Dear Gaye, Gürcan, Atil, and friends!
Hello, we have been back in Germany for 10 days now.
However, whenever we think back to the holiday trip to Turkey and especially the days we spent in Kapadokya with you it helps us cope with daily routine, work, and the cold German wheather.
We wanted to thank you again very, very much for the great time we had and your perfectly organizing everything for us.
@Gürcan: Thank you for the hints how to get to Urla - Iskele from Izmir Airport. We made it without any problems. Cesme is a wonderful place and we can understand that you do feel homesick anywhere else. And of course the food is delicious! BTW, did you know that Muzaffer Sümer, the owner of Yorgo Seferis Residence Otel, spent some years in Germany as a child? He went to school in a place near Nuremberg and talks German very well. That made it a lot easier for us: he helped us with translation, telephone calls, and organized that someone gave us a ride to Izmir one day and to the airport when we left. Sorry for not contacting your parents. We know you were absolutely serious when inviting us in their name but we did not want to bother as they did not know us at all. If we had met them with you before things would have been different.
Anyway, our thanks and warmest regards to all of you. We hope to see you again, maybe when doing another tour with middle earth? Who knows.... Would be great, though.
We'll send 2 more pics with the next mail.
Take care,
Maud&Christian
23.10.2011 |
Cortina d’Ampezzo – Italy 20/10/2011
Hi Atil,
Just back from a marvellous holiday in Turkey (one week Pirates coast trek + one week sailing).
We all want to thank Middle Earth Travel for the nice experience we did also this year.
We had great fun and enjoyed both the mountains and the sea.
Please send Deniz all our greetings and thanks for his liking and for having managed transfers, accommodation and trails to perfection.
A big hug also to Abbas, our excellent guide. We were very impressed by his kindness and his skill in explaining history and culture of your beautiful country.
The “blu voyage” was amazing. We loved the boat and the crew, they did a great job for us.
Everything was perfect.
Paola and 15 friends.
23.10.2011 |
Hi Deniz,
Thank you for organising last week's walk so well. We loved the scenery, the
hotels gave us excellent service and Cenk is a fantastic guide. He is
knowledgeable, funny, resouceful and very good company. We hope to go on
another walk with him some day.
Our tfansfers at Istanbul were fine and the hotel was comfortable and central.
We shall certainly recommend Middle Earth Travel to our friends. We enjoyed
meeting you too.
Many thanks,
Richard
19.10.2011 |
Hi Deniz,
Just to let you know that we really enjoyed our tour. The walking and scenery was superb, and the accommodation and food was all very good. Ozgur was a very patient and informative guide, and we will book again with your company in the future!
Many thanks
Karen & Elaine
13.10.2011 |
Hi Atil,
We are back in London now and I just wanted to say we LOVED Turkey, and found everybody we dealt with with Middle Earth very friendly and helpful!
Also, thanks very much for helping me with the present and booking the hotel for me before we got to Cappadocia and say a special thanks to Deniz for getting up at 3am today to get us to the airport!
I said to Cate a few days ago we should do the entire Lycian Way when we retire, so hopefully you'll see us in 20 odd years (if not sooner for a shorter holiday!)
Thanks,
Ewan
03.10.2011 |
Dear Gaye,
I am sorry for not having been in touch. Live has been very busy and intense since our time in Turkey. I was ill and of school all week. But I am OK now and will be back at school on Monday.
We enjoyed our time in Turkey very much. Our highlight was the time in Goreme. I am sure we will come again. The walk with you were very special. Thank you for taking us to so many special places.
We had a good time in the Aladaglar mountain. It was not easy because it was just as hot as in Cappadocia. The views were beautiful and it has been a very special and rewording experience. The Belgian Family were lovely.
We are very glad we did the trip.
I enjoyed meeting you and wish you all the best.
Thank you for guiding us.
I will sent you my Pictures of the Turkey trip.
Best wishes,
Almut
30.09.2011 |
Dear Uraz,
I want to thank you for one of the most interesting travel adventures I experienced in my life. We will remember the multiple good moments we had on this travel.
I am looking forward to have the opportunity to travel again with you and your company in the future.
