‘Mind-stretching’ trip to Turkey

Following a barge trip in Burgundy, France, in celebration of my husband, Steve’s, 80th birthday, we flew to Istanbul, then to Antakya (ancient Antioch), located on southern Turkey’s easternmost Mediterranean coast, about 30 miles from the Syrian border.

What was to be a 3-week journey with two other couples turned out to be just the two of us with our wonderful new friend and fabulous, attentive guide, Ümit Dogan, owner of Treasures of Travel (Edmonds, WA; 800/572-0526, www.treasures oftravel.com).

Our tour, Sept. 21-Oct. 13, 2013, cost $3,600 per person, including the flight from Istanbul to Antakya, baggage handling, airport transfers, 20 nights at 3- and 4-star hotels, daily breakfasts, 10 dinners, daily sightseeing, and entrance fees to sites with knowledgeable English-speaking guides.

We covered not only 3,000-plus miles by car through southeastern and eastern Turkey and north along the Black Sea but also millennia of ancient history.

We stood on the banks of both the Tigris and Euphrates, looking across to the Armenian border. We viewed Mt. Ararat and hiked to the amazing statues on Mt. Nemrut and to the Cave of St. Paul. We marveled at ancient burial caves and cuneiform tablets, the remains of ancient kingdoms. History was exciting and palpable!

Equally amazing were the changes since our visit to Turkey some 20 years before. The population is growing quickly, and Islam is becoming increasingly conservative. Minarets and blaring recorded calls to prayer dominate every village, while early Christian churches are either being destroyed or converted to mosques.

Construction is everywhere — countless new apartment buildings, scores of tunnels through mountains, wonderful highways, and the 20 or so dams across the Tigris and Euphrates that generate hydroelectric power and water for irrigation.

Cities with unfamiliar names, like Urfa, Gaziantep, Erzurum and Sinop, are now on our mental map. It was a mind-stretching trip!

SYLVIA DeFOREST

Seattle, WA