Posts

Hot Air Balloon and Cappadocia region

Image
Wednesday April 29, Optional Hot Air Balloon ride Mustafapaşa village  walk and then back at the hotel and drive to visit  Göreme Open Air Museum of Monastery Valley.  We will eat lunch at a local house. Our hostess will be Fahriye at Ortahisar Village  (shoes off for lunch).  KAYMAKLI UNDERGROUND CITY / Possible visit ( inşallah(God Willing)  It doesn’t even look like I am in the balloon on this one, but I am! Mustafapaşa, the town where we were staying, is a historic town in the Urgüp District of Turkey’s Nevşehir Province, is famous for its well-preserved Greek Orthodox architecture and rich history, with a population exchange in 1923 leading to a predominantly Turkish community today.   Located in Cappadocia, it offers a quieter, more authentic experience away from major tourist crowds, featuring stone mansions, historic churches like the SS Constantine and Helen Church, and nearby valleys with rock-carved monasterie.  The above four picture...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spice Market and Travel Days 3&4

Image
  DAY 3 Monday April 27 (Madi’s Birthday)  Bosphorus to Ankara This morning we'll step in to the exotic and fragrant Egyptian Spice Market-which opened in 1663.  Afterward, we'll board our big, comfortable bus for the drive to Ankara, Turkey's bustling modern capital city. We had a wonderful man, who was a fifth generation of running the same store in the spice market, give us some tastes and smells of his spice store along with some history of the market.  After the spice market, it was a bus ride to our next stop Ankara, the capitol city of Turkey.  DAY 4 Anatolia and Cappadocia Thu, April 28 2026 After breakfast: we will tour the world-class Anatolian Civilizations Museum,  and marvel at its collection of treasures from Turkey's pre-Roman civilizations.  This museum is also in a building that was part of the old Silk Road.  We'll pay our respects at the monumental Ant Kabir, Atatürk's Mausoleum, where we’ll learn about the revered f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploring Istanbul

Image
  DAY 2 Exploring Istanbul Sunday, April 26, 2026 “We'll explore Istanbul's more recent past and present today, beginning with the Istanbul's opulent Topkapı Palace. Next, we're off to the New District's pedestrian-friendly Istiklal Street with its Art Nouveau facades, restaurants, and trendy boutiques and free time for lunch on your own. Finish up with a scenic cruise of the Bosphorus strait and its panorama of grand palaces, colorful neighborhoods, and bustling waterfront activity.” As an add on at the end of the day, myself and 3 other tour members hopped on a crowded city bus and took it out of the main city to go see a surviving example of Byzantine mosaics in a place called Kariye Camii.  It was originally a church called St savior in Chora, (originally built in the early 4th century, extensively remodeled with the mosaics in 1315-1321) but today it functions as a mosque-museum.  The mosaics tell the stories of Mary and Jesus, as believed by the Byzantines....
2 comments
Read more