple remains were other prominaent features of the site. Perge also contains one of the two best preserved stadiums which is the second largest structure on the site. The well preserved theater is visible from the stadium but closed to the public.  
  Aspendos
Aspendos

Turkey on Wikipedia

Smithsonian Journeys

Photos
Photo Albums
 
  Aspendos was our final archaeological site visit. As the best preserved example of a Roman amphitheater in Turkey, it was a spectacular site. A crowd of thousands cheering an ancient event was easy to imagine.      
 

 

The map below from the Smithsonian Journeys brochure illustrates the route of our tour. We did not continue on the extension trip to Cappadocia and Ankara.

 
   
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