Road to Turkey
More than 15 years ago, Rich and Pat Gavula stopped briefly in Kusadasi, Turkey, during a Mediterranean cruise, and they never forgot its striking beauty and rich history.
That experience led the Butler Township couple to book an escorted bus trip through Turkey from April 18 to May 5.
“It was very, very economical for the amount of time and what you got,” Pat said. “There were so many interesting things.”
Flight of fancyThe Gavulas drove to New Jersey and then boarded their flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.The 10-hour Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was decidedly more upscale than most air travel, with wine and meals provided to guests.During their trip, the Gavulas stayed overnight in 10 different cities.Still, the group ventured only about halfway across the country. According to their guide, much of Turkey remains undeveloped and without accommodations for travelers.Their flight landed in Istanbul and the Gavulas planned a few free days before the tour officially began. They visited the “underground cistern,” built beneath the city in the sixth century, and the summer palace, from which they could look over the city.The first guided activity was a highlight cruise along the Bosphorus River. The tourists wore headsets and listened to their guide as they floated past fortresses, palaces and mansions.“With a good guide, you learn so much incidental information,” said Rich.They next stopped in the city of Iznik to tour the ruins of St. Sophia and see the ancient city walls.The group continued to a silk market in Bursa, where Pat tried her hand at haggling with the shopkeepers.“It insults them to go in and pay the price,” Pat said. “You have to try to get a price that's fair for both of you.”Another shopping excursion included a visit to a carpet factory, as Turkey is known for the beauty and artistry of its hand-knotted carpets.“The floor is completely bare,” said Pat. “Then they come out and start unrolling them and unrolling them.”The Gavulas did not buy any carpets, but Pat later purchased some beautiful hand-painted bowls and tea cups for their home.Later in the trip, the travelers were permitted to visit Bursa's Yesil Mosque as long as they were respectful of those worshipping inside.Completed in 1421, the mosque gets its nickname, “The Green Mosque,” from the blue-green tiles that decorate the interior.They also visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque or the “The Blue Mosque” in Istanbul, one of the world's most famous religious buildings.“When it was built, it was considered a sacrilege,” Pat said. “It was thought to rival the architecture of Mecca, so it was a very controversial building at one time.”They also visited the 750-year-old village of Cumalikizik. With its small wooden houses and cobblestone streets, Pat said she expected most of Turkey to look the same.However, many areas were modernized, with Western clothes, music and even fast food readily available.The next day, the tour group visited Ankara, the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul.There, they visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country's first president. Ataturk served from 1923 to 1938. He is credited with founding the Republic of Turkey and bringing the country into the modern world, said Pat.Turkey became a republic in 1922, when the newly-formed parliament abolished the Sultanate and ended 623 years of Ottoman rule.“There are pictures of (Ataturk) everywhere, on flags, on the money,” Pat said. “He's their national hero.”The tour group happened to visit during a holiday, so the area was packed with people.Turkey celebrates its love and hope for the nation's youth each April 23 with Children's Day, a national holiday established by Ataturk.
Highlights of the trip included the region of Cappadocia and the city of Göreme.Scattered across the landscape are “fairy chimneys,” which are tall, thin columns of rock that protrude upward from the ground.Years ago, people carved makeshift homes and churches in the area, now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) helps preserve the world's greatest landmarks.</B>“People lived there up until the 1950s,” said Pat, explaining an earthquake made the structures unsafe. The inhabitants were then moved to government housing.The interiors of the rock-carved churches are painted with religious scenes that are still visible, and some are crisscrossed with painted lines meant to resemble brick.The tour group next descended the Taurus Mountains and drove to the city of Aspendos, the site of the world's best-preserved Roman theater.“It dates back to the year 162,” Pat said. “At one time, it had a timber canopy but that's been destroyed.”The tourists perused more ruins in the city of Perge.One day was set aside for the travelers to rest before they ventured to the city of Pamukkale, famous for its hot springs and terraces of carbonate minerals left by the water.“People, years ago, would go swimming in them,” said Pat, noting that is now prohibited.The travelers took another glimpse into the past while visiting the city of Ephesus, one of the world's finest archeological sites.The area was inhabited by 6,000 B.C, and became an ancient Greek city, and later, a major Roman city.<B></B>Because it is so well-excavated, tourists can walk through the city in a “continuous flow,” as if they were part of history, Pat said.“The library is the focal point,” she said. “At one time, it had 12,000 rolled books (scrolls) in it.”<B></B>The area also includes the House of the Virgin Mary, where believers say Mary spent the last years of her life.“It was very quiet and serene,” Pat said. “Muslims as well as Christians make pilgrimages to this place.”The tour bus also stopped at Pergamon, site of an ancient kingdom, and at Troy, which features the ruins of nine cities built on top of one another, and a replica of the famous wooden horse.
One of the most meaningful days of the trip came when the group visited Gallipoli, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War I.A botched attempt by British and French forces to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) resulted in heavy casualties among the Turkish and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).For those nations, April 25 — or Anzac Day — is the most significant day of remembrance for the war's military casualties and veterans.“There were many Aussies on this tour and a lot of them came because of this stop,” Pat said. “One woman's father fought there and for her, it was very emotional.”On Anzac Day, the tour group visited Lone Pine Cemetery, one of more than 30 cemeteries in the area. Bunches of red poppies were left behind in memory of specific soldiers, and many graves were decorated by tiny stuffed koalas and other mementos.Though the couple was in Turkey when news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed, they had no regrets about their choice to visit the country.The Gavulas both agreed that they never felt unsafe in the region.“We asked the guide, ‘Should we be concerned?” said Pat. “Our guide told us, ‘bin Laden was not a friend of the Turks.'”The Gavulas saw nothing that would indicate people were upset, although they noticed that airport security seemed tighter.Pat estimated 90 percent of the people spoke English, and if they were unable, they'd try to help tourists find someone who could.“The people were very friendly, helpful and proud of their culture,” she said.Though Turkey is a less-common tourist destination among Americans, the Gavulas enjoyed their experiences.“I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a sense of adventure and wants to learn about a different culture and widen their horizons a little bit,” Pat said.
