Tuesday, April 10, 2007.

This will be the day for travel. There is no non-stop LAX-IST flight, so you’ll have to stop and change of planes somewhere. In addition, you lose ten hours on the trip, so it has to be an overnight journey.

Play this to get in the mood. Be sure your speakers are on.

Wednesday, April 11.

Plan your trip to arrive in Istanbul's Atatürk Airport no later than mid-afternoon. If you're traveling on a US Passport, you can purchase the required visa when you arrive for $26--American cash. If you are a citizen of another country, you will probably have to obtain a visa beforehand at the Turkish Consulate. Transportation by bus or taxi from the airport to the hotel is cheap and easily arranged. We’ll meet at the Madison Hotel in the late afternoon for an orientation to the city with our guide, Aydin Eroglu. We will celebrate Mass at the hotel, and, after dinner, enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, April 12, and Friday, April 13.

We’ll spend two full days in Istanbul, and have plenty of opportunity to get acquainted with the historical richness of ancient Constantinople, as well as the unique character of this modern city. After breakfast each morning at the hotel, we’ll leave promptly at 8:00 am to get an early start on our tours. Sites we will visit include early Byzantine Christian Sites, such as the ancient churches of Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene, the later Church of St. Savior in Chora with its wonderful mosaics and frescoes. Other historic churches we'll visit include the all cast-iron church of St. Stephen of the Bulgars, the Church of the Pantocrator (Zeyrek Camii), St. Mary of the Mongols, and St. Mary Pammakaristos.

Also dating from the early Byzantine times are the Hippodrome and the spectacular underground Basilica Cistern. We will also have opportunities to see portions of the fourth-century Aqueduct of Valens, the fifth-century city Walls of Theodosius II which safeguarded the city for nearly a millennium, and other traces of our ancient Christian heritage.

Muslim and Turkish Sites will include the great Mosque of Süleyman the Magnificent (built by the great architect Sinan, roughly contemporary to Michelangelo) and the Blue Mosque, as well as the Topkapi Palace of the Ottoman Sultans. The Archeological Museum displays artifacts from all over Turkey and the Middle East, covering 5,000 years of history. Very relevant to our contemporary Christian life, we will also visit the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Phanar, and celebrate Mass in several of the historic Catholic Churches in Istanbul, including the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, where recent Popes have visited and where the famous monument to Benedict XV, “the Pope of Peace,” stands in the courtyard. These three days will be filled with many other surprises and wonders as well.

Saturday, April 14.

Saturday morning we’ll leave early to travel by bus about six to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, dduring which we'll discuss with Aydin many things about Turkey and Turkish history an culture, as well as Islam. Upon arival we'll visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations – a real “must-see” – and we’ll stay at the Ickale Hotel.

Sunday, April 15, and Monday, April 16.

We'll again leave early and drive about 180 miles south to Cappadocia and will stay for two nights at the Perissia Hotel. The rest of Sunday and all day Monday will be devoted to exploring the wonders of this strange landscape and historic civilizations: “fairy chimneys” and other unusual geological formations, an underground city, and dwellings and churches carved into the rocks and cliffs. We will celebrate Sunday Mass at one of the cave-churches in Cappadocia. One evening we will have the opportunity to attend an optional folkloric presentation at Yasar Baba in Ürgüp, and one morning the adventurous among us can take a two-hour hot-air balloon ride over this unique and wonderful landscape. (The balloon ride will cost about $200 extra . . . and is well worth it! Be prepared to pay in American cash.) Here we will also have an opportunity to visit a local winery (Kocabag), learn about (and buy) hand-woven Turkish carpets and kilims at Carpedocia, a village cooperative, and tour Chez Galip, a world-famous local ceramic workshop.

Tuesday, April 17.

