Published: November 14, 2008 06:20 pm      

Traveler takes her dream trip

Woman finds Turkey exotic, exquisite

DANVILLE — Laura Page of Danville has traveled extensively and has boarded many cruise ships in her lifetime. But only last October did she discover the trip of her dreams, when she spent two weeks on a cruise and land tour of Turkey and Greece through Overseas Adventure Travel.

“I already know that I want to go back to some of the places we visited,” she said. “The history and culture of Turkey are of particular interest to me.

“I’ve never seen such beautiful surroundings anywhere else,” Page said. “Turkey isn’t all deserts, as some may picture it. There’s majestic mountains, glistening bodies of water, rocky terrain, and beautiful fruit trees. It’s just like a picture postcard.”

Most of the houses are painted a clean white, and many are set off with beautiful purple bougainvillea flowers, she said.

To prepare for this trip, Page recommends travelers first do some advance reading about the area.

“You have to spend some time reading about the history of Turkey and Greece in order to truly appreciate this tour,” Page said. “It’s also important to be able to walk distances on hilly terrain since you will find yourself walking up to five miles a day.”

Page found the food on the cruise and in the restaurants to be truly delectable. “But it’s not for picky eaters,” she said. “You won’t find a lot of American foods, even on the ship. That’s what helps make this trip so authentic — eating the foods that are native to Turkey and Greece.”

Some of the menu selections that Page enjoyed the most included eggplant soup, shish kabob with lamb and chicken or turkey, cucumber and tomato salads, rice wrapped in grape leaves, olives, a thick yogurt for dipping vegetables, and red wine at every meal. Baklava (layers of phyllo dough filled with honey, walnuts and pistachios) was a favorite dessert sampled by the tourists.

“While fishing and farming are huge industries in Turkey, it’s obvious by the number of new hotels that tourism is really a growth area,” Page said. “I also found the people in the cities that we visited to be extremely friendly and welcoming to Americans. And for the most part they spoke English, so it was easy to communicate.”

On their visit to a family home in one of the small villages in Turkey, the American women were presented with beautiful silk scarves to wear on their heads.

“They gave us the scarves in observance of their Muslim custom, even though all the Muslim women do not cover their heads in public,” she said. “Most of the women do cover their arms and legs, and they use a lot of makeup on their flawless faces.”

Page added that most of the Muslim women in Turkey are well educated, and many of them have professional careers.

FAVORITE: ISTANBUL

Page started her exotic adventure with a flight that took her from Chicago to Munich, Germany, and then to Istanbul in Turkey. “I would call our 13-hour flight and the jet lag that followed my least favorite parts of the trip,” she said.

Her three-day stay in Istanbul, however, was her favorite part of the travel experience.

“When my friends heard that I was going to Turkey they became concerned for my safety,” Page said. “They had heard stories of incidents that took place 25 years ago — when armed policemen greeted you at the airport and confiscated your camera.

“But I felt perfectly safe in Turkey,” Page said. “Istanbul reminds me of any large city in the United States, except there are some very old buildings interspersed with the new construction. You see mosques everywhere, since most of the people living here are of the Muslim faith.

“I was particularly struck by their call to prayer that was repeated five times a day. It was kind of haunting to hear the chanting of their prayer over the loudspeaker, regardless of where you were in the city.”

The romance and history of Istanbul attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. This city is filled to the brim with hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, rug stores and souvenir shops, as well as a plethora of fascinating museums, mosques, markets and historical sites.

Among the historical landmarks that Page visited were the majestic Topkapi Palace, the stunning Blue Mosque, Hagias Sofia (the principal mosque of Istanbul), and the ancient Roman Hippodrome, where horse and chariot races were held.

One of Page’s stops in Istanbul was at a rug cooperative. “They made beautiful silk rugs by hand there,” Page said, “but unfortunately, the rug I really liked cost $8,000, so I passed on it.” Instead, she bought some silk scarves and a piece of jewelry at the Grand Bazaar in the city.

“I also had an opportunity to set foot on the continent of Asia while I was in Istanbul,” Page said. Istanbul has a European and an Asian side, which are separated only by the Bosphorus Strait (located between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara).

COZY CRUISE

After her visit to Istanbul and a couple other cities in Turkey, Page spent seven nights aboard a small, private ship that carried 50 people. During that week they cruised along the seashores of Greece and Turkey. When the ship docked, travelers had the opportunity to explore such renowned cities as Troy, Pergamum, Chios, Ephesus, Patmos, Kos, Bodrum, and Rhodes.

“It was so exciting to actually set foot in those places that I’ve only read about in history books,” she said.

“The seas were so placid and beautiful,” Page said. “We cruised close to the shorelines on the Marmara and Aegean Seas, so we didn’t experience any turbulence. I also liked the concept of traveling on a small ship, because we received such personal attention from the staff.”

Another one of Page’s favorite stops was Ephesus in Turkey, whose history dates back to 1500 B.C. She found the Basilica of St. John and the site of the Temple of Artemis (one of the original wonders of the ancient Greek world) to be two of the most impressive sites in Ephesus.

Page also enjoyed her visit to Patmos, which is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Aegean. This is where St. John the Evangelist saw an apparition and dictated the Book of Revelations at the end of the Holy Bible.

Page’s tour ended with a stay in Athens, Greece, where she got a look at the world-famous Parthenon temple, which dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks.

Susan Ford of Georgetown was Page’s traveling companion on this overseas adventure. Ford had never been on a cruise before this one, but she appreciated the personal attention that the small ship afforded.

“I agree with Laura that Istanbul was a favorite stop,” Ford said. “It’s a clean, beautiful city, and I gained a whole new appreciation and respect for the Muslim religion practiced there. I’d go back to Turkey in a minute.”

POPULAR CHOICE

Barbara Rosdail, owner of R and R Travel in Tilton, said the Mediterranean Sea has become an increasingly popular destination for cruise travel, and most of the major cruise lines are offering trips to that area.

“Considering that the value of the American dollar is currently less than the euro, American money goes farther when your accommodations are taken care of on the United States ship instead of the European hotels and restaurants,” Rosdail said. “Also, those people who are veteran cruisers are already saturated with the Caribbean choices and are ready for something new and different.”

Rosdail pointed out that because these trips involve airfare to a European country in order to board the ship in the Mediterranean, the total price of the trip is almost always more than a Caribbean cruise.

She said the best time to take a traditional cruise or a cruise and land trip in the Mediterranean is between April and November, when the temperatures are the mildest.

Laura Page has been a cosmetologist for 25 years and currently works at Escape in Danville. She is also an active member of the board of the Vermilion County Animal Shelter Foundation.