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12 Days in April: Discover the Magic
Of Istanbul
And the Greece of Athens and Santorini April 17-28.
If you are entranced by the
tales of Scheherazade and sagas of Homer and Helen of Troy—and if you
have imagined yourself sitting at an outdoor café in spring on
the island of Santorini high above the sapphire sweep of the Aegean
Sea—you should mark the dates of this invitation for April 17 to April
28 of 2010.
Join us for a tour of the
great intercultural crossroads of Istanbul, and the Athens of both
ancient and modern Greece; the islands of Crete and Santorini, a cruise
in the Saronic Gulf and nights beside the surf of the Aegean.
When you travel this part of
the world you find your sense of time shifting effortlessly between
life in the 21st century and antiquity, between the mythic and the
real, because in the Eastern Mediterranean they blend uncannily.
Scheherazade was poetic. Istanbul of the Topkapi Palace and the
Blue Mosque are real, and so are the East Meets West atmospherics of
this great metropolis.
And not far from there are
the Athens and Parthenon, and the Agora where Socrates taught.
From Athens it’s an hour to the alluring ocean fronts and mysteries of
the Mediterranean island of Crete.
And then Santorini, the jewel
of the Aegean, and the site of a vast volcanic explosion 3,000 years
ago that gave rise to the legend of the Sunken Continent of Atlantis.
So it’s no wonder travelers
experiencing this part of the world bring a wide mix of
curiosities. The reality they find is the legacy of two
extraordinary civilizations that in their expansion and quest for power
spread art and learning along with conflict. The Ottomans of
Turkey receded centuries ago but the country is a treasure of discovery
for the westerner. What we know about Greece is that it was a
fountainhead of science, medicine, drama and democracy. The
evidence and history are still there in Athens, as are the surviving
splendors of its art and architecture.
For the romanticist stirred
both by ancient literature and mythology, these ten days in the
Mediterranean of Greece and Turkey fill the senses daily from the
Straits of Bosporus to the heights above of the great blue caldera of
Santorini.
The land cost of this tour
will be $3,350 per person, double occupancy. Arrangements can be
made for those traveling single. It includes the service of an
English-speaking guide, air conditioned bus, all meals as per
itinerary, air costs from Istanbul to Athens and from Athens to Crete,
an all-day cruise in the Saronic Gulf and a cruise on the Aegean from
Crete to Santorini. Because of changing fare conditions and
airline policies, early commitments are a wise and significant part of
international travel. Travelers increasingly are making use of
frequent flyer mileage to cover airline costs. Where that option
is available we urge you to make use of it on this tour. For
those wishing to purchase airfare, Northwest/KLM currently has a
consolidator fare of $1,030 per person. In all cases we urge you
to consult with Suzanne Zapolski at 612 661 4624, toll free at 1-800
843-0606 or cell 612 644 6404. Suzanne is associated with the
Borton Overseas agency in Minneapolis and is familiar to hundreds of
members of Jim Klobuchar’s Adventures as a quality booking agent.
She can advise you on your frequent flyer plans as well as current
ticketing options. We strongly suggest that you contact her soon
to take advantage of current rates as well as prospective ones.
The deadline for the initial deposit of $750 to secure a place on the
trip is Nov. 20 of this year with final payment by March 15,
2010. If you have questions, please contact Suzanne Zapolski by
phone or Suzanne@Bortonoverseas.com. or Jim Klobuchar at 763-258-1371
or jim@jimklobuchar.com. You can make your check payable to
Borton Overseas at 5412 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis 55419, Attention
Suzanne, or contact Suzanne for a credit card deposit.
For the traveler
drawn to the architectural treasures of antiquity, there are few sights
to equal twilight over the spires and domes of the Blue Mosque and
Sophia Basilica in Istanbul or the preserved elegance of ancient Greece
evoked by the Parthenon and the amphitheaters in Athens. It’s a part of
the world hard to resist at any time of the year but in the spring the
Aegean is glorious and Athens and Istanbul, both the historic and the
modern, are still easily accessible without competition from the summer
throngs.
If you’re fascinated by the
turbulent history of this part of the world, Istanbul is the perfect
start. Here is the hinge of Europe and Asia, their land masses
symbolically linked (but still separate) in the form of a bridge over
the Bosporus, one of the longest suspension spans in the world.
This is the onetime stronghold of the Ottomans, who hundreds of years
ago spread their empire from Asia Minor to North Africa, Spain, the
Balkans and southeastern Europe. It was an era reflected by the elegant
Topkapi Palace once ruled by sultans who were then among the most
powerful and certainly most acquisitive rulers on earth, judged by the
congestion of their harems.
Here is my (our) registration deposit of
$750 for Springtime in the Mediterranean with Jim Klobuchar’s
Adventures April 17-28 in 2010, due by Nov. 20.
Name(s)________________________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________________________
City________________________________________________________
Zip________________
Phones___________________________________
Email_________________________________
Today the jeweled opulence
remains along with the courtyards, but the harems have disappeared into
the librettos of operas and James Bond movies. It is still very
much Istanbul, a huge polylingual city touched—like Cairo—with an
atmosphere of intrigue and mystery that is not imaginary. There
is profuse international commerce and politics here. There is
also a lot of fun, in the coffee houses and the shops, in the discovery
of genuine Turkish cuisine, and in the Grand Market of nearly
4,000 (that is correct) shops under roof. There the merchants
compete and customers haggle, stroll and banter with the shopkeepers,
and the goods are incredibly diverse and often high quality.
Athens, of course, is much more
than the locale of Aristotle’s Greece. It’s bouzouki music and
impetuous cab drivers, gyros you can’t imagine and the shops, arcades
and hawkers, cafes and the indestructibly live music of the Plaka
district.
Here is the daily itinerary for those
flying Northwest-KLM. Frequent Flyers will have the identical
land itinerary.
April 17—Depart Minneapolis NW 565 p.m., arrive
in Amsterdam 8:15 a.m. April 18.
April 18—Depart Amsterdam KLM 1613 at 9:25 a.m.
and arrive Istanbul 1:45 p.m. Transfer to our Celal Aga Konagi
Hotel for welcome dinner at Karavansary night club. (D)
April 19— Half day tour of Istanbul Blue Mosque
and Topkapi Palace Museum. (B, L)
April 20—Half day tour of Istanbul: Grand
Bazaar, cruise in Straits of Bosporus. (B, D)
April 21—10:30 a.m. flight to Athens and
transfer to Herodion Hotel. Afternoon tour of Athens including
Parthenon on the Acropolis. (B, D)
April 22—Cruise in the Saronic Gulf with time
ashore on the islands. Overnight Herodion. (B, L)
April 23—Flight to Crete, transfer to Rinela
Beach Hotel. (B)
April 24—Day at leisure on Crete with
options. Overnight Rinela Beach Hotel. (B)
April 25—Transfer to Heraklion harbor for cruise
to Santorini. Transfer to Astir Thira Hotel. Explore
Santorini. (B)
April 26—Day at leisure on Santorini with
options. Overnight Astir Thira. (B)
April 27—Flight to Athens, also covered in land
costs. Farewell dinner. Overnight Herodion Hotel. (B,
D)
April 28—Transfer to airport for early departure
of KLM 1572 at 5 a.m., arriving Amsterdam 7:30 a.m., transfer to
NW41 leaving Amsterdam at 10:20 a.m. arriving Minneapolis 12:20
p.m.
Bring cameras, swim
suits, suntan lotion and be primed to be amazed.
Cordially
Jim Klobuchar
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The
Conductor Jim Klobuchar
Jim Klobuchar's
Adventures
jim@jimklobuchar.com
Jim's
Books
New for the Season
Alway$ on $unday
by Jim Klobuchar with Bud Grant.

