What You’ll Love about Your Week in Turkey
We can’t come to Turkey without spending time in magnificent and fascinating Istanbul. You’ll have the opportunity to tour and learn about history and culture with Oguz Goncu, our longtime tourguide, as well as explore Turkish cuisine and ingredients with our great friend and food guide, Banu Ozden. You’ll tour markets and street food, along with seeing the major historic-cultural sites – Topkapi, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
Ana has long been fascinated by the Black Sea region, and now you’ll have the chance to explore parts of the Black Sea region that most American tourists don’t visit. Banu has found the iconic dishes, ingredients and restaurants; Oguz will take us to historic sites; and Chef Ana will be doing a cooking demonstration in the seaside town of Samsun.
When we return to Istanbul, we’ll spend time on the Bosporus (ferry and private boat trip), and will spend part of the day on the Asia side of Istanbul touring food markets and having lunch at CIYA, one of Ana Sortun’s favorite restaurants anywhere. CIYA’s chef is Musa Dağdeviren, featured in Season 5 of Netflix’ The Chefs Table.
If you wish to stay on in Istanbul after the Culinaria, we have a one-day bonus program with Oguz, visiting The Blue Mosque, Cistern, Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar.
Of course we’ll have wonderful meals throughout the week, and we’ve found that your fellow travelers become another highlight of traveling with Oldways.
The Black Sea Culinaria awards 16 CPEUs in accordance with the Commission on Dietetic Registration’s CPEU Prior Approval Program.
