• Upon arrival in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, transfer to the Divan Cukurhan Hotel.
• This afternoon meet with a foreign policy researcher at the Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Toplum Araştırmaları Vakfı (SETA) Foundation, a non-profit research institute dedicated to innovative studies on national, regional and international issues.
• Enjoy a welcome reception and dinner with fellow travelers this evening.  

• This morning meet with a representative for the main opposition party, Republican People’s Party (CHP). She is also a member of the EU Harmonization and Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
• Depart on an orientation tour and a visit to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. This prize-winning museum of ancient history peels back the layers of successive Anatolian civilizations, from 6000 BC Çatalhüyük to Roman Ancyra.
• After lunch explore the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, who is credited with pretty much single-handedly creating modern Turkey from the ashes of WWI. The mausoleum has a fascinating museum attached to it that offers insight into modern Turkish history.
• Dinner tonight is at a local restaurant.

• This morning meet with a local reporter, to learn more about the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a political giant who has led Turkey for 20 years and has reshaped his country more than any leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered father of the modern republic.
• Enjoy an early lunch before transferring to the airport for a non-stop flight to Van.
• Lake Van was created by the volcanic Nemrut Dag, whose lava flow had blocked the basin’s river outlet. The largest lake in Eastern Anatolia, and ringed with beautiful trees, mountains, fortresses, mosques, and ruins, the area was once the centerpiece for Urartian culture.
• Upon arrival take an orientation tour of the town, including a stop at the Archaeological Museum, which exhibits an excellent collection of Urartian finds.  Check-in to the Doubletree by Hilton. 
• Dinner is at the hotel this evening.

• Spend the day exploring the area around Lake Van including Van Kalesi, a fortress balanced on a lone limestone ridge near the lakeshore.
• Later visit Nar Besin Pazari, a covered market whose main entrance is lined with ships selling cheeses, butter, yogurt, kaymak, and honey brought in daily from villages outside the city.
• Continue on to meet with women from the Van Women's Association. The Association works on economic, social, cultural, legal and political issues, and was involved in the aftermath of the Van earthquake in October 2011.
• Take a ferry to the island of Akdamar, where the 11th century king, Vaspurakan Gagik of Christian Armenia, built his palace and church. 
• Enjoy a traditional lunch on the island.
• Return to Van and meet with Mahmut Kaçan, an attorney who has worked on behalf of Afghan refugees trying to enter Turkey to escape prosecution by the Taliban. 
• In the later afternoon enjoy a cooking class introducing us to the wonderful cuisine of the area. Enjoy your feast for dinner.

• Depart Lake Van and drive two hours to Dogubayazit.
• Upon arrival visit the Ishak Pasha Palace and Mosque. This 18^th century fairy-tale castle and mosque is set amongst spacious courtyards and has spectacular views.
• Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.
• After lunch continue driving 2.5 hours north to Kars. The drive will always be within sight of the dramatic Mount Ararat, a mountain revered as holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims.
• Upon arrival in Kars visit the Church of the Twelve Apostles and the Kars Archeological Museum.
• Check-in to the Grand Ani Hotel. Dinner tonight is at a local restaurant.

• Depart the hotel and drive to Ani, the capital city of Armenia in the 10^th century AD, which was known at its height as a city of a hundred gates and a thousand churches. Walk through the early 11^th-century Grand Cathedral designed by Trdat, the same architect who rebuilt the dome of St. Sophia in Istanbul.
• Return to Kars for an early lunch before transferring to the airport. Depart on an early afternoon flight to Izmir.
• Arrive in Izmir and transfer to the Marriott Izmir. Dinner tonight at a local restaurant.

• After breakfast spend a full day visiting the magnificent site of Ephesus (1.25 hour drive).
• Before arriving at Ephesus drive to Mt. Pagus and travel up a small tree-lined path leading to a tiny stone cottage. Clinging to the side of Bulbul Mountain, this house is believed to be the last home of the Virgin Mary, who is said to have come here towards the end of her life in the company of St. John, some time around AD 40.
• Continue on to Ephesus. This great and sacred city lay in ruins until the early 20^th century; now it is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in the world – the best preserved and probably the most evocative ancient city in the Mediterranean. Famous throughout history for its Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this city was also the most important shrine of Asia Minor. It is here that St. John lived and died and, according to a legend, where the Virgin Mary spent her last years. 
• In front of the spectacular Grand Theatre, which seated 25,000 people, and where St. Paul used to give his sermons, is the Library of Celsus.
• Lunch this afternoon is on your own before departing for the nearby Basilica of St. John, one of the most significant religious monuments of its time.
• Drive to visit the nearby Ephesus Museum, which has one of the best collections of Roman and Greek artifacts found anywhere in Turkey.
• Take an evening flight to Istanbul and check-in to the Armada Hotel. Enjoy a light dinner near the hotel. 

• This morning meet with Erol Önderoğlu of Reporters Without Borders.
• Enjoy lunch at the Hamdi Restaurant.
• Visit the mosque of Rustem Paşa, one of the most beautiful of the smaller mosques of the great architect Sinan. It was built in 1561 by Rustem Paşa, twice Grand Vezir under Suleyman the Magnificent.
• Explore the Spice Market, which was built from 1597-1664. Here herbs and spices are offered in a vast array of exotic flavors that spice local foods, medicines, fragrant oils, perfumes and more.
• At the end of the day meet with Selva Demiralp, a professor of economics at Koç University in Istanbul. She will discuss the current freefall of Turkey’s economy since the re-election of President Erdoğan.
• Tonight enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

• This morning meet with Zeynep Taşkın, General Coordinator, for the Hrant Dink Foundation. Established in 2007 following the assassination of Hrant Dink, the founder of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos newspaper, the foundation aims to promote intercultural dialogue.
• Today visit the spectacular Topkapi Palace. Residence of the Ottoman Sultans for three centuries and now a museum, it consists of gardens and buildings of the former palace restored to hold a wealth of treasures.
• Enjoy lunch at the palace on your own.
• After lunch visit the historic underground cistern. This remarkable cistern is the largest of those left by the Byzantines. Built by the emperor Justinian in the mid-6^th century and now known as the Basilica Cistern, it was used throughout the Byzantine period to supply water to the palace, the gardens and all surrounding buildings.
• Dinner is at leisure this evening.

• Enjoy a morning meeting with Elif Şafak, an outspoken columnist, speaker and academic, the author of eight novels and Turkey’s most widely read female writer.
• Visit the Hippodrome, the center of Byzantine civic life for over 1,000 years, including coronations, Roman chariot races and more than one royal execution.
• At the opposite end of the Hippodrome is the elegant Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I, with its six minarets. Built in the early 17^th century, its popular name is derived from the 20,000 predominately blue Iznik tiles lining the interior walls.
• Nearby is the Church of Divine Wisdom.  Now a museum, Hagia Sofia was built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6^th century, and it reigned as the grandest church in Christendom until its conversion into a mosque by Sultan Mehmet II just after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
• Lunch today is at a local restaurant.
• Later visit the famous Grand Covered Bazaar; the largest covered marketplace in the world where a dazzling array of items-from furniture and carpets to jewelry and clothing-are sold in the bazaar’s 4,000 shops.
• Enjoy a farewell dinner this evening.

• Independent transfers to the airport for international flights.

To participate in this program participants should be comfortable walking up and down stairs (sometimes without handrails) and up to four miles during the course of each day. Many of the sites visited on this tour are ruins that require walking uphill and on uneven ground to access.