Discover the Ancient Silk Road

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The Silk Road, or as the Turks referred to it, Uzun Yol(Long Road), is an ancient trade route connecting theoccident and the orient; running between China andEurope it has been an important conduit of commerceand knowledge since Classical times. The expansion ofthe Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Greatprobably provided the impetus that created the earlySilk Road and it was further developed by the Romanand Byzantine Empires. The Byzantines in particular,treasured the luxuries that came from the east andimproved the roads in the western reaches of the route.Under the Mongols, who unified most of the lands ofcentral Asia traversed by the road and who developed asophisticated mail service the road improved yet again.But it was under the Seljuk Turks that the Ancient SilkRoad really came into its own and most of the Hans andCaravanserais to be found across Turkey date fromSeljuk times. Nearly one hundred Seljuk caravanseraisalong the Silk Road still exist in lands once controlled bythe Seljuks. Accommodation and provisions at theSeljuk caravanserais were provided free of charge totravellers for up to three days at a time; this practicewas an integral part of the caravanserais charitablestatus as they were always connected to a religiousestablishment funded by the state or local rulers. In fact,the Turkish language and its many regional variationscan be heard all along the route from Western China,across central Asia and Anatolia, right into the Balkans

even today. In effect, the Silk Road is also a TurkishRoad and it only began to decline with the opening upof maritime trade routes by western European powersand the discovery of the New World in the laterOttoman period. However, in many respects, the SilkRoad was an idea that has a romance, mystery andresonance today even for those who know little aboutit; as much as a road, it has a conceptual meaning andimportance that is gripping imaginations today asTurkey, the new nations of Central Asia, and Chinareach out to each other using the shared experience ofthe great Uzun Yol.

The Silk Road had numerous spurs and branches butthe route we shall follow is along the principal routefrom Constantinople, present day Istanbul, to Ankara,along Turkey's Great Salt Lake to Cappadocia and thenon to Kayseri, Malatya, Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Tatvan and Vanbefore finishing at the great border fortress of Hosapnear the Iranian frontier. Like the Ancient Silk Road, wewill make small detours from time to time to see pointsof historical interest along the way.

Day 1: Arrive in Istanbul

Day 2: IstanbulToday we will visit the Egyptian Spice Bazaar before catching theBosphorus ferry for an orientation cruise up the Bosphorus toAnadolu Kavagi at the opening of the channel to the Black Sea. Thisis the best way to get a good overview of this huge bustling city andthe best way to view one of the world's great city skylines. The tripwill take you out of old Istanbul past the numerous docks and thenpast the great 15th century fortification of Rumelihisar and underthe massive Sultan Fatih and Ataturk suspension bridges all the wayto the Black Sea.

Day 3: IstanbulWe start our day with a visit to Aya Sofia, the great byzantine churchthat dominates this part of the old city. Dedicated in the year 536 bythe Emperor Justinian this was the greatest of all Christian churchesuntil the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 when it wasconverted into the principal imperial mosque of the OttomanEmpire. It was turned into a museum by the order of Ataturk at thestart of the Republican period. From Aya Sophia we will go next doorto the Topkapi Palace, home of Ottoman Sultans and the centre ofgovernment of the Ottoman Empire; this palace houses animpressive treasury, Islamic relics of great importance and theSultan's personal residence and Harem. After the Topkapi we willvisit the Yerebetan Saray, an ancient Roman cistern which was acentral part of Constantinople's water supply, before visiting theHippodrome and the Blue Mosque.

The Bosphorus and Rumelihisar

Built in the 6th century AD- Aya Sophia

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Day 4In the morning we will visit Istanbul's Kapili Carsi- Covered Bazaar-a massive complex of about 5000 shops and markets first built byMehmet II in 1461. This is the most appropriate place to start ourSilk Road tour- in a market selling goods from all over Turkey and theworld.

Drive to Ankara and overnight in Ankara.

Day 5The tour of Ankara starts with a visit to the Tomb of Ataturk-Anitkabir- on one of the hills overlooking Ankara. In the afternoonwe will visit the ancient citadel and the Museum of AnatolianCivilisations. Housed in a beautifully renovated 15th centuryBedesten (market) and Han, this museum is one of the finestmuseums in the world with fabulous collections of artefactsincluding exquisite gold jewellery from Hittite and Urartian Anatoliaand earlier.

Day 6To Cappadocia via Tuzgolu, Turkey's Great Salt Lake, stopping to visitthe Agzikarahan and Tepesidelikhan caravanserais along the way.

Overnight stay in Urgup.

