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The Aegean Coast of Turkey was the fertile meeting point of two great ancient civilisations – the Hittites and the Greeks – and this is the context in which the Trojan War is now seen by many scholars. Our journey starts with the site identified as Troy, and then continues to explore the elegant Classical cities of the Greek and Romans.
These were some of the wealthiest in the ancient Mediterranean, and their architects and sculptors have left us some of the most beautiful ruins anywhere in the world. The cities of western Turkey continued to be leading centres of early Christianity during the time of the Byzantine Empire, becoming a focus for European powers, such as the Knights Hospitallers of St John, and the vigorous Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice.
We fly into Istanbul in the north and out of Bodrum further south, thereby making the most of our journey along this beautful coast, ranging in time from sites of the Early Bronze Age kingdoms and the time of the Hittite Empire and the Homeric period to the traditional domestic architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Staying seven nights in one lovely hotel on the sea in Kusadasi gives time for rest and relaxation within this exciting and busy itinerary.
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