Give also my kind regards towards Uraz and Emra.
best regards,
Dirk Kempeneers
03.08.2011 |
Dear Kerem,
Just a short note to thank you for helping us have such a wonderful week in the Kackar. We loved the walks you chose, and they were exactly the variety we wanted. We loved the mountain scenery and seeing the local life there. We certainly felt fitter at the end! You were a great guide and we really appreciated your knowledge of birds and flowers which were expecially magnificent. By the way, what was the type of the orchid that we saw - we were trying to identify it in one of my father's books, but the name didn't seem to match with what you had said and my photo didn't have enough detail really. We have attached a few photos of some memorable moments!
We had a good week in the Georgian and Armenian areas, especially driving past Cildir lake It was very picturesque and a great contrast to the mountains. Thanks to you, Gaye and Atil for sorting out our hotels in our second week - all worked well after the initial hiccup at the Yeni Cinar in Erzurum.
Please do email us before you come to London in December, as it would be lovely to meet for a meal or drink.
With all best wishes and many thanks for helping us have a great holiday in a wonderful place. We are thinking about the St Paul's trail....
Neville and Juliet
03.08.2011 |
Hello Kerem,
We are already at home for a few days ... Here in Belgium it is cold ( 17 C )... So get used to us.
Wout wrote something above. I will try to translate what he wrote.
" I liked it very much in Turkey ". Is there already another family that you should guide ? Than you maybe played Kakkerlakkenpoker with the family.
My mom has meanwhile bought a new kakkerlakkengame.
Will you gives meany of greets to Moustafa when you see him ?
Lots of greetings from Wout"
We enjoyed very much for the 7 days in Lycia. It was great, wonderful, ...
Everyone talks about it every day. Sometimes we said : we were now doing this or that ...
I started sorting the photos. When that work is done, I will send you some of the photos. In this way we have a beautiful souvenir of the magical journey.
The reunion in Belgium will be at 22/01/2012. Johan gave us the date. We blocked the date in our calendar. Maybe we'll meet there again.
You can rightly be proud of this beautiful journey.
We send you en Moustafa a lot of greetings en very much thank for everything.
If you are in Belgium, you are certainly welcome.
Herman - Kathleen - Daan - Robbe - Wout
30.07.2011 |
Dear Deniz and Gurcan and Ozzie
I am now back to normal life in Australia after a wonderful holiday guided brilliantly by you three.
I would like to thank you all for putting up with eight Australian women so well! You were all very good at your jobs and I will recommend Middle Earth to any of my friends who are planning to visit Turkey. You were all highly intelligent with so much knowledge about your country I think we were privileged to travel with you.
Deniz could you send this on to Ozzie and Gurcan please? And use any of the photos for the web if you would like to.
Thanks again
Peta Conor
29.07.2011 |
Hi everyone at Middle Earth,
I'm just writing to say a huge thankyou to you all after our recent 3 week trip trekking in Cappadocia and Aladaglar and then sightseeing for a further week.
This was my second trip with Middle Earth Travel and won't be my last , as I have the St Paul trail and the Kachkar mountains in my sights for a few years in the future.I had such a wonderful time 3 years ago on the Lycian Way that I was worried that nothing this time could be as good, and that I would be disappointed.
Well I need not have worried! Turkey and Middle Earth are as fantastic as ever.
The outstanding thing for me this time was the profusion of flowers every where. Bozdag was like a huge rockery garden full of flowers, the valleys in Cappadocia were verdant and blooming and the Aladaglar mountains took my breath away, both with the scenery, and the variety and extent of the flowers (especially the carpets of blue ?grape hyacinths around the lakes in the Seven lakes campsite)
I wasn't expecting such beauty, and I am amazed that you don't mention it in your website (you would attract a lot more women if you did, but is that a good thing?) Anyway I was in Nerd-Vana.
Another huge highlight was the wonderful little places we had lunch in every day- we'd be out in the middle of nowhere and next minute we would be lounging on cushions in a little cabana with a stream flowing underneath us and attractive Turkish men would ply us with food!
The walking was brilliant, Deniz's planning ,organisation and attention to detail as impeccable as ever, Gurcan was wonderful cook, endlessly enthusiastic and helpful (and I'll never forget his belly laughs), we loved meeting the delightful Gaye and her short time with us, and thanks also to your friendly drivers.
Cheers,
Ruth Rice
Prospect ,Sth Australia
29.07.2011 |
Hi Atil,
we just want to thank you so much for the great trip we had with Uraz in the Kackar mountains. As you probably have heard already we had a lot of sun and some nice bear sightings! We'll certainly recommend your company to all our friends! Great job!
