Rugs....

This was interesting and probably one of my least favorite days thus far. We woke up super early to go look at rugs. That's right, rugs. I like rugs and I appreciate the fact that these rugs are hand made, one of a kind, made of wool, absolutely gorgeous and really hard work, but is it necessary to look at them at 9am? Really?

They were beautiful though and extremely expensive. There were a few people from my group who bought them from $250 to $1,300 a rug. Not for the weak hearts. I would buy one except I don't want to pay an addition $400 to ship it to the USA and I'm not lugging it around for the next 6 weeks. Nice try, but I have enough to tote around. The cool part about these rugs was that we got to go to the village where they were made and meet the women who actually made them. We watched them spin the wool, dye it, build the looms and the frame work and watch them construct the patterns. That's hard core stuff. It takes months to finish a decent size hallway runner rug let alone a full size rug for your living room or something. Anyways, I looked at rugs, beautiful rugs, but rugs still.

We had a chance to experience village life in Turkey, which honestly isn't much different than any other village that I've been to. Egypt, Slovakia, and Bosnia all had villages very similar. The ideas are the same: a mosque or church in the center, with people of crafts or skills closest to the middle and then the farm lands on the outside. Nothing extreme and nothing that really looked or stood out as being very different. Just humble people living humble lives and not a life that I would want at all. I can't Shelby Township. I feel isolate even there. Put my in a village in Slovakia for a month and I'm screaming with cabin fever. I just can't do it. And the air? What's so fresh about that? It only stinks of cows, horses and their dung. There is always some stupid rooster who wants to end up on my breakfast plate because of their constant whining in the morning with their cock-a-doodle-stinkin-do. Nope. I totally understand why there are village idiots and its because certain people cannot deal with the village life. I would be the village idiot in no time! I'll take Shelby Township and the MAC any day over a village and that's saying a lot my friends.

Other than annoying villages, I am slightly aggravated with out eating schedule, and you all know how important that is to me. This is not to be taken lightly. Our wake up times are constantly changing, from 6:30am to 7:30, to 6:30 again, sometimes 7. We eat breakfast super early, lunch at around 3! Who east lunch at 3!?!?!? That's more of an early dinner or lunner! That doesn't work for me. Everyday here has seen a later dinner. On our first night it was at 7pm, now we eating dinner 9pm! And its not because the Turks eat dinner late, but because we are traveling so much that we don't even have time to eat! Its tough.

Anyways, I'm disappointed that no one has been telling me what they've been up to in Michigan. Fill me in kids!

Day 8...TROY = HECTOR! HECTOR!

Trench Warfare

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to for some time. I had taught western civ at Dakota and the Trojan War was always a favorite among my students. I guess that's why this trip was so special. Today we got to go to the suspected site of Troy. This is the place that Homer writes about. Helen who was kidnapped, the face that launched a thousand ships, the brat prince, his older brother's protection, and of course, Hercules, aka Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, he was not there. I know, he should be, with his village of children along with him, but no Pitt here.

Troy was cool. I mean, its not a real site. We THINK that this is the place, although the evidence has been rough. After all, its 2500 years ago. Not everyone can build things as awesome as the Egyptians, who were way ahead of their time, true engineers and gosh darn good looking, if I do say so myself. There were only a few bits of a foundation left, some columns, a brick house that looked like it was built last month (it had mortar on it for crying out loud. I don't think they had mortar back then!) Either way, real or fake, its nice to hope that this was the site. So many things happened there. A true dream come true. I took lots of pictures and will upload them later.

We also visited the famous WWI site of the Battle of Gallipoli. This is truly amazing. There isn't much that survives WWI and a lot of people don't care simply because there was a much larger war that took place shortly after, maybe you've heard of it? To Turkey, however, this is a big deal and rightly so. Hundreds of thousands died here trying to enter Turkey and steal land from them (British and French, but also the Italians and Russians) and many Turks answered the call to defend their weakening empire, the last Islamic one. This was also the battle that made Mustafa Kemal famous. He was so strict with his troops that when they ran out of ammunition and started to retreat it is reported that he said, "I ordered you to fight. Now, I order you to die!" He was not the surrender type. I got a create video clip of it so check that out. I also took pictures with some of the other teachers, re-enacting a battle scene. This is what a bunch of history teachers do when they're on vacation...its the cool thing to do.

