Center for World Music

Istanbul and Beyond

March 26 - April 4, 2010

The great and cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, lying partly in Europe and partly in Asia on the banks of the Bosphorus, is filled with monuments from its Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Turkish past. Istanbul is considered to be one of the most enticing tourist destinations and one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

During ten days in fabulous Istanbul, you will visit famous museums and monuments, listen to exciting music in many styles, taste the delicious Turkish cuisine, shop in the world's largest mall (the ancient Covered Bazaar), and enjoy the company of Istanbul's friendly and hospitable people.

Among other things you will have a special visit to a musical instruments shop and a well-stocked records store, and an afternoon with the musicians of the mehter band. This thrilling ensemble is the origin of the bass drum and cymbals and in fact, of the European military band itself. We hope to have a chance to try some Turkish rhythms hands-on with the mehter band's mustachioed performers.

Participants in the Center for World Music tour to Istanbul will spend an evening in one of the best restaurants, where people come to enjoy the classical music called fasil, and will enjoy an Ottoman banquet with music and dance in a great hall of the wonderful mosque built by Suleyman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century.

We expect to visit the Egyptian Spice Market, Topkapi palace, the Blue Mosque, the Archaeological Museum, and the Hagia Sophia. This famous building, pictured above, dates from the sixth century, when it was a Byzantine cathedral with an enormous dome built by the Emperor Justinian. Later it became a mosque, and more recently a museum. We will eat well at several different restaurants and perhaps visit a taverna, all featuring unique styles of music as well as delicious Turkish food. An optional visit to an historic Turkish bath (separate facilities for men and women) is a special treat for many visitors to Istanbul. Other activites will include a motor launch excursion down the Bosphorus, and perhaps a visit to the Princes Islands, where vehicles are prohibited. An optional day tour to Edirne in Thrace, the European part of Turkey, will take the group to the most beautiful of all the many great mosques designed by the architect Sinan in his old age, the Selimiye, built for Suleyman's son and successor, Sultan Selim II. Toward the end of the week, an optional day tour by air to see the extensive Greco-Roman excavations at Ephesus and the museum at Seljuk can be made for about $300.

Lewis Peterman, tour leader and president of the Center for World Music, has been leading cultural tours to Indonesia since 1982. He will be joined by licensed tour guide Kamil Güller. Besides being a guide, Kamil is a carpets expert who was the former head of the carpet section in the museum shop at the Museum of Turkish and Oriental Arts. One of the special events of the tour is an introduction to the historical carpet collection of the museum. Some examples date back to the fourteenth century. Kamil will explain the weaving techniques, the sources of natural dyes, something about the various designs, and what to look for in buying a carpet. He will also be glad to help you select a beautiful example at a special discount from the museum shop's excellent collection if you like!

The price of $2,495 includes round-trip air fare from the United States, airport transfers, ten nights in Hotel Fehmi Bey (a comfortable small hotel near the center of Old Istanbul), and a substantial Turkish/European buffet breakfast each day, that can be taken with a view of the Marmara Sea. Not included are lunches and dinners.

For further information please contact Dr. Lewis Peterman at peterman@mail.sdsu.edu or at (619) 440-7046.