The Egyptian Bazaar, Istanbul

Anitkabir, the Tomb of Ataturk

Tuzgolu, Turkey's Great Salt Lake

Day 7Morning in Cappadocia: We visit the Goreme Open Air Museum, aUNESCO World Heritage Site. Goreme was once a Christian religiouscommunity and has numerous rock- cut churches and monasteriesmany of which still contain magnificent frescos of great age.

From Goreme we go to Derinkuyu Underground City and GaziemirRock Caravanserai. Derinkuyu is one of the many subterranean citiesof Cappadocia; going underground as deep as eight storeys the citywas capable of hiding thousands of people for many months duringtimes of conflict and invasion. The cities were self contained andwere equipped with olive presses, mills, communal halls andchurches. Many of Cappadocia's underground cities were connectedto one another by an extensive system of tunnels that covered someconsiderable distance.

Just a few kilometres away, Gaziemir's rock cut caravanseraicontinues this Cappadocian tradition of using the soft volcanic rockto carve out homes, churches and places of refuge; in this instancea traveller's rest stop on the Silk Road. To Kayseri; overnight inKayseri.

Uchisar

Derinkuyu, underground city

The Landscape around Goreme

Day 8Morning tour of Kayseri, an important Silk Road destination and acentre of Islamic learning where there are a number of historicallysignificant Medreses (Islamic schools), from the Seljuk period. TheCifte Medrese was the first Seljuk school of anatomy and is todaythe Gevhir Nesibe Medical History Museum. It is among Turkey'smost impressive buildings, not just for its architecture, but for itsconcept and function. Ecologically and technically advanced for itstime, it housed a medical centre with a surgical operating theatre.Sound ducts conveyed music into patients' sick rooms and a thicksod roof provided insulation, a rain barrier, and a garden plot inwhich to grow many of the vegetables and herbs used for patients'care. Built (1206) by Seljuk Sultan Giyaseddin Keyhüsrev I in memoryof his sister Gevher Nesibe Hatun (whose tomb is here), it served theentire population of Kayseri-Muslim, Christian or Jewish, regardlessof race, religion or ability to pay. Near the city's Bedesten- or market-lies the 12th century Ulu Cami: Great Mosque. At the centre of thecity is the Hisar, or citadel, built by the Roman Emperor Justinianduring the 6th century AD; it remains today a formidable reminderof the glory of ancient Rome and Byzantium.

Kayseri, old and new

Karatay Han

Ulu Cami: Great Mosque, Diyarbakir

Day 9Morning in Darende and a chance to explore the canyon on purposebuilt walkways. We will also visit the shrine of Somuncu Baba, abeautiful and simple mosque and tomb set on the edge of theTohma canyon. Much frequented by Turkish travellers this lovelyshrine is not on the tourist trail- it is our secret. Hamidüddin Aksarayî(1331-1412), better known by the name Somuncu Baba, was anascetic teacher of Islam in Bursa, who exerted extensive influenceand is known as a Muslim saint. He taught at the Great Mosque inBursa where he was installed by Sultan Bayezid I after it wascompleted.

Somuncu Baba taught many great Islamic scholars but was a manknown for his humility and saintliness. He spent his last years inDarende where he ministered to the poor using skills from his youth;he was a baker early in life. His name “Somuncu Baba” literallymeans Father Bread because he not only ministered to the spiritualneeds of his community but fed the poor as well. His mosque andtomb is a building of simple elegance in a beautiful setting. Themosque complex also houses a museum dedicated to SomuncuBaba and the community of Darende.

The wooden ceiling of Somuncu Baba's mosque

The mosque of Somuncu Baba, Darende

The Tohma river canyon

Day 9 AfternoonDiversion off the Silk Road route to visit the Mountain Top Tomb ofNemrut. We will travel to Mt Nemrut to watch the sunset. Lost fornearly 2000 years, the monument was only rediscovered in the1890s by a government surveyor. At a little over 2234 metres (7000feet) in elevation the monument at Nemrut is one of the mostenigmatic sites in Turkey and is emblematic of the country's diverseand rich historical legacy. At the very peak of the mountain is atumulus of loose stones in which, it is believed, lie the remains ofKing Antiochus I. Flanking the monument to face the rising and thesetting sun is a series of statues, cast down by time and theelements, representing ancient deities including the king himself. Oflittle historical or earthly importance, the King has achieved his goalof immortality on the summit of Nemrut.

The Statues at the summit of Mt. Nemrut

Day 10Depart Nemrut for Diyarbakir. Diyarbakir is a predominantly Kurdishcity and is located on the highest navigable point on the River Tigris.It is richly endowed with significant buildings and has more historicmosques, churches and other principal buildings than any city inTurkey except Istanbul. It has Armenian, Syriac, Kurdish and Arabquarters each with its own distinctive style and ambiance.Surrounding Diyarbakir is a massive defensive wall built of blackbasalt; the city walls of Diyarbakir are more than five kilometreslong, among the longest defensive walls in the world second only tothe Great Wall of China.

