Turkey: Cradle of Christianity

Topic: Tour CalendarJune 12 to 28, 2008

June 2008

Day 1 ~ Thursday, June 12

The beginning of our seventeen-day adventure. Depart Chicago-O’Hare on an afternoon Austrian Airlines flight.

Day 2 ~ Friday, June 13

Arrive in Istanbul and transfer to the four-star Hotel Kent for a good night’s rest.

Day 3 ~ Saturday, June 14

We will meet our guide for our adventure in Turkey, Tansu Uygun, who will accompany us in our private air- conditioned motor coach from Istanbul to Izmir giving us wonderful views of Turkey. On the way, we’ll stop at the site of the great ecumenical council of Nicea (today’s Iznik) and visit the basilica, St. Sophia.

Day 4 ~ Sunday, June 15

Izmir was known as Smyrna at the time of the apostles and is one of the seven churches addressed in the Apocalypse. Today there is a cathedral dedicated to St. John, and a church dedicated to St. Polycarp, an early Christian martyr, where we will worship. Then it’s off to Pergamum with an acropolis with monumental foundations of the altar of Zeus, a fourth-century temple of Athena, and a temple of Trajan, as well as a fantastic theater. Nearby is the Asclepion, one of the foremost medical centers of classical times, where the physician Galen wrote his sixteen-volume On Anatomical Procedure. Thyatira (present day Akhisar) is our final stop.

Day 5 ~ Monday, June 16

Two more cities of the Apocalypse: Sardis, with its huge temple of Apollo (and a little Christian basilica nestled alongside), its beautifully-restored gymnasium, and its great synagogue. After visiting the basilica in Philadelphia (Alasehir), it’s on to the deluxe Korumar Hotel with its pools and views of the Aegean for the next three nights.

Day 6 ~ Tuesday, June 17

Ephesus is one of the world’s major archaeological sites, and the city which figures so prominently in Paul’s missionary journeys and the ministry of John. Among its many sites are the Marble Road with its temple of Trajan, the Scholastica Baths, the great two-story Celsus Library, and the 25,000-seat theatre which Demetrius the silversmith filled with his cry against Paul. Four centuries later, the great Council of Ephesus was held in the Church of St. Mary, which we will also visit.

Day 7 ~ Wednesday, June 18

We visit Miletus, from which Paul sailed, and Didyma, once as important as Delphi for oracular knowledge. Its massive temple of Apollo with a porch with 120 columns was in use for fourteen hundred years. We return to our delightful deluxe Korumar Hotel.

Day 8 ~ Thursday, June 19

We move down the coast in our deluxe motor coach, visiting Laodicea (Denizili) with its theatre and stadium and Hierapolis/Pamukkale, famous for its immense tiers of white limestone cascading down the mountainside—created by thermal mineral waters that are neither hot nor cold. Our hotel, named for the ancient city to which Paul wrote a letter, will be the five-star Colossae Thermal Hotel with pool and thermal baths.

Day 9 ~ Friday, June 20

Today will take us to Iconium, present day Konya. The city dates back four thousand years to the Hittites. Its Karatay Museum, with an outstanding collection of ceramics and tiles, was once a theological school built in 1251. Konya is the home of the irenic Sufi sect of Islam. Our hotel will be the four-star Bera Hotel in Konya.

Day 10 ~ Saturday, June 21

From Konya we drive through remarkable countryside with its volcanic cones to Cappadocia, and to the underground city of Derinkuyu. Our splendid hotel is the Lykia Lodge Kapadokya.

Day 11 ~ Sunday, June 22

Cappadocia is important in the history of Christianity for the impact of the Cappadocian Fathers whose theology did much in the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. Our entire day will be spent touring the incredible churches of Cappadocia, carved out of rock pinnacles, and decorated with Christian frescoes. The region is geologically absolutely unique. Return to the Lykia Lodge.

Day 12 ~ Monday, June 23

Today will take us past a great salt sea to Ankara, Turkey’s capital. We will tour the monument to Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, and see the new mosque, larger than Justinian’s Church of Holy Wisdom in Istanbul. We will also visit the incredible Anatolian Civilizations Museum, housed in a ten-domed former covered bazaar of the fifteenth century. Our hotel is the five-star Dedeman Ankara.

Day 13 ~ Tuesday, June 24

We take the national highway from Ankara toward Istanbul, and the Yalova-Yenikapi ferry across the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul, with a visit to the mosque of Suleymaniye the Magnificent. Our hotel will be the four-star Hotel Arcadia for the next four nights.

Day 14 ~ Wednesday, June 25

We enter the heart of Orthodoxy, the patriarchate, and visit its cathedral. (On two prior occasions our group has been welcomed by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.) In the afternoon we will visit the Church of Chora, now the Museum of Kariye. Its mosaics and frescoes were done in 1312 and are undoubtedly the finest remaining in Istanbul. Then, for a radical change of pace, the Dolmabahce Palace, said to have sent the Ottoman Empire into bankruptcy.

Day 15 ~ Thursday, June 26

After the ancient hippodrome, we visit the church that for a millennium was the largest and grandest in Christendom, Justinian’s Hagia Sophia, and then Haghia Irene. Next the famous Topkapi Palace, including its harem section. Then the Blue Mosque and either the Grand Bazaar or a ferry ride to Chalcedon. Also included, a special “Turkish night” with dinner.

Day 16 ~ Friday, June 27

No trip to Istanbul would be really complete without a boat ride on the Bosphorus, that incredibly important liquid link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Along its banks is an incredible array of grand homes, old and new, mosques and palaces. At 5:30 p.m. our Austrian Airlines flight will depart for the Vienna airport. Our hotel is located nearby.

Day 17 ~ Saturday, June 28

An 11:00 a.m. departure from Vienna, arriving in Chicago at 2:20 p.m., with heads and cameras filled with wonderful memories of Turkey.

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