WEAVING AND FIBER ARTS TOUR

TOUR HANDBOOK
Tour Date
 Istanbul Wednesday, Sept. 7 , 2005  - Kusadasi Sept.22, 2005

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 


  Cancellation and Payment

When you decide to book the tour, I will ask you to give a non refundable deposit.of US$ 250
The rest of the payment can be devided in 3 instalments
Us 1870 will be devided in 3 :US$623 can be paid
April 7th 623 US$ If cancelled until the next payment 80% will be returned
June 7th 623 US$ If canceled until End of June 70% of of what you have paid will be refunded
July  31st 623 US$ If cancelled 20% of what you have paid will be refunded until 30 days before the tour starts
If cancelled with in 30 days of the tour i am sorry I will not be able to refund
I strongly recommend you get a tour cancellation insurance

Temperature
it will be nice and warm during the day. It gets cold after the sun goes down. Make sure you come prepared for cold evenings and warm days.

  Average Temperatures for Major Regions (IN CELSIUS)

 

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

IZMIR (West)

9

10

11

16

20

25

28

27

23

18

15

10

ISTANBUL (Northeast)

5

6

7

12

16

21

23

23

20

16

12

8

ANKARA (Central)

0

1

5

11

16

20

23

23

18

13

8

2


WHAT TO WEAR
Don't forget your swimming suits. A scarf for mosque visits will be handy,
also since we take our shoes when we enter the mosques and people's homes
and easy slip on and off type of a shoe will be more comfortable. The women
will need to wear a long skirt or long pants in the mosque .Through out the
tour shorts are O.K. The days might be warm but the evenings will be cold
 please come prepared.
LAUNDRY
You can have laundry done in all the hotels where we have more than one
night stay. We generally arrange for a laundry for the group upon arrival to
Cappadocia .
MEALS
Turkish food has enough variety to meet every one's need. Vegetarian menus
are available. If special diet food is required we can arrange for that
easily.
EXTRA EXPENSES
Virtually everything on the tour is included except for your drinks. Your
daily average expenditure while on the tour will be about US $20 a day per
person (mostly for drinks and souvenirs), though your actual expenditure
could be far lower. People on shoe string budgets have spent as a little as
$100 during the entire tour, while others have spent thousands of dollars (
usually on carpets.)
 
PERSONAL CHECKS
If you want to make a purchase over $100 you can pay with your traveler's
checks . But cashing traveler's checks in a bank is expensive and not always
easy. Do not rely on traveler's checks for cash.
ATMs are available. US$ currency can be used through out the country. If you
need to change US$ to Turkish Lira, .you can do it at the airport very
easily. The rates almost all the same. Personal Checks are honored if you
should do a big purchase and are treated like cash.


CREDIT CARDS
Yes you can use your credit card in many places in Turkey but please remind
your bank or credit card organization that you are going to be in Turkey for
a while. Because for some reason the banks or credit card companies block
the card when they see purchase is made in Turkey
 

SHOPPING INFORMATION
This tour is quite hectic. So you will have very little time for shopping.
But amazingly people find enough time to shop .One of my groups had shopped
so much in the seconds that we had time for shopping we had a garage sale at
the end of the tour.
If you are interested in buying kilims and or carpets make sure you have
your dimentions and colors with you. Very few leave Turkey with out a Kilim
or a Carpet on these tours

KILIM, CARPET, TOWELS, FELT

However, the Turkish Carpets are so inviting it is very difficult to resist
the temptation. If you already have the bug for the Turkish,Kurdish and
Central Asian KILIMS you will find your self in heaven. If you have not yet
developed a taste ,this might be the place to get aquatinted with that
incurable bug.

PESTEMAL

In the Turkish Bath, the pestamal is used like a wrap around the body. We
will be able to buy the pestemals off from a loom

WOODWORK IMBEDDED WITH MOTHER OF PEARL
Gaziantep is known for this craft which used to be favorite art/craft of the
Ottoman Sultans. Mirrors,jewelery boxes, shelfs,chairs and many more
tempting and carriable pieces hand made in Gaziantep are available in the
souvenier shops.

BRASS WORKS

Very delicately carved trays, pots and shish kebab scewers and statuetts
will be nice Christmas gifts.
MINIATURE PAINTINGS
Replicas of Ottoman paintings are favorite shopping theme for most of
Melitour tour members. They are available only out side the Grand Bazaar in
Istanbul

SILVER JEWELERY

Authentic or replicas of old jewelery are available at few places along the
tour. Especially the jeweler at Ephesus has excellent examples of old
jewelry.
TEXTILES
Material with wood block prints, scarves with OYA,  lace, suzanis

Literature to Read

  • "Turkish Flat Weaves" by William Ziemba, Abdulkadir Akatay and Sandra Schwartz
    “A Wealth of Silk and Velvet” by Christian Erber
  • “The Art of Turkish Weaving” by Nevber Gursu
  • “The Designs Through the Ages” by Nevber Gursu
  • “Ottoman Embroidery” by Roderick Taylor
  • “Prehistoric Textiles” by F.J.W.Barber
  • HALI magazine
  • Cornucopia magazine


 

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