Exploring the Land where East meets West, part 1

This post is by Sue Tindell.

   It is a place where the modern meets the ancient, Europe gives way to Asia, and the visitor is transported to a place where the familiar and the exotic exist virtually side by side. It is Turkey, and when we were told it would be the site of our annual Travel Leaders International Summit in April, I didn't hesitate to sign up. This would be my third visit to Turkey, and it gets better every time.

Sunday, March 30 - Monday, March 31 --

    The trip began with a flash...a lightning strike on the inbound Delta flight that we were scheduled to take outbound from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. We were delayed three hours while Delta found another plane, but finally we were in the air on our first leg, across the eastern U.S. and the Atlantic to Amsterdam. I was joined by my three traveling companions for the journey: Denise Hanson Petricka from Eau Claire, Laurie Passard from Grand Rapids, Minn., and Cindy Tyo from Fargo, N.D. The long flight was smooth, and when we arrived at Schiphol International Airport it was already Monday morning in Europe. The only good thing about our delay at the start was that it cut into our layover here, and within 90 minutes we were in the air for Istanbul.
    We arrived in Turkey's largest city in late afternoon and checked into our hotel for the first night, the Radisson Blu, near Ataturk Airport, which is named for the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The first of our many great dining experiences was at Mikla Restaurant on the top floor of the Marmara Pera Hotel in the Old Town section. 

   
  



The view from the Mikla of Istanbul at night.

 

       We did the "tasting" menu, which was spectacular. Take a moment to look it over here. It was a fine conclusion to our first day, but we were a weary bunch as we returned to our hotel. The next day we would travel to the interior of Turkey, to the exotic region of Cappadocia.



Tuesday, April 1 --

    The Asian part of Turkey, which comprises the great majority of its land, is known as Anatolia, also as Asia Minor. We would be spending the next few days in the eastern region of Cappadocia. In the Old Testament, the Hittites are often mentioned, and they originated here. We flew early in the morning from Istanbul to the city of Kayseri, where we were met by our hosts from Meander Travel, who whisked us to Cemal Ranch, where we began our exploration of this fascinating region.

Cemal Ranch is not like any ranch I'd ever seen back home.

The exotic geography of Cappodocia results from its high altitude (over 3000 ft) and ancient volcanic activity.

Just in case the visitor gets lost, there are directions on how to get home. Cappadocia is one of the most popular areas in Turkey for foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we enjoyed a lunch of native Turkish dishes. Laurie is toasting our visit with native wine.

Extensive catacombs are underneath a lot of Cappadocia. A total of 36 underground cities have been excavated, some dating back to the time of the Hittites. The one we visited had been used by early Christians.

    Pottery has been imporant in Turkey since ancient times, and we got to see a local artisan at work, nicknamed "Einstein" because of his resemblance to the famous physicist. 

      
   We continued our tour of the region and eventually made our way to our evening's lodgings at the Argos Hotel. Now, I've stayed at hotels all over the world but never one like this.

   The Argos in Cappadocia  is on the site of an ancient monastery in Old Uchisar Village, and carefully restored and integrated ancient buildings, tunnels and caves into its architecture.

   Laurie and I would be sharing a room here at the Argos and it was unlike any hotel room we'd ever been in. You can see our video tour of the room here.

    Our first full day in Turkey was coming to a close, but the next day would be even better,as we would see Cappadocia from the air. We were going on a balloon ride.

Wednesday, April 2 --

    All of us had traveled by air all over the world, but not quite like this before. Today we would see Cappadocia by hot-air balloon, courtesy of Atmosfer Balloons.
     We were up before dawn and after coffee and tea at the balloonists' office, we went to the launch site and met our pilot, Coskum Gulluk, as he was filling our balloon. The burners use propane to generate hot air, filling the balloon and pretty soon we were in the air. The flight lasted about three hours and "spectacular" doesn't really describe the experience.

The grand finale, with "lunar artistic" touches, courtesy of my Samsung.

 

    After our flight, we had lunch and then headed to our afternoon destination, the Goreme Open Air Museum. This is a collection of churches that are actually carved into the rock. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Goreme is one of the most popular attractions in central Turkey, and it's easy to see why. Check out their site to see some truly beautiful indoor shots.

 

 

    On the way back we stopped at a local market to buy some Turkish wine, which we enjoyed on the terrace of our hotel before dinner, which was included every night as part of our stay.

 

Before dinner we strolled through the hotel, enjoying the beautiful architecture and style.

      

While enjoying a glass (or two) of wine on the terrace, we also enjoyed the scenery.

Dinner was always something special at the Argos.
 



 

    Thursday, April 3 --

 

 

    Up early again the next morning, we took in the beautiful scenery of Cappadocia for the last time. Soon we would be on our way back to Istanbul.

 



 

    We spent most of our day in transit. Our experience in Cappadocia had been splendid, and a lot of the thanks go to Meander Travel. One of our party had left her camera behind, and the Meander folks sent it to her on the next available flight. That's service above and beyond.
    In late afternoon we arrived at the Shangri-La Bosphorus Hotel in Istanbul. In his 1933 novel Lost Horizon, by British author James Hilton, Shangri-La is a mystical valley in the mountains of Tibet. Ever since, the name has been associated with the exotic and mysterious. Franklin Roosevelt was a big fan of the novel and named the presidential retreat in Maryland after it. Today it is known as Camp David.
    The 2014 International Summit opened with a welcoming cocktail reception in the Shangri-La Suite, on the sixth floor. It was fun to meet a lot of our Travel Leaders associates and friends, many of whom had been with us at our 2013 event in South Africa. Our meetings would begin on Saturday, so that left tomorrow for tours of Istanbul.