We also visited a few fortresses from the early Ottoman Empire and took great pictures there as well. We're nerds and we know it. This is the stuff that really gets our blood pumping. Its every teacher's dream!

After touring a few museums and being very touristy, we got the chance to go to the beach. Only for an hour, but well deserved. This trip is hard work, but I'm learning a lot, which makes it totally worth it. It also helps that I'm with good people who are just as funny and entertaining as the history itself.

Quote of the Day:
"Not one more bite! Not one more bite!" - Adrienne after she'd decided that she was too full to eat anymore. Her plate was completely clean. She couldn't have antoher bite even if she wanted.

"I feel like we're climbing up a...a..." - Doug
"Hoo ha." -ME, after Doug couldn't explain what exactly what part of the horse we were climbing into at Troy.

"Gross, gross, gross!!!!" - Doug after going to the Port-a-Johns on the mountain of Gallipoli.

Day 7 and the journey begins...

Video on the ferry.

So apparently Michael Jackson died! Geez, I leave the country for a few days and the whole thing goes to hay in a hand basket. Holy Shish kabob! All the TV networks have been playing his videos non stop. Its been great. I've had the chance to watch "Thriller" and "Billy Jean," at least 27 times these past two days.

We woke up really early this morning...like 6 am early because we had to drive to the Asian part of Turkey. We drove across the European side and then took a ferry boat to the other side, across the Dardanelles. It was a long 8 hours of driving and my bottom is killing me. It was good when we finally got to our hotel, which has an amazing view of the straits. Its nice to be in another port city again. This one is much smaller and quiet compared to Istanbul, but every city will be. Istanbul is the biggest!

The ladies and I were exhausted after the trip and really just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep after dinner, but we decided to walk off our enormous stomachs. As we completed our walk and started back to the hotel, I made the mistake of pointing out a very cute dress shop that was getting ready to close. Well, natually, people go out of their way to do things for me and if Erock likes something, well, let's just say that people don't say no and definetly don't close a shop! So they left it open for us and 1 hour later we were the happiest girls in Istanbul! I bought a black maxi dress, while Adrienne picked up a few skirts and a tank and Kristin got a cute skirt. Shopping is every woman's spirit booster. Nothing else gets the job done. We got the sizes and colors of every item we wanted and without a single word in Turkish. How could we accomplish such a feat? Why, I'm Erock...and the people running the shop were Turkish women! Women just understand each other when it comes to shopping. I would point to my dress and they automatically understood that I needed a smaller size. Adrienne would look unsatisfied in the mirror and they knew to bring out a different color. Ladies, when it comes to shopping, we have our own language that is universal and I love it!

Yay for Turkey and yay for shopping!

Quote of the Day:
"I just get so mad at the little munchkins inside of my computer and in my head!" - Adrienne expressing her frustration because her laptop still is not functioning.

Day 6 and it's strange

Synagogue Videos

It's weird because Turkey's becoming a place that I could live in forever really. The food is good, the people are nice and the country is gorgeous. There's only one thing...I don't speak the language, but I'm getting around that.

So here's what we did yesterday... We went to visit one of only 40 or so synagogues in Turkey. The Jewish community is small, about 30,000 or so Jews. Most coming from Spain during the Spanish inquisition about 600 years go. Don't worry I took a video inside. That was huge to me. Very helpful to see how a minority tries to survive, especially a religious minority, their daily routine, their views on politics and even security. The synagogue, although beautiful was a fortress. Jews in Turkey are struggling to survive from attacks from Muslim extremists like al-Qaeda. We had to submit a list ahead of time as to who would attend the synagogue, we needed our passport (imagine going to church with your passport!) there was a bag scanner and metal detector, but all necessary as they try to maintain. The women were great at explaining thing to us and one even say in their traditional Spanish dialect.

After the synagogue we walked through the city with our professor pointing out historic buildings and then went to Galata tower. This was a huge fortress tower built by the Venetians when they were living in the area. The view is amazing!

We came back to the hotel for a quick nap and to pack because were moving to a different part of the city in the morning. Then we went as a group to the famous Turkish baths. Man oh man. Where do I begin? If you don't know what those are then you need to look them up. Turkish baths could be very embarrassing for some, but not for Erock. Since when have I been embarrassed? So here's a step by step guide to a Turkish bath!

