Pre Conference Tour
April 14th-19th, 2007


Day 1- We will take a morning flight from Istanbul to Ankara. Our first visit will be to the newly opened Vakiflar Carpet Museum. This museum includes many carpets and kilims that have been stored in the Ankara Vakiflar inventory for years and not exhibited. After lunch we will drive up to the citadel of Ankara. From here you will have a wonderful panoramic view of the city and environs. Next we will go to the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations. Located in a restored 15th century covered bazaar and warehouse complex, the museum includes important exhibitions of Urartian, Hattian, Hittite, Phrygian and Assyrian artefacts. A significant exhibition is devoted to Catal Huyuk. Dinner and overnight in Ankara.

Day 2- We will make the drive to Tokat. Here we will visit the recently renovated Vakiflar Carpet Museum. Again, this museum will contain many weavings not seen before and specific to this region of Anatolia. Tokat has a number of interesting old Ottoman houses. The most important of these line Sulu Sokak. We will see the Latifoglu Konagi that is one of the finest restored Ottoman houses in Turkey. We will visit the Gok Medrese that today functions as a museum and has a fine display of local costumes, kilims and yazmalar. Tokat is famous for its yazma, wood-block printing, and examples can still be found in the backstreets and bazaars around the Tas Han. Dinner and overnight in Tokat.

Day 3- We will make the short drive to Sivas early in the morning. Here we see the many Selcuk monuments that include the Sifaiye, Buruciye, Gok and Cifte Medreses, and Ulu Camii. A tour will be made of the Ataturk Congress and Ethnography Museum that contains kilims, carpets, embroideries and other provincial artefacts. After lunch we will make the drive to Cappadocia with its moonscape terrain created aeons ago by volcanic eruptions. Our last event of the day will be to visit the underground city of Ozluce. Dinner and overnight in Uchisar.

Day 4- Day four finds us visiting the Goreme Open Air Museum. Here you will see a multitude of churches and monasteries carved out of the volcanic tuff by early Christians. The ‘Dark Church,’ in particular, contains beautiful frescoes in wonderful condition. Then we will make the drive west across the Anatolian steppe towards Konya. In-route we will visit Sultanhani the best-preserved caravansaray in Anatolia. Built in the 13th century this caravansaray possesses extraordinary architectural features. Continuing on to Konya, our first stop in this city will be the Mevlana Museum. Here you will see the turbe of Mevlana and the paraphernalia of the dervish order. After dinner there will be private performance of the whirling dervishes. Overnight in Konya.

Day 5- Our morning visit will be to the Konya Ethnographic Museum. The museum has a fine display of carpets to include some important Selcuk weavings. Additionally, this museum has an excellent display of regional embroideries and handicrafts. During the museum visit Kathleen Guvenc will give a presentation on the wool from the Konya and Toros mountains region. Konya is filled with exquisite examples of Selcuk architecture and we will visit the most important monuments that include the Karatay (tile) and Ince Minare museums. Next we will go to the felt workshop of Mehmet Girgic. Mehmet will provide a feltmaking demonstration. The remainder of the day is free. Dinner and overnight in Konya.

Day 6- Transfer to the Konya airport for a morning flight back to Istanbul. Transfer to your hotel.