Day 11From Diyarbakir we continue to Tatvan through the flood plain of theTigris, up the Bitlis Gorge and past Bitlis, an important gateway tothe east and a vital junction on the Silk Road. We will overnight inTatvan.

The Defensive walls of Diyarbakir

Bitlis Gorge

The Tigris

Day 12: AhlatAhlat where there are significant Seljuk monuments and cemeteriesthat mark the first presence of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and thenon along the southern shores of Lake Van to the Island of Akdamarwith its 10th century Armenian church. This is one of the best knowexamples of Armenian religious architecture anywhere in the region.

In the evening we will visit the ancient Citadel of Van. Built upon amassive rock outcrop the Citadel of Van has been at the heart of Van(Urartian Tushpa) since Urartian times and possibly earlier. Added onby empires that followed, it has inscriptions on it from the PersianEmperor Xerxes, fortifications added by both Seljuks and Ottomansand a mosque. It commands a stunning 360 degree view of the cityof Van and its hinterland, of Lake Van itself and the dormantvolcanoes of Nemrut Crater to the west and Suphan to the north-west.

The 3000 year old Citadel overlooking Van

Akdamar

Ahlat

Day 13Today we will take a detour along one of the Silk Road branches tovisit Dogubeyazit, Ishak Pasha Saray and the legendary Mt. Ararat.We approach Dogubeyazit along a road that skirts the Iranian borderand traverses an incredible alien volcanic landscape of stark andhostile beauty to catch our first glimpse of Biblical Mt Ararat, theplace where the Bible tells us Noah's Ark came to rest after the GreatFlood.

In Dogubeayzit, we visit the spectacular Ishak Pasha Palace 1685 -1784 with unique fusion of architecture from Seljuk, Ottoman,Georgian, and Armenian/Persian styles.

Even in its ruined state the opulence and originality of art andimpeccable taste coupled with the ambition of its owner instantlygrasp the imagination. Out on the remotest reaches of the empire, farfrom central authority in Istanbul its creators produced provincialpalace that could rival any in the empire. Built as the seat of thegovernment in the province of Mount Ararat in Eastern Anatolia andas his residence in about 1784 by the semi independent KurdishPasha, Ishak, and his son, the complex is an example of Seljuk revivalwith many Turkish Baroque elements. Situated on a rocky outcropoverlooking the Ararat plateau, the palace is divided in the traditionalOttoman manner into three sections: the first is the service court; thesecond is the selamlik (or greeting) court; and the third is theharamlik (private) court. The superb decoration is an eighteenthcentury interpretation of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries' Seljukstyles, and is all executed in exquisite stone carving. The building waslooted by Russian forces on a number of occasions in the 19th

Ishak Pasha Saray

century and during the First World War; the huge gilded gold gatesthat adorned the palace were stolen by Russian forces in 1917 andare now at the entrance of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The extraordinary thing about Ishak Pasha's Palace is that in thisremote region of the empire one man had the vision to build such amasterpiece; it is one of the iconic buildings of Turkey.

Day 14: (Optional if airport transfer times andflight connections permit) From Van we travel south for the last leg of our journey along theSilk Road (Uzun Yol) in Turkey and a visit to Hosap Castle.

The present and main castle structure of Hosap was built straddlingthe Silk Road and served as both a means of protecting the road andas a point of charging tolls on travellers. Constructed in 1643 by alocal Kurdish chieftain called Mahmudi Sari Suleyman (or BlondSuleyman) the castle is built on a rocky outcrop on the north bankof the Hosap River.

Although there are substantial Urartian remains to be seen in theform of defensive walls, the main castle structure that we see todaydates mostly from 1643 when Sari Suleyman Bey rebuilt the castleand added a new entrance tower. A castle was built at this locationas early as the Urartian Kingdom (9th- 6th c. B.C.); it is certain,however, that the structure was built early on and modifiednumerous times until the seventeenth century. The Mahmudi castlewas damaged in two sieges by the Ottoman Beylerbeyi or GovernorGeneral of Van in the 1650s and in 1839. It was restored in the1970s and 80s by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and again in 2011.

Return to Van for flight to Istanbul and connections for home.

Hosap Castle

2500 years old, The Urartian walls of Hosap

The Ancient Silk Road

EasternTurkeyTours

Exceed your expectations Email: info@easternturkeytour.org

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