#1: Basically, you are striped down to only a towel. If that creeps you out then you're in for a rough ride.

#2: There is a huge marble circle/slab that you have to lie on. Usually you lie on the towel, which means you have to take it off...ummm...you're pretty exposed if you know what I mean. You have the option of bringing a bathing suit, but only if you don't want to wear your birthday suit. You steam up on the marble for a few minutes as though you are in a sauna. Then a Turkish masseuse will crack your bones and massage your muscles. She uses a scrub glove that pretty much scrubs all your skin off! Exfoliation baby!

#3: After a rinse and a quick shampoo you are off to the jacuzzi where you cook like a lobster for a few more minutes. I just wait until my fingers get all wrinkly like the back of my grandma's neck (God rest her soul...sniff, sniff). When that's done you move to step #4.

#4: The oil massage! Best part and totally worth the 95 lira that I paid for a 1 1/2 hour experience!

You can then go back to the jacuzzi or take a shower and go home. I'm telling you that this is awesome! If it wasn't, Erock wouldn't be doing it. I'd tell you flat up that it was too ugly. Plus, people have been doing this for hundreds of years! I know Dani or Stonya will have something gross to say about this, some completely inappropriate response, but honestly it was great!

That was my Friday. I prayed my first Friday prayer in a mosque in Turkey and nothing could beat the experience.

Turkey is cool. Now we head to Canakkale, which is on the Asian side of the country. This is my first trip to Asia so I can officially say that I've been to all the continents with the exception of Antarctica. Are you kidding?!?!?! Michigan is too cold for me so there is no way that I'm going there....that's a death sentence for me. Peace!

More to come... Going to get dinner.


Quotes of the day:
"Just put it in the universe and then it'll come back to you!" - Adrienne

"Could you speak up?"- Adrienne to Doug when she couldn't hear him at the synagogue.
"I have a cold woman!" - Doug

"We were invited!" " Jewish woman in synagogue.

"I love how there's no air conditioning in here. It makes thing more organic, including my armpits." - Adrienne

Day 5 and the beat goes on...

Where to begin?? After an ok breakfast, which is getting boring now because the hotel is serving the same food every morning, we walked to Sabanci University. They had an off campus location close to our hotel and once we were there we met up with a Zeren Erik. She is a member of EMBARQ, a local think tank group that was hired by Ford to create better, cheaper, safer and reliable transportation for the city of Istanbul. Her lecture was really a huge eye opener, now just on how the city operates, but also on how Detroit could pick up a thing or two from Istanbul. What was also interesting was the fact that a Detroit Company was helping them, while we are in the middle of a crisis ourselves!

We then proceeded to a small district in Istanbul called Eyup. This city was named after the flag bearer of the Prophet Mohammed, Ayyub. Its said that Ayyub was in Istabul as part of the Muslim conquest and died here. The district's mosque claims to house his body in a type of shrine. We saw many Muslims attending this mosque for prayers in hopes of getting his blessings, so to speak. That was a very rare opportunity for us. We got to watch numerous boys, dressed up in very fancy costumes, the way girls would get dressed up for communion, except these boys weren't going for communion....nope...they were going to be circumcised. Poor fellas. Its very customary for Muslim boys to go through these rituals. Its a proud moment of their life. Although their ages ranged from infants to ten and eleven years old they all looked excited. (Guys you can cringe now). This was also a huge teaching moment because it represented a huge assimilation between Muslim and Christian faiths, with the circumcision in comparison to communion or a bar mitzva and the shire in comparison to shrines in churches. Huge blend for a country with Christian roots that later became Muslim.

After the mosque, we traveled to Chora Church. This was another church that later was converted into a mosque and now serves as a museum. The Turks aren't sure what to call it either. One woman from our tour tried to take a taxi to the site and asked the taxi driver to take her to Chora Church. He looked at her and said, "No my dear, its a mosque. You'll need to cover your head." When we asked the buy tickets for the Chora Mosque people continued to tell us that, "its a museum." What the heck?!?!?!