Best wishes
Marion and Jan
03.07.2011 |
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Dear Kerem,
I'd like to thank you for the wonderful time we've had in Cappadocia last week ! It was really a great holiday. The landscape was amazing; we have been in magnificent places, very nice restaurants and the treasure hunt was fantastic ! You've been a great guide and we're looking forward to the trip to Lycia or/and the other places in Turkey (I have been watching the website of Middle Earth Travel; it was very interesting !).Thanks a lot !
Best regards from Fanny, Jan and Hannah
29.04.2011
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Wed.20.April.2011
Hello Fellow Travelers,
It was just one month ago that marked the beginning of our wonderful expedition through Turkey. I hope that the “Turkey Sights” gallery will bring some happy memories to you all. The attached link should take you to the images. I’ve edited over two thousands images into a gallery of less than one hundred. I trust that I’ve identified the highlights in a concise list. The recollections of our journey are numerous
Thank you for contributions to a fabulous trip.
Best regards… John
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Hi Atil,
we just want to thank you so much for the great trip we had with Uraz in the Kackar mountains. As you probably have heard already we had a lot of sun and some nice bear sightings! We'll certainly recommend your company to all our friends! Great job!
Best wishes
Marion and Jan |
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Günaydın Atıl, · Daha önce iş toplantılarım nedeniyle geldiğim Kapadokya seyahatlerinin yöreyi tanımak adına, pek bir anlamı olmadığını 9-11 Nisan tarihinde birlikte yaptığımız gezi sonrası anladım.Sana ve ekibine bize sunduğunuz itinalı program ve rahberliğiniz için çok teşekkür ediyoruz.Harika bir gezi oldu. Sevgi ve selamlarımla
Ümit Öztürk |
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I hope you are well . Sorry if I write yıu only now, it was a very busy summer for me . I am going to send you a DVD by post with a slide show of our journey . I really want to thank you again for the nice experience we had in Turkey this summer. Everybody of our group was very impressed by the excellent organization of your agency and the kindness of you all . We loved the marvellous landscape of Kappadocia and the intersting walks we did there . Trekking in Aladağlar was amaizing, perfect wheather, beautiful mountains, clear lakes and coloured flowers . You, Ibrahim, the cook, the horse drivers took very care of us. My friends and I often speak about our holiday in Turkey , it is always a pleasure to remember such a good time .
All best PAOLA
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hey uraz,
how are things going. are you still busy working or into holiday mode. we just wanted to let you know what a great week we had with you. we both enjoyed the touring and your company- and of course the lunches were very special. we leave for mexico on sunday for the winter but will return for a short time for christmas which we spend with our family. thanks again for making our trip to turkey so special.
With best wishes and lots of lovely memories.
gail & jim middlemiss |
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The Lycian Way
The deep blue sky of Heaven
A shimmering haze over verdant forests
Unfolding endlessly to the sea -
This is Lycia.
White jagged rocks screaming upwards
Silky boulders washed smooth by sun-dried rivers
Towering peaks silver grey or ominously dark –
This is Lycia.
Needles and the soporific scent of pines
Stretching and filling the senses
Majestic cedars dominating a bare landscape –
This is Lycia.
The tastes of the Turkish Republic
The warmth and friendliness of her people
The wisdom of the youthful guide –
This is Middle Earth.
Thanks again for everything,
Milos & Emily |
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Dear Atil This is an overdue letter: my excuse is that I have only recently recovered sufficient movement in my right arm to be able to type with any degree of accuracy! However, the process of recovery is now well underway and I am determined that I will beat the record for a speedy return to normal! I have an appointment with the specialist tomorrow and I am quite certain that he will express nothing but admiration for the work done by the surgeon at the Kemer hospital. I can’t help but think that for all at Middle Earth – especially poor Uraz who manfully bore the brunt of all the problems - the “Sealy/Varian Trek 2010” will be remembered with horror! You must have wondered what could go wrong next! But all of us had a wonderful holiday – not quite the one that you had planned for us, but marvelous anyway and full of superb memories. Your planning and organization of the trek was faultless; the accommodation and the meals were just right; the first day tour of Antalya set the scene perfectly and Uraz was a star! He always seemed to have thought of the question – and found the answer - just before we asked. No matter whether it was historical; the Turkish economy or social customs; flora and fauna; geographical; or how to get Big John down the next dried-up riverbed! His reaction to my accident and his organization of all the necessary medical support – with help from other members of Middle Earth, I suspect – was faultless, as was his sympathy and personal support for me. Carol and I are determined to return to your wonderful part of the world, to finish the walk that started so well and then was spoilt by my silly mistake – for which I apologise to all at Middle Earth. In the meantime, I have attached a little poem that Carol wrote at the end of Day 5. We both very much look forward to seeing you all again.
