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Mr. Aliastair FULTON & Mr. Raj
SANDHIR Dear Iffet Thank you for recommend a lovely hotel which was close to sight seeing and yet quite in the evenings, I think we will suggest the hotel to our friends. I would also like to thank you for introducing us to Uysal what a charming lady she had so many suggestion what we could do/ see in the city, we did use some of them but just not enough time, so we will have to come back soon. We are also interested in a tour you offer for 5 days from Istanbul, will email the details. We are thinking of end of September early October. Thank you for all your advise and help Regards Raj Sharma |
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Louise BUTLER / Tate BRITAIN Dear Iffet, How are you? I hope you're well and not too busy! I'm really glad to hear you got the catalogues safely, and I do hope you also received the card. Things have been really busy here especially with catching up after being away. We all had a fantastic time on the trip and really enjoyed being guided by you and Uysal - thanks so much for looking after us and for all your help with planning the itinerary. Best wishes, |
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Dr Nadia DURRANI / Editor,
Current World Archaeology This was a historically intense trip that was predictably fascinating, although I did get a bit lost in the millennia. However this is a specialist area & I feel privileged to have seen those sites - hopefully I'll do them some justice in my article. The itinerary held up well, despite our lack of time, although I did feel that the detour to Antakya was not really worth it as the cave was closed & we didn't see anything except the museum. I nonetheless enjoyed roaming through the food market. Karatepe made an interesting & surprising start to the trip. The highlight was definitely the Euphrates area - Halpeti / Urfa / Harran and of course Mardin. Diyarbakir didn't come over well on our arrival - but it was a grey Sunday, mostly closed. My extra time there on a sunny Monday was quite different - & I found the old streets, churches, mosques and wild kids quite moving. In general the accommodation was perfectly adequate for this kind of trip when the emphasis is not on hotels, and restaurants mostly excellent. I really enjoyed getting to know some more obscure Turkish dishes. Inci managed with aplomb despite different demands from each of us, & kept her enthusiasm up throughout. It could have been useful to have a preliminary introduction to a site on the bus, putting it into context to save time when we actually got there. It's always a problem on a press trip when questions come thick & fast & time is short all best |
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Gareth Davis I wanted to write to thank you and everyone involved in planning, sponsoring and running our recent trip to Turkey for a fabulously successful press trip that has given me an extraordinary amount of new information, and opened up an exciting new corner of the country that I have been trying to visit for many years. I found the whole area really fascinating and am looking forward to returning in the future to explore in more detail, spend more time in cities such as Mardin and Urfa, to see not only the sites that we missed but to see the changes as promised new developments come on line.I thought the trip ran extremely well and Inci was an excellent guide, hugely hard working and full of information. I have already recommended Peten to my parents, who are their natural market, so there may be more Shales' on trips before long. Being upgraded to business class by Turkish Airlines was a huge unexpected bonus, for which many thanks (I know it was purely due to seat availability, but it was lovely). I am currently working on four projects on Turkey - an article for History Today, based on the Eastern Turkey tour; a chapter of the Insight Guide to the Silk Road, in which I can include a great deal of information from this trip - on Diyarbakir, Mardin and Antakya - Inci was also kind enough to give me a lot of background information to help; an update of the Globetrotter Guide to Turkey, a pocket guide to the country, in which several of the hotels and restaurants we stayed in can be mentioned as well as updating the sightseeing for the region; and finally writing a new Berlitz Guide to the Turkish Coast - and my early stay in Antalya and Belek and our visit to Adana and Antakya are all relevant research for that. So the trip was hugely beneficial. Very best wishes Melissa Shales |
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It was great to see all the gorgeous sites of the South East. I am sure few of our readers (despite their love of travelling and archaeology) will have visited there so I hope my article about our trip inspires them to head off to this part of Turkey! Many thanks too for organising my visit to the ship-wrecks in Istanbul. This was incredibly helpful of you. I hope to publish a piece on this in the next issue. Overall, cheers for making the trip run so smoothly and for ensuring we got a fantastic overview of the cultural heritage of SE Turkey. All the best, Dr Nadia Durrani, Editor |
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Richard BURIAN Dear Iffet, Thank you again for everything you did to make my holiday so enjoyable. It was great to travel with you and to explore Northern Cyprus and to see the wonderful orchids. I will keep in touch. All the best, Rick |