After a long day of walking, some members of our group decided to go back to the hotel to rest while a select group of us stayed with our professor to explore Turkey a little more. I was one who stayed behind. We wandered the city until we found the old city walls that once surrounded Istanbul, or Constantinople. When I say these walls were old, I mean it. 4th Century, to be exact. That's 300 A.D.! We found some old steps that soldiers would have used to watch and guard the wall and that took us right up to the huge watch tower it had! The steps were old, falling a part and highly unsafe....which is exactly why I had to climb them! My fear of heights almost stopped me, but every once in a while, we need a challenge. The view was great and we took some cool pictures. Glad I did it. I climbed 4th century city walls, went to the 4th holiest site in Islam, pretty much visited a saint, went to a Church/Mosque/Museum, and solved the transportation problems of a city with more that 15 million people. What did you do today?

Quote of the Day:
"Once you go into the bathroom, you won't want to come out!" - Kristin, after finding a bathroom with a real toilet and not a hole in the ground.

"You know Doug's on the 5th floor, right?" - Erock
"Wait? WHAT?!?!?!" - Adrienne, after I told her that Doug's hotel room was on the 5th floor. Doug was sick and we wanted to bring him some soup. Adrienne wanted to take the stairs and we'd already pasted the 3rd floor.

Day 4 and it's hot!

http://s685.photobucket.com/albums/vv211/Mmerocky/?albumview=slideshow





Videos from the Sultan's Palace and our Dinner Music!

Ok. I can't keep doing this. I'm not getting enough sleep and today it showed. We are out all day touring and don't get back until about ten at night. By then, I want to shower and dry my hair and then I try to get online to call home, text people and of course blog. It's takes my prehistoric laptop forever to upload videos and pics and the Internet connection is so slow that it's painful. So the pictures and videos are coming but it takes so long that I have to really try my patience.

Today was very relax, at least compared to yesterday. We went back to the heart of Istanbul to visit the Sultan's palace. This place has been the seat of the Ottoman Empire for the last 400 years! Yeah, huge deal! We got to see all kinds of amazing items, from the clothes the Sultan would wear, his servants' chambers, sports, the royal jewels, swords, the gardens, even relics collected from the rest of the Ottoman Empire, like the keys to the Kaaba and even the sword of the Prophet Mohammed! Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking and the answer is yes....we visited the Harams too. They are sweeeet! Totally decked out and its awesome!

After that we went to museum of Islamic and Turkish Art. The museum was that spectacular. Honestly, I thought there would be more on Islamic calligraphy, which is the true art of their time, but it was a lot of rugs and sculptures. Let me just state that Arabs cannot draw or paint to save their lives. If you want great buildings go Greek. A few statues? Go Roman. Calligraphy? Go Arab.

Our other highlight of the day was the boat trip down the Bosphorus! It was so cool to see the city from the water. The huge palaces and vacation homes, to mosques and churches, parks and people swimming, the noise of the city, cafes and hotels, and people everywhere! Its just such an amazing atmosphere that it can't be compared to. The trip lasted about 2 hours and pictures are coming.

Dinner was on the roof of one of the famous restaurants in Istanbul. This gave us another great view, breeze and good food.

I miss everyone back home and I really wish everyone could be here to experience all of this. You'd love it!

Quote of the day:

"I'm such a pleasure pig" - Doug

"He's a man, ain't he?" - Adrienne

Day 3 and the adventure continues

Video from Hagia Sofia

This was a long walking day, no joke. It doesn't help that I'm still jet lagged either. 5 hours of sleep last night combined with 13 hours of walking and touring = one grumpy Erock! I'm going to sleep well tonight, I have a feeling.

I was super excited about today because of the Byzantine sites that we would be exploring. Check this out, we started our day off my visiting the Hagia Sofia. The video explains most of this....need I say more! Super cool stuff.

We then traveled to the sistern, which was built by Emperor Justinian. Its an under group pool basically made to provide water to a huge medieval city.

After that we took the tram to another part of town to do some shopping! Oh nothing makes a gal feel better (or make the walking worth it) more than shopping. Where would people go shopping in ancient and medieval times? Why the bazaar of course. This was not my first bazaar as Egypt houses one of the largest in the world, but so does Turkey and Istanbul's was pretty cool. I got all my souvenirs taken care of. Except LP! I never know what to get that wonderful lady. Anything I buy after today is totally for me. Now, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes! Of course I got a flag for my classroom! OH! And Courtney....guess what I had for lunch? That's right kiddo...your favorite...PITA! Except in Turkey they call it PET...weird...