With best wishes and lots of lovely memories.
Chris and Carol |
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we just finished our walk - Koray and Husseyn dropped us off at our hotel. Just wanted to say that we had an amazing week - Koray's guiding was phenomenal. Not only was he a good hiking guide - we were also very, very lucky to have his knowledge of history; his descriptions of everything from Lycian and Hellenic mythology to the engineering and trade aspects of the Lycian culture were really great. Of course, the most important thing for us was that both Husseyn and Koray were really easy to get along with and great travel companions. Will definitely recommend Middle Earth and our guide/driver combination to friends.
Thanks again for everything,
Milos & Emily |
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November 07, 2010
The October trip was great. I don’t think you get the credit for the stunning mountains, the people, the history etc. – that’s the country. But food, lodging, and the other arrangements were very well done – so no problems. I did not think the guide could be as knowledgeable or interesting as Ilhan was last spring, but you must have a remarkable group of people working there. Koray Ata was superb, and his background, insights, and enthusiasm turned what would have been a very good trip into an extraordinary one. (And it helps to have a genial driver willing to be a patient professor of Turkish.) So thanks again.
Alec Fisken |
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Dear Denis,
We want to thank you for managing all our transfers and taxi-rides so efficiently during our Inntravel holiday in Turkey. We had a good flight home (everything was on time!) and have had glorious sunshine ever since.
We hope you have a very good summer season and hope that we may meet again.
Best wishes,
Mike and Janet Walker
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Gaye,
we all greatly enjoyed ourselves in your company. Thank you for your efforts; herewith a picture of a Hittite trying to defend the kingdom..
Julian & Kristina
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In September 2009 we traveled for 3 delightful weeks in Turkey with Middle Earth Travel and Ilhan was our guide. Twenty-one days may seem like a long time but the days sped by. We can not say enough about what a great experience it was. The amazing thing was that each day was wonderful, but the next day was even better. We especially enjoyed our walks in the countryside, visiting the small villages and eating in locals homes. Every day was well planned and organized. Our daily activities (traveling, checking into hotels, touring, etc.) seemed to happen effortlessly. The hotels were comfortable and charming and the food was delicious. Ilhan, our guide, was very knowledgeable. He has a genuine passion for Turkey and its culture which is reflected in his discussions with us. Ilhan was very helpful especially when we had difficulties with my husband's hiking boot and his ATM card got stuck in a machine. We saw, learned and experienced so much during our trip. We are eager to return to Turkey to visit other areas of this fascinating country. Middle Earth Travel was very easy to work with. We appreciated their quick responses to our questions and making changes to our itinerary. We highly recommend using Middle Earth when traveling in Turkey.
Thanks again for an absolutely perfect trip,
Lynn and Gary Moss |
To all at Middleearth travel,
Just would like to write a line to tell you how much we enjoyed our trek on the Pirates coast 2-9 may. We had a fantastic week!Everything worked out really well; the walks in this beautiful part of Lycia, the pensions, the happy-go-lucky hikinggroup, the food..............and not to forget; the best guide ever; Koray , who with energy and friendship shared his knowledge, love and respect for history and nature in this beautiful country.
We will be back !
p.s thanks Kerem for the x-tr trip to Termessos.
With love from
Karin and Giggi
Sweden
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I'm sure you get a lot of photos but you might want to check these out.
There are three sections and the third one is Cappadocia. If you click on the Cappadocia section and then click on play slideshow you get the music also. www.picturesque.phanfare.com
David Chesluk |
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May 2010
I'm grateful to Middle Earth for the beautiful trip: everything was ok and it's on my mind to came back for a little bit more of Via Licia and, may be, Cappadocia.
Thank you again and...ciao!
rita
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May 2010
Dear Deniz,
I just want to say thank you for you and the middle earth travel for a nice trekking arrangements. I really enjoyed my trip and my mind is still there.
Thank you ever so much.
Best regards,
Helena
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May 2010
Dear Atil,
We are writing to thank you all for the excellent arrangements which you made for our accommodation and tour. We were able to see a great deal of the highlights of Cappadokya. Thanks to Abbas, who helped two 'oldies' up and down the slopes and steps, discussed all the historical features and looked after my food allergy so carefully. He was patient over my photography when I was slow using a new camera - but it was worthwhile, we have many excellent reminders of our holiday! By the way Atil, we met your daughter 'walking' down the road from your office. Perhaps she will work there eventually.
