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Itinerary 

For the week October 5-12th we all will be together in Istanbul.  Some of us might arrive as early as Oct 4th.  

Topkapi Palace from the Bosphorus, Istanbul

As we haven't been able to find suitable apartments, we will stay in hotels.  We will hire a minibus for travel outside Istanbul.

During the week in Istanbul there will be an excursion to Gallipoli, where Australians, New Zealanders, Indians and British soldiers were all involved in the events of 1915.  This trip will occur on 9-11th October and will include Bursa and Troy.

After our time in Istanbul & Gallipoli, some of the party will return home while others will travel onwards to see more of Turkey.

Lycian tombs on Turkey's southern coast 

Some "important trivia" about Turkey:

* King Midas was from Anatolia
* Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara, the double knot used in Turkish carpets
* A delicious dish named for Alexander the Great is called "Iskender kebab"
* Two of the Seven Wonders of the World stood in Anatolia: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnasus (Bodrum)
* Julius Caesar pronounced the words: "I came, I saw, I conquered" near Ankara in 47 BC
* In the Book of Genesis, at the Garden of Eden you will find the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which are located in eastern Turkey and are today called "Dicle" and "Firat" respectively
* The seven churches of the Apocalypse were situated in Anatolia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea; and
* Tulips were introduced to Holland from Anatolia.

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