Then we went to visit Suleiman the Magnificent's tomb in the mosque built in his honor. This wife's tomb, Roxalana was in the same area as well. That was a huge honor. Just to be able to visit the grave of one of the greatest sultans to rule the Ottoman Empire...wow! Not to mention his notorious wife!

We traveled to a spice market and then wandered towards our dinner at the end of the day. The restaurant was fabulous!

I had a great conversation with my professor as well. Turkey has tried so hard to ignore its Ottoman past. They don't want anything to do with it. They only care about Modern Turkey, which was basically built by Ataturk. Oh, side note. YouTube is blocked in Turkey. Apparently there were a few videos that insulted Ataturk so the government banned it. Well if they can do it in China then why not here. Insulting Ataturk is a federal crime so umm....we love Ataturk! Going back to what I was saying...they try so hard to block their past, but its impossible! These monuments are everywhere! That's almost as ridiculous as having Egyptians say that their ancient past isn't important when it makes up such a huge part of their economy!!! At they same time, I see all this old Ottoman revivalism. The fez is sold to almost every tourist (not me, I had one before I came) the have even brought back coffee grind readings! That's when someone would read the dried coffee grinds in your coffee cup after you had drank the coffee and turned the cup upside down. Old Ottoman stuff. Statues are everywhere, I mean you can't escape it. Turkey come on! Being Ottoman is cool...give it up and just except it bro!

Quotes of the day:
"See, I told you I was sick." Doug after viewing wilting flowers carved into a tombstone.
"Ba-by Jesus!" Our group in search of the Jesus mosaic in the Hagia Sofia

In Turkey's Attaturk Airport & first dinner

Video from the Flight

Day 2...AHHHH

Images from the Blue Mosque
Day two was rough. I couldn't fall asleep to save my life last night. Jet lag stinks! I finally got to be at around 3am, which was about 8 pm Detroit time (old lady time basically). I had to get up extra early this morning. We had some huge appointments!

We started the day by meeting with the Vice-Patriarch for the Armenian Church (the real Patriarch is deathly ill and the guy we meet with most likely be taking his place upon his death. The patriarch is responsible for all Armenians in Turkey and helps to guide them to holy salvation...basically, he's pretty gosh darn special! He took time to meet with us, show us the few remaining churches left in the area, answer our questions and even take a picture to update his website (I know! He has a website! Dude!)

Then we walked Istanbul. This place is big, I mean about 14 million people big. Its no joke. We visited 3 mosques, Sultan Mehmet Pasha Mosque, a Byzantine Church that was later converted into a mosque (Little Haiga Sophia) and the prize of all mosques...the Blue Mosque. One word...Amazing! Once inside the blue mosque I went to the ladies area to pray and met this cool young Turkish girl. She sat next to me during the prayers and could tell that I was struggling with my scarf which was not long enough to cover my arms. She quickly pulled out a longer scarf from her bag and threw it around me with a smile. We prayed and as we were walking out I gently handed her the scarf and tried to thank her in Turkish, despite my horrible accent. She didn't speak English very well. We stood in the court yard of the mosque where she asked where I was from. I told her the U.S and her eyes lite up. She asked me to wait and called her brother on her cell. He quickly appeared, but was too shy to use his English. I told them why I was there and for how long and they agreed that we had to hang out. We exchanged emails, she gave me the traditional two kisses and we went our seperate ways! So cool!

After that we headed back for a quick shower and then out for dinner at about 9 pm. Yep, they eat real late around here.

I would write more, but its 1 am and we have to get up early and I'm still jet lagging. On a side note...I'm a dork and stuck my way too small SD card into my computer and now it won't come out! Idiot! Oh, I've been using this thing called MagicJack and now I can call home for free!!!! Yay!

2 Quotes of the Day:
"Secret: Smells like a man but made for a woman." -Adrienne, my room mate
"You asked for a bull, now you get the horns!" - Doug

Getting there is the hardest part...