We shall certainly recommend Cappadokya, and particularly Middlearth to our friends,
Best wishes,
Derek & Audrey King
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May 2010
Middle Earth Travel
I want to thank you for your helpful tolerance of my changing plans during my trip to Turkey last month. The initial trek (Seven Capes) was as wonderful as advertised, and Uraz and Ilhan were excellent guides. When I decided to skip the second trek in order to focus more on the Lycian sites, you made those arrangements easy for me. And I ended up with Ilahn as a guide, who was knowledgeable, articulate and, most importantly, very interested in the early history of Turkey. It couldn’t have been a better experience, and I’ll recommend Middle Earth to anyone, whether they are interested in mountain trekking or archeological tours.
Alec Fisken, Seattle
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April 2010,
Hi Koray,
Did you survived at your trip with your 8 nice, young, good-looking italian ladies??? J
Could they catch a plane for Italy at the end of the week? Maibe you are still ‘entertaining’ them, waiting for a plane or a boat…
Here in Belgium everything is ok, the kids had one more week of holidays and now started school on this Monday. The first days after we came back were very hard for us… it was like if we came back from a trip of 1 month. It was so hard to come back to our usual life here…a very strange feeling. Our thougts went to Turquie all the time… we were thinking: now Ilhan is going to “our” secret beach with the other group, and how would it be with Koray?Pascaline wondered if we leaved the flag we made with “pretty little Belgium”… and they wondered i fit was Mega Toby that went again with the other group…
A funny thing I have to tell you, in the first week when we came back: I was in the car with Xavier and we were listening to the news on the radio: they were speaking about the big ship wich caused some trouble to one of the biggest reefs, a reef in french is called: “barrière de coraille”, if you read this it sounds like “Koray”, and suddenly he said: “mammy they spoke about Koray at the radio!!” JAlso when he hurted his finger, he told me that “Koray always called him “sterke man”” (probably “starke man” in German, but he understood it! In Flemisch they say “sterke man”) .
Julie is still wearing your blue eye!
He’s still playing with the arch (how do you say in English: “pijl en boog” in flemisch or “arc a flèches” in french) you made for him!
With Caroline we said a lot of times that we were very Lucky to make the trip on the first week of april (instead of the second one), having you both for making this trip was so nice, it was really a great great pleasure for us to meat such wonderfull persons, we enjoyed everything: the fact you loved the children as much as we do, you told us so much interesting things about the history of your country, and it was nice to feel your proud for your country too.
I’ll send you some pictures from our trip, but as i’m not a “computerfreak” I can only send them two by two, otherwise the computer doesn’t send them… they are to heavy.
A big hug from all of us,
Bénédicte, Nicolas, Pascaline, Julie and Xavier
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April 2010,
Dear Ilhan and Koray,
Here is the firt pictures. I will send you some others during the next days.
We once more wanted to thank you for the great holiday! We are back in
Belgium, back to reality but with really great memories of Turkye and
dreaming of a next holiday in Turky!
I hope Koray that you have fun on the Lycien way with the Italian "girls"
and that Ilhan will have fun with the Belgium families. Now he can sing with
them "pretty pretty Belgium".
Hugs from us all
Caroline - Vincent - Thaïs - Thibaut - Alec
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March 2010
i have decided to write seperately about our guide Ilhan.
here is what we told him... 'we have returned safely after a long flight (3 seperate flights). when we woke up this morning we were not quite sure where we were! what an amazing trip. we are still trying to take it all in. we cannot express in words how fortunate we were to have you as our guide; and better yet, now as a new friend. thank you for your knowledge, patience, understanding, and friendship. Lynn will e-mail you seperately; i know she was very sad to say good-bye. she will enjoy sharing new books with you! we already are discussing dates for next year.' His enthusiasm and knowedge of Turkish history enabled us to better understand the Turkish people and their background. As we walked through small villages, Ilhan was able to establish a rapport with the people which enabled us to truly experience Turkish life-style, including seeing the small children in their uniforms as they went to and from school, observing the women making 'syrup' and other goodies over open fire, and watching the residents enjoying tea in the village 'centrum'. there also were several times when Ilhan went out of his way to help us, including finding a cobbler to fix 1 of my hiking boots, lending us his camera when we ran out of memory cards, and introducing me to the wonderful Turkish barbers. Middleearth is very fortunate to have him as1 of your guides. i cannot imagine a more knowledgeable, friendly person to have as a guide. best of all, as we told him, he began as our guide, and now has become our friend. Thank you. Lynn and Gary |
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November 5, 2009
Hi Atil
Just a short note to say how fantastic Ilhan was yesterday. Certainly the best tour guide I have had the pleasure to meet.
