My itinerary

Well, I now have a full list of the locations we'll be visiting, as well as the cities/hotels in which I'll be staying! Check it out: look at the websites for the hotels and the tourist attractions... and place your souvenir orders now!

PART 1 - THE LECTURES

June 28th-July 4th: Ankara, the capitol of Turkey

• The Houston Hotel: http://www.hotelhouston.com.tr/en/index.php
• This first leg of the trip will be mostly lecture and seminars with scholars.

PART 2 - THE ROAD TRIP!

July 4-5th: Cappadocia

• The Dinler Hotel: http://www.dinlerurgup.com/index.php
• Places to visit:
• The 13th century Seljukian Caravanserai Az Ikarahan on the ancient Silk Road
• The Kaymakli Underground City http://www.goreme.com/kaymakli-underground-city.php
• Pigeon Valley http://www.great-adventures.com/destinations/turkey/cappadocia.html
• The Open Air Museum http://www.kultur.gov.tr/en/Kapadokya-English/index.html (a virtual tour of this outdoor wonder!)
• Shopping in Avanos

July 6th: Konya

• The Dedeman Konya Hotel: http://www.dedeman.com/Konya.aspx
• Places to visit:
• The Mausoleum of Mevlana http://www.mevlana.net/mausoleum.htm
• The Thin Minaret Mosque

July 7th-9th: Antalya

• The Marmara Antalya Hotel: http://www.themarmarahotels.com/The-Marmara-Antalya/index.asp
• Places to visit:
• Aspendos & Perge - a preserved Roman theatre and its unearthed statues http://www.adiyamanli.org/aspendos.html
• Termessos ruins http://looklex.com/turkey/termessos.htm
• Karain Cave http://twinning.vet.gov.tr/history/karain_cave/default.htm
• Antalya Museum http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313679A66406202CCB03F8D52AF93E16DFA

July 10th: Kalkan

• Happy Hotel Kalkan: http://www.happyhotel.com.tr/
• Places to visit: (while driving along the Mediterranean coast!)
• Phaselis ruins
• Demre and the Church of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus!)
• Lycian Rock Tombs
• Cruise to Kekova islands
• Visit Simena village and its castle

July 11th: Fethiye

• Ata Park Hotel: http://www.hotelatapark.com/fethiye-hotel.html
• Places to visit:
• Patara
• Xanthos
• Letoon

July 12-15th: Kusadasi

• The Charisma Hotel: http://www.charismahotel.com/
• Places to visit:
• Dalyan Delta
• Kaunos
• Ephesus Antique City
• Virgin Mary's House
• Selcuk Ephesus Museum
• St. John Church
• Aphrodisias Museum
• the Temple of Aphrodite
• the Theatre, the Stadium, the Agora, and the Hadrian Baths
• the Odeon and the Bishop's Palace
• Pamukkale Cotton Castle
• Hierapolis thermal mineral baths
• the Necropolis
• the Apollo Temple with the Devil's Hole
• Priene
• the Temple of Athena, Agora, the Bouleterion and the Zeus Altar
• Miletus
• Didyma and the Apollo Temple

July 16th: Assos

• The Nazlihan Hotel: http://www.assosedengroup.com/english/nazlihan.html
• Places to visit:
• the Asclepion
• the Acropol

July 17th: Cannakale

• The Kolin Holte: http://www.kolinhotel.com/_index.asp
• Places to visit:
• Troy, site of the Trojan War as told by Homer

PART 3 - THE FINAL STAY

July 18th-25th: Istanbul

• The Richmond Hotel: http://www.richmondhotels.com.tr/eng/istanbulrichmond.asp
• Places to visit:
• I don't know where to start! This portion of the itinerary has yet to be published, but I can only imagine...

Details, details!

While I anxiously await details concerning the particulars of the trip's itinerary, I know this: I leave for an orientation at the University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies on June 24th. I will fly out from Texas with the seminar group - 15 teachers from all over the country, and the program director, and perhaps more from the administering institution. I also know that I will be spending the first leg of the trip in Ankara (Turkey's capitol), the second and third week traveling around on the "road-trip" portion of the program, and the final week in Istanbul. Again, the details are vague, but there is discussion of meeting with university professors and dignitaries along the trip... exciting!

So, in the meantime, I'm shopping for luggage, a good camera, and walking shoes, and I'm using my Rosetta Stone CD-rom to pick up whatever Turkish I can in the meantime. For those of you who went to the Arab-American comedy show, yes: I can tell you that "the boy is under the plane!"