This one was tough kids, not going to lie. The hardest part about traveling is the leaving. Once you've done that then everything else is easy. The flight was exhausting. My ADD kicks in so bad that I swear I need to be on meds. I took a video just as proof. It's relentless. I got three hours of sleep the night before so that I could be exhausted but no such luck. I sat, tried to watch a movie, that lasted about 20 minutes(but as a side note, if anyone is looking for a good summer movie go watch the Proposal. Awesome) then I listened to my iPod only to be distracted by food that was being served. I ate, naturally, listened to my iPod, tried to sleep, ate again, drank some juice, went to the bathroom, iPod again until finally I dosed off...then the flight attendant woke me up to eat...again! For crying out loud people! Amsterdam was a mess, got on my connecting flight and was finally able to sleep for the remainder of the three hour flight. My neck is completely crooked now...thanks Northwest for making those seats so comfy.

Once we finally made it to Istanbul the excitement rose. I had to get my visa, go through customs, I filled out a swine flu form stating that I was not carrying the virus, but apparently I fell asleep when the flight crew collected them. I threw it away in the hotel. The less the Turks know about me and my presence, the better.

Once out of the airport I realized it wasn't that hot. About 85 degrees with a nice breeze. We rushed to the hotel, took a shower and raced to dinner at a lovely restaurant called 360•. It sat 6 floors up with an amazing view of old Istanbul! One word people- gorgeous! Pics to follow. I've realized a few things from this "Muslim" country. Secular means something completely different to Turks than to Americans, or at least me. Secular, in my view, represents seperation of church and state but respectfulness of all religions. Not so in Turkey. Country firstsos the rule, then maybe religion. That's a little strange coming from a country that was the largest Muslim empire, and carries the Islamic symbol on it's flag. In Turkey, you are Turkish first then Muslim. I've seen many Muslims drink, they smoke like crazy( there was an old Italian insult that says," he smokes like a Turk." there's one Muslum who won't be drinking or smoking in this country, they dress more western and love Attarurk. I watched a man whip out his cell phone and his background was a pic of Attaturk...creepy, the guy's dead.

All in all, Turkey reminds me a lot of Bosnia, without the Attaturk part. If that's the case, get ready folks cause I'm going to come back 20 pounds heavier... And I'm not talking about my suitcase. Turkish food rocks! I'm going to stock up on Pita!

Thanks to Stoyna for remembering 3 things on Turkey. #1: never mention the Armenians, #2: never talk about Greece and #3: never insult Attaturk!

We'll Be Doing A Lot in Turkey...Phew!

Days1-8: Istanbul.
In Istanbul, participants will hear a series of lectures by academics, public intellectuals,
NGO activists and others, around Turkish culture, society, and politics. Several of those will be
arranged through our partners at Boğaziçi and Sabancı Universities. They will include the
following topics:
In addition, the group will meet:
• Yavuz Baydar, prominent journalist (BBC World, CNN Turk, Milliyet, Sabah, TRT,
and others), and former chair of the organization of media ombudsmen in Turkey, for
a discussion of media, democracy, and freedom of speech in Turkey (confirmed);
• Elif Şafak, a prominent author and academic (Ph.D. Middle East Technical University,
Political Science) Her first novel, Pinhan (The Sufi) was awarded the "Mevlana Prize"
in 1998 for the best work in mystical literature in Turkey; her novel Mahrem (The
Gaze) earned her the "Union of Turkish Writers' Prize" in 2000; and her novel, Bitu
Palas (The Flea Palace), has been a bestseller in Turkey. She has also written Med-
Cezir, a non-fiction book of essays on gender, sexuality, mental ghettoes, and
literature. She was a visiting scholar at U-M In 2004-05 (contact initiated);
• Sibel Köylüoğlu, formerly of Ford-Dearborn, now Project Director Turkey for
EMBARQ (http://embarq.biz/en/ProjectCitiesDetail.aspx?id=7), a global think-tank
working on sustainable transportation, for a discussion of environmental initiatives,
transportation, and sustainability in the Turkish context (confirmed);
• His Excellency Mesrop II, the Armenian patriarch, as the most visible, and most
outspoken representative of the old, legally recognized religious minorities in Turkey ,
to discuss the Christian heritage of Turkey and the situation of minorities in Turkish
law and practice, and the situation of Armenians in particular (contact is established
through Prof. Kevork Bardakjian, U-M, Department of Near Eastern Studies, a close
acquaintance of the patriarch);
• A representative of the Istanbul Chief Rabbinate, to discuss the tradition and presence
of the Jewish community in Turkey from the immigration from Spain after 1492 to the
influx of refugees from Nazi Germany, including their linguistic tradition (Ladino)
(contact initiated).