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Brian & Eileen ANDERSON Dear iffet, We really enjoyed the week we spent together and it was good to see you slowly relaxing as the week went on. Love to you, Brian & Eileen |
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Jeremy STAFFORD-DEITSCH Hi Iffet, The tour went very well - the girls were fascinated and Inci was an excellent guide - so I can't think of any criticisms apart from the rain at Ephesus which may not be under your control. Best wishes |
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Scott DUNN Dear Iffet Great to talk to you just now and thank you so much for arranging a wonderful trip to Istanbul. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, not least due to Peten Tours. We look forward to working with you. With my best wishes Andrew |
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Mr.David INLANDER & Mrs. Beth
INLANDER Dear Iffet We're finally back to our normal routine in Chicago, and enjoying telling friends and family about our wonderful trip to Turkey. Let me share a few thoughts with you. Your detailed preparation without a doubt made the trip a success. We thought all of the hotels were excellent, especially the Anatolian House hotel which was a special treat, one of the nicest hotels we have ever experienced. The Sultanhan was very nice and clean, and had a wonderful breakfast in a nice setting. The Kismet had a spectacular view, and a delightful pub/bar area. The hot air balloon company was exceptionally well run, and our two hour flight with pilot Mike was a breath-taking highlight of the vacation. Our dinners were all delicious, and our reservations honored. In Istanbul, Tugra and Sunset were outstanding, albeit very expensive! Special thanks for helping us out when we were stranded trying to find Cezayir, which was a nice counterpoint. In Cappadocia, both Alaturca and the private dining at the hotel were excellent. In Ephesus, the Secret Garden was quite a delicious fresh seafood extravaganza! Although we admit we were disappointed that you personally were not our guide in Istanbul, we thought Urgul was bright, nice, articulate and an excellent leader of our group. She helped bring your wonderful city into a historical and cultural perspective in a delightful way. We were pleased to have met her, and would highly recommend her to others. Alec possessed a gregarious personality, and it would be hard to imagine anyone better to show us around this Anatolian region. His charm was matched only by his knowledge of the unique terrain of Cappadocia. Your driver was polite and most competent. Ayse likewise was wonderful. We not only learned volumes from her during the Ephesus visit, but loved the time we spent with her. Again our van driver was very good. All three guides took good care to make sure all our needs were met, including all issues at the airports. We couldn't have asked for more! Finally, a word about your beautiful country. Everyone was warm and welcoming. The diversity of terrains, the sights and sounds of Turkey make it an extraordinary place to visit. Our meetings with the AJC added a nice supplement to your expert itinerary. Dinners with Jewish Community leaders at Carne, a state dinner hosted by US consul general Sharon Weiner at her home overlooking the Bosphorus, and trips to the Ahrida and Neve Shalom synagogues were all superb. Our day trip to Ankara featured important meetings with the US and Israeli ambassadors, the ASSM think tank group, and members of Parliament, and covered a wide range of topics of importance to Turkey, Israel and the U.S. Hopefully, we made some progress! Thanks again for all of your assistance in making this trip so spectacular. Hopefully, we'll make it back to Turkey again soon. And if you ever have the interest in coming to the US, make sure you visit our great city of Chicago! We'd love to show you around. Warm regards, David |
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Mr.Roger HYMEN and Dr.Monika COHEN There were no snow storms in Tel Aviv, so Monika and I made all of our connections and had no trouble getting home last night. I have spent a good part of my day today when people ask me about my vacation telling them what a wonderful trip we had thanks in large part to your assistance. Iffet, meet Joel, Joel, meet Iffet. If either of you needs to refer someone to Turkey or Israel, I highly recommend each of you to the other. Several people did ask me today and I forwarded your names (only one was a definite trip to Israel rather than a "someday" trip). Part of what made our Israel trip so interesting was the knowledge we gained in Turkey of the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottoman Empire and could see similar things happening during these periods in Israel. The best example I gave people was the story Ergule (sorry, I don't know how to spell her name) told us when we were in the Archeological Museum in Istanbul that the early 1900's museum curator was afraid that the Sultan might give the Alexander Sarcophagus to Kaiser Wilhem when he visited. The curator closed the wing where it was exhibited and hid the sarcophagus. In Israel, Joel told us that the Sultan changed the doorway to the Jaffa Gate to the Old City in order to accommodate the Kaiser. Had we not had two excellent and knowledgeable people telling us these stories, we couldn't have made the connections. Again, thank you. |