Enjoying a home visit is a two-way cultural exchange. A family invites us in and serves us a rustic home-cooked lunch. Then, with our guide as the translator, we get to really connect with a villager. This is the best way to gain an insight into her world and village life in Turkey. And the money we spend goes directly to a local family rather than to a big business.
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Touring a village, we pause on a bridge to watch the schoolkids pass by ‘ greeting each other with a cheery merhaba (hello). You’ll notice we’re wearing headphones. With these “Whisper System” earpieces in place, our guide can give us a running commentary while we straggle and explore, without having to all stay in a big group. All over Europe, the Whisper System is becoming the standard way tour guides do their guiding. Whisper Systems are required in the great museums and preferred on the streets. While most groups just rent them at the museums that require them, our tour program purchased this system, and the tour I’m on is the first to issue a set to each tour member to be used whenever the guide likes. I am enthusiastic about this new technology. It’s easy on the guide’s voice, our groups make less of a commotion where we’re touring, and individuals enjoy both the freedom to roam and the necessary information.
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For my vacation this year, I signed up for the Rick Steves Best of Turkey tour. My group didn’t know I’d be on their tour, and I just showed up on the third day. After the initial surprise, within hours I was just one of the tour members, ready to experience a great country with a great group and a great guide. In this clip, we’ve just gotten off of the night train to Ankara, and make our way (some of us more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than others) to our awaiting tour bus.
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After spending two busy days in Istanbul, our tour group catches the overnight train to Ankara. Settling into our compartments, we let the rhythm of the rails be our Anatolian lullaby.
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As the call to prayer echoes through the streets of Istanbul, Lale and I visit the courtyard of the magnificent Blue Mosque…and meet a young boy about to embark on a Muslim rite of passage.
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