We will leave early for Konya (ancient Iconium), a journey of about 250 kilometers. On the way we will visit a historic Seljuk "han" (or caravansarai -- inn along the ancient “silk road” trade route). In Konya we will visit the Mevlana Museum, with the tomb of Rumi (or Mevlana) the founder of the “Whirling Dervishes,” which will give us a good opportunity to understand something of the diversity of spirituality and outlook in the heritage of Sufi Islam. Afterwards we will go to Çatal Hüyük, excavations of the oldest known settlement in world, perhaps getting a feel for how people lived there 8,000 years ago. (Many of the artifacts from here we will have already seen at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.) In the evening, we will have an opportunity to experience the sema (contemplative ritual dance) of the Whirling Dervishes. We'll stay at the Ozkaymak Park Hotel.

Wednesday, April 18.

After breakfast, we will celebrate Mass in the small Catholic church of St. Paul in the heart of Konya. This is a tiny church maintained by two nuns, and we will learn about their important and difficult apostolate in apparent isolation from the rest of the Catholic world. Then we will drive to Pamukkale, about 250 miles, with a stop to see Pisidian Antioch, an important site in the journeys of St. Paul and in early Christian history. We'll stay at the Lycus River Hotel in Pammukale.

Thursday, April 19.

After breakfast in our hotel, we will leave for a relatively short (135 miles) trip to Izmir, but with some wonderful sites to stop at and savor at length along the way: Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Aphrodisias – all beautiful and important sites, giving us very different insights into the world in which Christianity grew up. We’ll stay in Izmir (ancient Smyrna, now a thriving modern city rich in history) at the Kaya Prestige Hotel for three nights.

Friday, April 20.

This day will have a bit more relaxed pace. We will drive to Sardis, about 45 miles to the east, and view excavations of the ancient city, including the famous synagogue and gymnasium. After lunch in the area we will drive back to Izmir for a few free hours in the afternoon and Mass in the evening at Church of St. Polycarp.

Saturday, April 21.

We will spend the day in Ephesus, beginning with a tour of the famous excavations of the ancient city, including the “Double Church” of the Theotokos (“Mother of God”), where the Council of Ephesus was held in 431. Then we’ll visit the Museum, which displays artifacts excavated from the ancient city’s ruins, and the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, built over his tomb. We’ll conclude the day with a visit to the Arvalya Leather Center and Mass at Mary’s House. (This will be the Sunday vigil Mass; no Mass will be possible the next two days.) We’ll return to our hotel in Izmir for a late dinner, and then to bed because tomorrow we need to have an early start.

Sunday, April 22.

We will leave Izmir after an early breakfast and travel to Pergamon (Bergama) where we’ll tour the Asklepion (an ancient pagan center for healing) and the Acropolis (with its Temple of Zeus, described in the Book of Revelation as “the altar of Satan”). Then we will go to Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century, to spend the night at the Termal Kervansaray Hotel. This may be agreat opportunity for a Turkish Bath alsoknown as a Hammam.

Monday, April 23.

We will take an all-too-brief tour of highlights in Bursa, a very beautiful city. We’ll visit the Great Mosque, the Green Mosque and the Green Tomb (of Mehmet I), and have an opportunity to shop for fine silk goods at reasonable prices. Then we’ll drive to Iznik (ancient Nicea), which is often passed over by tours but is very significant in our Catholic Christian heritage. Two major ecumenical councils were held here: the first in 325, which defined our faith in the divinity of Christ against Arianism, and the seventh in 787, which upheld the veneration of images against iconoclasm. We will spend the better part of the day exploring these and some other sites, as well as have a nice lunch by the shore of its beautiful lake. Later in the afternoon, we will return to Istanbul, crossin the Bosporus Bridge from Asia to Europe, where we will stay two nights, again at the Madison Hotel.

Tuesday, April 24.

I assure you that you will relish this final full day to explore Istanbul again. We will take a leisurely cruise in our own chartered boat up the Bosporus in the morning, and then have plenty of time for shopping in the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s largest buildings under one roof!, There may be other opportunities to explore as well, and in the late afternoon we will celebrate the final Mass of the pilgrimage. Then a festive dinner overlooking the water, and a good night’s sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s journey home.

Wednesday, April 25.

The pilgrimage concludes today with your travel back home . . . or wherever else you may choose if you want to prolong the trip. If you make plans to leave early in the day, you can arrive back home later the same day because of the ten-hour time difference.