|
|
|
Photographer, filmmaker, and native Turk - Aydin serves as a consultant to photographers, writers, and film crews on assignment in Turkey, providing invaluable access and interpreting his country's rich culture and history since the mid-1980s. He has been leading groups, families and individual travelers on archaeological expeditions, cultural escapes, hiking trails and gulet voyages in various corners of Turkey. Aydin's photography has been exhibited in multiple cities, and films he shot and edited documenting Anatolian culture while displaying challenges in a modernizing country have so far won half a dozen international and Turkish film awards. |
|
My most luxurious and adventurous trip:
It was a trip that included 6 diverse locations across the land of Anatolia in Turkey. We started in Istanbul which sits between Europe and Asia - with 7,000 years of history and a dynamic contemporary life. We stayed in a boutique hotel converted from an old Franciscan monastery overlooking the Marmara Sea and sailed on a beautiful private boat on the Bosporus while visiting the masterpieces of the Roman Empire to the east; the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Grand Bazaar. We spent time in Ephesus one of the largest classical sites on earth, and in Cappadocia with its lunar like landscapes - where gentle hikes in the Red or Pigeon Valleys and a real cave boutique hotel is like no experience on earth! |
 |
|
Next we embarked on a luxurious sailing cruise aboard a luxury gulet sailboat handcrafted from pine, mahogany and teak. From the skilled chef, with expertise ranging from haute cuisine to regional specialties, to the visits ashore for hiking, dining, and the exploration of ancient sites - cruising the turquoise of the Med is an experience of a lifetime. Not to be missed was Mt. Ararat at 17.000 feet - where northeast Anatolia is blessed with natural beauty mixed with rich ethnicity from the Kurds to the Georgians. However, for me hiking with my guests in the Black Sea highlands in an alpine wilderness above the clouds with close contact to regional ethnicities was an experience not to be missed. For me, luxury is not only about the beautiful boats, amazing food and boutique hotels - it is about sharing the real Turkey with my guests and the richness of its culture and people. |
|
My favourite place in the world:
Is undoubtedly Lhasa in Tibet - Barkhor Square with Tibetans circumambulating the Jokhang temple with prayer wheels, and befriending the peasants in the coffee houses |
| Posted 1/7/13 |
|
|
|
