Trip Highlights

Turkey has long been known as a crossroads of civilizations and cultures, the place where the continents meet. Some go so far as to call Turkey an “open-air museum.” Here we can retrace the history of civilization from its very beginnings. When, after two million years, the hunter and gatherer peoples tired of wandering, they settled in what is now Turkey. These, the first Neolithic people, cultivated the land, domesticated animals, and built towns to live in organized communities. They also created arts to express and enjoy their feelings, as well as idols to be worshipped and traded. They were followed by others who mined, initiated the use of writing, improved their technology, traded at greater distances, and built bigger cities. We call these the Hatti people, the Hittites, the Carians, Frigians, Armenians, Lydians, and Lycians, the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Selcuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, etc. They left us an extraordinarily rich and varied heritage of architecture, philosophy, religion, and artistic expression. We in Turkey are uniquely fortunate to have preserved each layer of this heritage, and all its many facets. Some of these great relics include the premier Catalhoyuk, known to have been a great urban settlement 9,000 years ago, with a population of 10,000; Troy of *The Iliad*; Priene and Miletos, known as the pioneers of the grid-plan Ionian cities; Pergamon where parchment was invented; Saint Paul’s seven churches; the rich mosaic collections of the Roman era; outstanding Ephesus, with its famous terrace houses; exotic Constantinople; as well as an uncountable number of settlements, temples, monumental mosques, churches, and more. On our trips, we visit representative examples of this rich collection, so that guests develop a sophisticated understanding of history while experiencing it as an adventure. As well as the major sites which should not be missed, we explore other treasures which, because they are “off the beaten track,” are rarely glimpsed by tourists. These sites, which often have superb locations and character, as well as great historical and archaeological value, are among our guests’ favorite stops.