Last year, I stumbled on a great deal for a trip to Turkey with Exoticca Travel. This is our fourth trip with Exoticca and generally we have been very impressed. In this case we booked a 12-day trip with roundtrip airfare from Salt Lake City for a total of $2,398 for two! This included round-trip economy airfare, 10 nights in deluxe hotels (rated above 4 (out of 5) on Trip Advisor), breakfast daily, dinner on six nights, transportation around the country and tours in most locations. $45 per person tips were extra, as well as, a $15 tourist tax payable in cash. There are no VISA requirements for either Americans or Canadians to enter Turkey. The deal was good enough that our friends Mike and Jean Long opted to join us as well (Their trip from Cleveland was slightly higher….around $1,600 a person.).
The first stop on the Journey after our British Airways flight was Istanbul for a few days. The hotel that was included was the La Quinta Hotel, Gunesli. This hotel was outside the city center but close to the metro. This was a large, modern hotel in a very walkable area close to many restaurants and shopping. After check-in we had the evening available to get dinner, get a briefing on our schedule and prepare for our tour of Istanbul the following day.
The next day we had a half-day tour of central Istanbul. Included with the tour was a visit to the Suleymanye Mosque, which is on one of the higher points of the city. This Mosque was near the Grand Bazaar and the entire city center was walkable. The afternoon was free (no return transportation to the Hotel) which was fine for us! We made a beeline for the Blue Mosque, passing through the Grand Bazaar. The afternoon we explored several of the sites in this beautiful city. The area was easy to navigate; the people were friendly but the area is very crowded. We ended up taking the subway back to the hotel but Uber was also an option (it uses taxi cabs). The subway, like the city was clean and safe.
It would be good to point out that entry to any of the major sites like the Galata Tower or the Basilica Cistern was ridiculously expensive, so we opted to enjoy the Mosques and the overall City itself. (I couldn’t see paying $40 per person to see any water tank or tower here.)
The next day we were off on our six-day bus tour of the Anatolia region of Turkey. I always have heard of Asia Minor but really never knew where it was. It turns out Anatolia and Asia Minor are the same place and critical to Christian History.
The first day included a six hour drive to the Capital City of Ankara, the Capital of Turkey. We had a stop on the Salt Lake and made a visit to Adaturk’s Tomb before checking into the hotel.
We had the option of lunch a pre-chosen restaurant or to skip lunch and go off on our own…which we did. One of the negatives with the planned tour was that lunches were pre-planned to be in locations, which usually were expensive. However, there never was any pressure to join and we enjoyed checking out the local area. At this location we found a little popular chicken restaurant and had a great lunch for about $5…much better than the $18 pre-planned option.
The next day we headed off to the Cappadocia region for two nights. This was definitely one of the highlights and a good reason for visiting. Churches and homes from the 1st century dotting the landscape, fairy chimneys and underground cities, this place was cool! I appreciated the scenery and the history. This is where early Christianity was formed and the first Christian Churches were founded. In our case, we found a winery housed in a cave near our hotel. We could easily spent a few more days exploring here. We were compelled to visit a carpet factory. (Reva and I baled on that and sat outside visiting with others again there was no pressue.) That is when we discovered the winery.) We were also taken to a Ceramics factory and a jewelry store. The ceramics shop was actually very interesting and partially underground. The jewelry store was selling unique jewelry and I purchased a Zultanite necklace from Turkey. Of course, I purchased it on Amazon for $20 while in the store…I thought that counted and it was much cheaper that the $2,000 they wanted in the jewelry store. (That is a Vincent original which I will do more in the future.)
Our next day was a long travel day (8 hours) enroute to the ancient city of Hierapolis, in Pamukkale. Enroute, we stopped at a Sultanata along the Silk Road. These were forts built every 20 miles or so to provide shelter and protection for traders in the ancient days. This is the land of flying carpets, Arabian Nights and Genies…like stepping back into your childhood.
The hotel this evening had a Thermal spa and was beautiful. An extra night here would be well worth it. The City of Hierapolis sat on top of a large thermal feature. It is the location where St Philip was put to death, where Cleopatra once lived and bathed in the hot springs. This was a very interesting site with a massive Amplitheater.
The next day we had about a 5-hour drive to Ephysis and the House of the Virgin Mary where it was believed she spent her last days on earth. We had been here before but it was worth a second visit. This is where Paul preached and James wrote the Book of Revelation. This City was central to the Christian religion for hundreds of years but was abandoned when the harbor became unusable. Our hotel that night overlooked the ocean and also would have been worth a longer stay. As we drove around, we passed several of the Seven Churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible and the locations of several of the first Vatican Councils…that’s a Catholic thing. It was very interesting and I could understand why some people could spend weeks exploring the area and following the routes of the Apostles….for us, a quick tour was adequate.
The next day, we headed off to visit the ancient city of Troy…yes, the one with the Horse! Along the way we visited the Asclepieion in Pergamon, the site of one of the first hospitals in the ancient world. This is where Hippocrates (Hippocratic Oath), the father of medicine, lived and worked.
Troy unfortunately was a bit disappointing….totally destroyed….damn Greeks! But it was interesting walking around the old ruins whish dated back to the earliest parts of our history.
This ended our driving portion of the tour and we headed back to Istanbul with one last stop to visit the Grand Mosque and Silk Market in Bursa. This was another 5-hour driving day…but our last.
On the last day before we departed, we had a tour of the Silk Market in Istanbul and a river cruise on the Bosporus. This is the river which divides Istanbul, and Europe from Asia. Its lined with forts, parks and mansions. This was a very pleasant way to end the trip. The Exoticca tour was impressive for the price. I don’t think I could have created this tour cheaper. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone with an interest in Turkey or ancient history. My only hesitation would be the time in the bus…because you will spend 20 hours at least, on your seat…in a seat.
Anatolia connected Europe with Asia and historically is one of the most diverse and important regions in the world and one we (Americans) know almost nothing about….at least this American. Maybe because the Country is primarily Muslim and borders the Middle East, Syria, Iraq and Russia, we don’t visit it like Europe. I imagine that this will change. The history, art, culture and people of Turkey are amazing.
We found Turkey to be friendly, clean, and very welcoming. We never felt concerned walking around or touring any of the sites. There is no significant crime or homelessness and very little Graffiti. This was my second visit to Turkey and both times, we were very impressed! Consider going here before it becomes overrun.
As for our dealings with Exoticca, we had a couple of issues but they were resolved quickly. If we could do this again, I would have enjoyed an extra three days on our own to explore the ancient sites and enjoy the hotels, but other than that, the tour was perfect ….again this is a great place!
