|
In January 2001, a group of eighteen students, faculty,
and friends of Maryville College traveled to Turkey.
 |
We began and ended our trip in Istanbul.
There we visited the great mosques, St. Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, Topkapi
Palace, and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate. |
| Staying first in the Pera Palas, best
known as the hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient
Express, and later in a hotel just behind the Blue Mosque, we experienced
a wide range of Turkish cuisine, rode a boat up the Bosphorus to the Black
Sea, and walked along streets mixing with the local people. One of
the highlights was visiting students at a local university. |
 |
 |
From Istanbul, we flew to Antalya on the
Mediterranean coast. There the weather was sunny and warm.
After touring Roman ruins in nearby towns, we enjoyed staying in this
resort for a couple of nights. For many students, one of the
highlights was spending a day in small groups finding their way back to
the hotel. They discovered the warmth and friendliness of the
Turkish people who helped them along the way. |
Traveling back to Istabul by bus, we stopped at a carpet
factory where we saw how handmade Turkish carpets are produced. In the
picture on the left, students are learning about how silk thread is spun for use
in some of the finest carpets. As we visited ancient ruins, we stopped to
meet local people whenever possible. The woman on the right was selling
her wares at one of the popular tourist sites.
These few pictures only scratch the surface of a wonderful
travel/study experience. For more, go and see, taste, hear, and smell for
yourself!
|