Day 9: Transfer to Ankara
The group will make a detour to Safranbolu (ca. 90 km north of the Istanbul-Ankara
highway), a small provincial town famous for an almost completely preserved core of traditional
Turkish architecture (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Days 10-14: Ankara.
Ankara has been the capital of Turkey since 1923.
Visits will be made to:
• the tomb complex of Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, a highly
symbolic monument of nationalism, localism, modernism, and secularism;
• the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, both for its unique collection of artifacts of
all Anatolian civilizations, and for its ideological bent in presenting them as the
prehistory of the modern Turkish state;
• the temple of Augustus, with the inscription of his Res Gestae, one of the most
important Roman inscriptions anywhere, marking the ambitions and limits of Roman
expansionism into Asia Minor; and the adjacent mosque and lodge of Hacı Bayram
Veli, the patron saint of Ankara, exemplifying the tradition of local Muslim saints in
Anatolian history;
• the boulevards of the early republican Ankara with their hallmark buildings of early
modernism and early republican history, like the first building of the parliament;
• the old city core within the city walls of Ankara [voluntary].

Day 15: Transfer to Ürgüp/Göreme
On the way, the group will visit the sanctuary of Hacıbektaş, situated above the town of
the same name, to the north of Cappadocia.

Day 16-18: Ürgüp/Göreme, Cappadocia
In Göreme, the group will see the Cappadocian landscape of volcanic rocks containing
cave settlements and churches. This is one of the most famous natural and cultural monuments of Turkey, and crucial for the Greek Orthodox presence which lived in this area until 1924. A
lecture on the Greek past of Anatolia, the Greek occupation of Anatolia, and the Turkish-Greek
Population Exchange will be included. The group will visit the Open Air Museums at Göreme
and Zelve, the underground cities at Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı, the fortress of Üçhisar, and the
Ihlara Valley. A visit to the pottery workshops and a stroll through the town of Mustafapaşa,
formerly Sinasos with its stone masonry will be optional.

Day 19: As the trip moves to Konya, we will make a brief stop at a Seljuk caravansary, Ağzıkara
Hanı.

Days 20-21: Konya
Konya was the capital of the Seljuk Empire and one of the cultural centers of the pre-
Ottoman era. Besides its splendid Seljuk architecture, it is the burial place of Mevlana
Jalaluddin Rumi, the mystical poet (and the best-selling poet in the United States!) and eponym
of the Mevlevi order of dervishes. Among the planned activities are:
• Visits to the Alaeddin Mosque, İnce Minareli Medrese, Karatay Medrese Museum, as
outstanding examples of medieval Seljuk era architecture;
• Visits to Rumi’s tomb, and Shams-i Tabrizi’s tomb
• A lecture on Rumi and Hacı Bektaş in the context of Islamic mysticism and organized
Sufism, by Dr. Hülya Küçük at Selçuk University in Konya (PhD Leiden 2002);
• Excursion to Çatalhöyük (60 km)

Day 22: Eşrefoğlu Mosque.

Days 23-24: Pamukkale
The group will visit the unique landscape of travertine terraces and ruins of Hierapolis as
well as enjoy the hot mineral springs.

Day 25-26: Selçuk is a pleasant small provincial town, and a suitable basis for visits to some of
the most famous Hellenic and Roman sites on the Aegean coast. The study group will visit the
following sites:
• Ephesus: temple of Aphrodite
• Ephesus is said to have been home to the Virgin Mary in her later years. She is
commemorated in a unique sanctuary used jointly by Christians and Muslims, a littleknown
example of ecumenical worship between the two religions;
• Isabey Mosque in Selçuk
• Temple of Apollo which was the largest building of its time (6th century BC)

Day 27: Transfer to Çanakkale.

Days 28-29: Çanakkale will serve as a base for several excursions in the area. The site of Troy
offers less spectacular monuments than many others, but is noteworthy as the location of
Homer’s epics. In recent years, a number of important discoveries have led to major revisions of
the received wisdom on the importance of Troy in the geopolitical setting of the Bronze Age.
The battlefields at Gallipoli were the sight of the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. This was a crucial
episode in the grand narrative of the foundation of the Turkish republic. Heroic resistance against

Days 30-31: Istanbul