Istanbul Tour

The Istanbul tour will begin at approximately 8:00 (a.m.) at the Conference hotels - the Kaya Ramada Plaza and Marin Princess Resort (exact pick-up details to follow via e-mail if you register for the tour). We will first visit the Sultanahmet Square where the most important events of the Byzantium and Turkish history took place during thousands of years of the rich history of the nations. This square has a special importance with its museums, mosques, Byzantium cisterns and Hippodrome with important historical buildings. We will visit Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet camii), Cistern, and the Kariye Museum. Then we will have a lunch at the Konyali restaurant that is located in the Topkapi Palace where the Ottoman Empire reigned for centuries with their sultans, viziers, janissaries and harem. After lunch we will visit the palace museum (except for the Harem) and famous Grand Bazaar (Turkey's largest covered market, most guide books claim that it has 4000 shops).The tour will end at approximately 19:00 (7:00 p.m.) when tour attendees will be returned to the Kaya Ramada and Marin Princess.

Deadline to sign up and submit payment for the tour is 8 July 2008.