Pro football has become a
round-the-calendar extravaganza
without equal in American
sports and entertainment.
Click here
to
read more about
Jim's
latest
book, "Always on Sunday,"

Jim gathers some of his favorite
experiences in wild nature and
looks at them as gifts that
illuminate the later years of life.
Click
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Jim's
book,
"Pieces of My Heart,"
And More.........
Click here
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Click here for accounts of some of Jim's
Treks,and
for other travel-related articles
What Jim
Klobuchar's
Adventures Bring to Your Own
Jim Klobuchar is a
prize-winning
former columnist with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the author of 23
books
and an adventurer who has climbed more than 75 peaks and motivated
thousands
to make the high country and open road a meaningful part of their
lives.
For nearly 30 years he
has organized
both adventure travel and more conventional tourism for Jim Klobuchar's
Adventures,
a travel club with members in 18 states. It has taken both activists
and
those who prefer more relaxed tours to a generous mixture of the
world's
faraway places and spectacles. These include hiking, bicycling, skiing
or
sight-seeing. He has led hiking in the Himalaya 12 times, on the Inca
Trail
and to Machu Picchu and the Amazon rain forest three times, photo
safaris
to East Africa 11 times and on climbs of Kilimanjaro five times.
His
club's destinations include Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Greece, Turkey,
Egypt,
Russia, New Zealand's Milford Track, Yellowstone in winter, Yellowstone
in
summer, the Grand Teton mountains of Wyoming and Holyland tours of
Israel.
His maxim in all of these is that it doesn't take a supercreature to
negotiate the adventure travel he plans. It does take curiosity. It
also takes less money than comparable trips offered by national travel
agencies. He has traveled
and escorted tours to most of these places often. He and his club
market
their travels through the club newsletter and on the Internet. He leads
almost
all of them and over the years has created a network of providers who
offer
dependable service that maximizes your enjoyment and safety on the
trip.
"I've been to the Himalayas, Africa and Israel with
Jim,"
George Halder of Minneapolis said. "The reason I keep going back to
some
of those places with him is that the trips are organized superbly and
the
people with whom you travel are stimulating to be around and often
become
some of your best friends."
Join Me in Greece

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