THE TALE OF THE “TEXAS TURKEY TROTTERS” MAY 12-21, 2011 Kay King, Travel Director

May 12 – Overnight Flight from Texas to Frankfurt, Germany; May 13 flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. May 13 – Istanbul. Afternoon reception at the beautiful Mamara Hotel with Tahire Akder and her Turkish business women friends, where we learned about the lifestyles of professional women in Turkey. It was surprising to learn how many more Turkish women were now covering their heads.

May 14 – Istanbul. Full day tour to Topkapi Palace, residence of the Ottoman Sultans, imperial treasury, imperial costumes, sacred Islamic relics, Chinese porcelain, weapons, calligraphy and the harem section; Haghia Sophia, one of the greatest marvels of architecture, constructed as a basilica in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian; the Blue Mosque, famous for its blue

Iznik tiles and unique with six minarets, where we saw small boys dressed like little princes for the rite of circumcision.

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts revealed lovely historic costume and housing exhibits.

May 15 – Istanbul. We visited Dolmabahçe Palace with its crystal staircase and harem rooms, Rustempasha Mosque with its famous tiles and the Old Spice Market (the Egyptian Bazaar). Then a

private boat excursion along the European and

Asian coasts of the Bosphorous, before a tour of the magnificent Ottoman costumes at the private Sadberk Hanim Museum. Evening Anatolian folk dance dinner show.

May 16 – Cappadocia. Flight to Kayseri on Turkish Airlines. We visited Özkonak, the least visited underground city; then Uçhisar, an old village up a dead end valley with its huge honeycombed fortress and the Pigeon Valley

where we sighted rocks like mushroom caps and fairy chimneys. May 17 – Cappadocia. Happy Birthday, Jane! A Hot Air Balloon transported us over Cappadocia’s fabulous rock formations. (16 in our basket plus a female pilot) There were over 50 other balloons up with us as we rose up over rock houses and churches and down into spectacular rock valleys. Our fabulous

pilot landed the basket with a soft tap, dead center on the trailer. Very strong men lifted us out of the basket for a champagne

celebration. We visited Avanos, the center for tapestry and pottery for centuries. The world-renown Cappadocia Carpet Gallery and Chez Galip Pottery

Center tempted many of us to take home their spectacular works of art. We toured the Goreme Open-Air Museum with its famous chapels and churches; then attended the evening religious ritual of Sufism and Sema, Mevlevi dance (whirling dervishes) with Sufi music. May 18 – Ankara. We drove past Turkey’s huge Salt Lake on our way to Ankara, Turkey’s capitol, where we visited the country’s most famous museum, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations with its spectacular Hittite treasures. An evening flight to Izmir followed. May 19 – Izmir/Ephesus. We found the “real” hand-made evil eyes at a local glass artisan’s workshop and bought beautiful leather jackets from Kircilar, a leather house that staged a fashion show just for us.

We visited the magnificent ancient city of Ephesus with its many acres of excavated ruins including the Library of Celsus, the Temple of Hadrian, the Theatre of Mt. Pion, the House of the Virgin Mary and the recently opened Terrace Villas with their beautiful mosaic tiles. At 11:30 PM that night, for about five seconds, we felt the slight tremor of an earthquake 90 kilometers from Izmir – our beds were swaying!

May 20 – Izmir/Istanbul. Morning flight to Istanbul for our guided shopping tour of the Grand Covered Bazaar, the biggest souk in the world with nearly 4000 indoor shops selling antiques, jewelry, gold, carpets, leather wear and souvenirs. Not one of us got LOST! One Turkish Lira equaled about $.60 during our visit, making prices very favorable to us. Some travelers opted for the famous Turkish Baths and reported it was an

amazing experience. Our coach transported us with all of our purchases – designer handbags, jewelry, spices, extra luggage, apparel, textiles and even a brass shoe shine stand – to the Airport Hotel for a gourmet farewell dinner.

Tulips originated in Turkey and were blooming everywhere during our visit to this magical place. May 21 – Departure. The Airport Hotel provided us with a early morning breakfast and free shuttle transfer service so we could make our 5:50 AM flight to Frankfurt with connecting flights to Texas. The 2011 FHPW “Turkey Trotters” were Candi Clement, Shirley Flabiano, Genae Fields, Beverly Freeman, Patti Gajdosik, Linda Higginbotham, Kay King, Myrleen Knott, Liz Maraist, Michelle Mew, Jill Morell, Ruby Muller, Sheri Parrack, Caralee Smith, Connie Smith, Jane Tillinghast, Audrey Waldrop, Teresa Waldrop and Carmen Walker. Special thanks to Zekeriya Sen of FEST Travel for making spectacular accommodations for us at every venue and to our outstanding guide, Serhan Gungor for his amazing historical knowledge, his great wit and for arranging the best-ever lunches for the group.