We head off on July 21 (Tuesday) with an overnight Delta nonstop flight to Munich, Germany. I have never been to Munich and Randy has not yet been to Germany. We will spend three nights there sightseeing and visiting with our very good friends from Turkey who now live and work in Munich - Ali and Ozge Tezgor.
We then take a nonstop Lufthansa flight from Munich to Izmir, Turkey on Saturday, July 25. We are staying in Izmir for three nights to visit friends and do some work (I am preparing a conference bid that will occur in Izmir in 2017 if it is successful). We rent a car and then set out on Tuesday morning, July 28 with my doctoral student Alejandro Teran (who is also in Turkey for our research project with is joint with a Turkish university). That night we spend in Denizli/Pamukkale to visit my graduated student Elif Ozgormus. Then we drive to the Isparta area and stay at our favorite lake in Turkey - on Yesil Ada (Green Island) in Egirdir Lake. Thence, on July 30 (Thursday) we drive to the Cappadocia to Goreme for one night at a "cave hotel." Along the way during this drive we will be taking in various historic sights and sites.
| Our planned route in dashed yellow lines around Turkey |
| Our planned route in dashed yellow lines around Turkey |
Dropping Alejandro off at Goreme we leave on Friday, July 31 for Ankara for one night with the main purpose of attending Orhan Dengiz's wedding on Saturday, August 1. This will be in the evening and immediately (and I do mean immediately) driving to Istanbul as I have a meeting starting at 8 AM there on Sunday, August 2. We leave Istanbul on Monday August 3 flying to Erzurum to meet up with Alejandro and our favorite traveling companion, Mehmet Gulsen (from Ankara).
Thus begins an eight day or so road trip through northeastern Turkey and back along the Black Sea to Ankara. We expect to take in Kars, Ani and the Georgian/Laz area, then traveling westward along the Black Sea to Ordu to see friends. After a night there, we will spend a couple of nights at the home of Sadel Guven from Auburn at Unye. Then, perhaps a night in Amasya on the way back to Ankara where we will arrive on either Monday August 10 or Tuesday August 11. After business in Ankara, we drive with Alejandro to Istanbul on Thursday August 13 to take our flight home via JFK in New York on Friday August 14, hopefully arrive in Auburn late in the evening.
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| Our planned route |
