Linda B. - TX, USA
April 15, 2008
Itinerary: Tailored Western Turkey Tour

Hi Rina,

I have lots of feedback for you! We had a great trip and with only one exception, we found everything to be superb--David and I were thrilled with our Turkey tour.

I'm going to tell you in detail our highlights and disappointment. In summary, we found the value of our trip was directly related to the quality of the guides we encountered. The hotels were fine, the food was great, and the transportation worked.

Highlights

Istanbul
• Kutay was a superb guide, and we were his only tourists on 1 April. We went first to the Chora church, and that was a highlight. David got so excited, he started telling Kutay (who listened patiently) about how the Greeks built square, and how they turned their columns, and I could tell from his volubility that he was enjoying himself hugely. When people ask what was the best thing in Turkey, he responds the (deesis) mosaic with a grieving Mary petitioning Jesus for forgiveness for the world's sinners, from the Chora church. (He'd just finished telling me en route that he had no feeling for mosaics because they lacked fine shading...and he was blown away by what he saw.)
• Kutay (and his driver) took us to the Spice Market, Hagia Sofia, and Blue Mosque, as well as to a great lunch. I looked at carpets from a shop near the Blue Mosque; Kutai knows the owner who is a neighbour but made no effort whatsoever to encourage the sale. He then took me to the Sokullu Mosque near our hotel, while David went back for a rest. We had visited the Grand Bazaar on our own the day before, so we didn't feel the need to do that again. Later than evening I did buy a carpet!
• On our way to the Grand Bazaar, we had a wonderful experience with a shop owner who wanted to sell us something. Really! We were walking past, and he came out of his shop with a napkin under his chin and food in his hand, and said warmly to David, "There you are! I've been waiting for you! You're a little bit late, but it doesn't matter!" We just burst into laughter. We thought that was just fabulous! (We didn't go in, and I can't even remember what his shop sold.)
• We went to Topkapi the next morning, and David did quite well with the walking involved. Of course, the Harem was the standout. Then we took a too-expensive taxi to the harbour to do a 90-minute boat ride up the Bosphorus before we went to the airport. I wish we'd had time to visit the Cistern and the archaeological museum, and that the Suleyman the Magnificent mosque hadn't been closed, but we just didn't have enough time!
Cappadocia
• Birsen was simply wonderful as a guide. The first morning, I asked if she could cut down a bit on the walking, since David wasn't going to be able to do a lot. She immediately made a new plan (she'd been going to take us to the Ilhara Valley) and checked it with two others you were providing services to: Tom and Alice. They were fine with the change. I was very, very grateful to Birsen. David was able to keep up, with just one "I'll wait here" episodes each day, and he felt he got a full tour.
• We thoroughly enjoyed EVERYTHING we did in Cappadocia, from the monasteries and churches in rocks, to the Caravanserai, to the pottery factory and the carpet factory (yes, we bought a porcelain platter and a second rug), to the Roman dig site not yet open to the public. It was all wonderful! Birsen also took us to little restaurants for lunches that were excellent.
• The undoubted highlight in Cappadocia was the visit to the home of our driver, Mutlu, for tea. His mother and father look after his 9-month-old daughter Naz while he and his wife are at work (she works in a bank), and they offered the four of us TEN plates of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds along with cai. That was really a treat.
• The Gamirasu hotel was great. Our room was cozy yet adequately spacious. Weather was pretty cool (we had a hailstorm the second day), but we were very comfortable. The food was probably the best we had on our holiday!
Ephesus
• As you know, we didn't join a regular tour in Selcuk. I'd asked Birsen, who is from Izmir, to recommend a tour guide for Ephesus, and she put us in touch with Bekir, who has a (family) travel agency. His young wife Arzu was our guide for the afternoon, and she was lovely. Again, I asked if we could moderate the distance we walked for David's sake, and she did that. David actually was pretty spry. We were blown away by the Terraced Houses, probably our favourite thing at Ephesus, but the whole site, its scale and amazing marble, were great. We also swooned over the Temple of Artemis site, and were blown away by the sheer size of the Basilica of St. John. (I was glad I'd scratched the House of the Virgin Mary from the beginning.)
• The Ephesus museum in Selcuk was even more wonderful than I'd expected. We saw it in the morning, before we actually went to Ephesus, and that worked out quite well--especially when we were visiting the Terraced Houses.
Pergamon
• Our guide, Murat, was perhaps the most like a walking encyclopedia of all our guides, and we loved that. He gave us such good information about the Acropolis and the society around it, that the ruins came alive. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit there, and to the Asclepion. Murat made the visits. As I look at my photos and re-read my guidebook, I realize how much richer our experience was because of the volume of information Murat gave us to view the sites with. Without such a guide, we'd have said, "Yeah, big buildings...too bad we can't figure out what they were." The facts about the library at the Acropolis just thrilled us.
Canakkale, Troy, Gallipoli
• We appreciated the Hotel Canak and its location right near the ferry, and we enjoyed the trip to Troy. The guide, Mustafa Askin, focused almost entirely on Troy VI and the story according to Homer, and I'd have liked to know more about the other Troys, but in all fairness I recognize the reason we were visiting Troy at all was Homer's Iliad. He used details from the Iliad to make the site comprehensible. He would have liked us to buy his book, but we didn't.
• Our guide to Gallipoli, Gurai was thoroughly knowledgeable about the battle sites, the strategies and tactics, objectives and failures, on both sides of the campaign. We really appreciated his attention to detail in his narratives, which made Gallipoli a real highlight. As you know, we are Kiwis only by residence, but we found the battle sites and cemeteries very moving. We're very glad we had the chance to go there, especially with Anzac Day coming up!
Back to Istanbul and the Hotel Daphne, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Our trip was just too short!

And our holiday's brevity was why we really regretted the wasted we spent in an uncomfortable minivan to Pamukkale.

I'll be happy to recommend you to anyone, Rina. You have been so responsive and have such good associates in Turkey.

Thank you again and again,

Linda