Regards Greg Hi Atil
I fully endorse Gregs comments
A wonderful guide who made our day unbelievably enjoyable.
We will have no reservations in recommending Ilhan and your company to our friends.
Regards
David Payes |
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November 5, 2009
Dear Atil,
We would like to thank you again for the perfect tour in October. It was the best holiday we have ever had. Thank you very much for your efforts.
Sincerely, Elena and Andrey. |
Sept. 7, 2009
Hi Deniz
Thank you for a very nice, safe and good organized Ararat climb, I will keep my good memories through the photographs I took, of which I am sending you one.
With kind regards,
Han Willems |
Sept. 7, 2009
Hi Deniz
Well I survived and and also thoroughly enjoyed the 'tour.' Well done MET for excellent organisation.
Double marks for ensuring the weather was ideal notonly for the Trek but also my stayover in HEvet. I must compliment Uraz and Gemel for ensuring it all went well and provided such good company. As one of our group said Uraz provided leadership and comradeship as well with considerable skills in guiding a group in at times difficult terrain. Gemel culinary efforts ensured the days efforts were further enjoyed in camp. Lastly the mules. It was a pleasant surprise tofind 7 mules doing duty. I alonedidn't read that into the website. The handlers also were superb in entertainment ie dancing lessons and a spit roast. So again well done and thanks. I'll now set off sailing withthe privilegeof seeing more of Turkey than the average sailor. Also with some nice watercolours done in the last days.
All good memories.
The best DAvid sv Sahula |
Sept. 7, 2009
Hi Atil
i wanted to let you know, what a wonderfall trek i had last week with Uraz Jamal and the group it was realy... wonderfall |Uraz was very patient warm and proffesional gave freedom and gave security was very sensitive and proffesinal also when i was scared to .. too much we were all very happy also the hotel was good the organization was very good as well thanks alot for every thing please also tell Uraz that Ersurum is much more religious then he and us could imagine. all the city is in Ramadan and you can not find chai or coffe or food until 19:00 pm. i went all town, as well as to the university but nothing hot to drink. it is good to know that in advance, i think. also Ersurum peaple didnt know that it is so. interesting. anyway, thaks a lot i had so much fun. ... i am still happy and in the sky .. thanks alot and see you in the future
Noa |
May 15, 2009
Our recent trip
Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our walking holiday in Cappadocia. Ozgur and Ilhan were superb - they not only organised the walks really well but told us a lot about the country and the area. They were very flexible and went to a lot of trouble to make sure that we did what we wanted. Also thanks to the drivers who were all excellent. Any time if you need a review posted please let us know and we will do that. Best wishes
Diane and Gordon Diane Bennett
Editor DesignaKnit Link, the newsletter for all DAK owners
http://www.dbknit.co.uk |
February 17, 2009
To all at Middle Earth.
May Cathie and I thank you for a very enjoyable holiday last week 'snowshoeing' The hotel Kelebek was first class, all meals excellent and programme great - despite no snow in Goreme that didn't matter, we managed the two days - Hasan Mt.and Erciyes which was fine for us. Finally, what can we say about 'Ozgur', a wonderful guide and companion for our trip (my wife has gone off me now) He is so very knowledgeable and we both thank him sincerely for making our holiday most memorable. Thank you David (Gordon) and Cathie Wood |
Saturday, March 28, 2009
A wonderful experience
Dear Atil......now that we're back in the States I just wanted to let you know what a fabulous time we had hiking the Ihlara Valley with Ozzie a week ago. The weather was great, the trail was fine and Ozzie (Ozgur Ozmete) was super!!! He has a fine touch and it felt like he knew instinctively just what was needed......not necessarily an easy task with a foursome which, although good friends, ranged in age from 34 to 71. And we also appreciated your own grace in dealing with Barbara and me as we tried to sort out our travel needs. Hopefully, you've not heard the last of us. Please send Ozzie our regards. Thanks....
Norton Garber |
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Dear Atil, Gaya, Yunus & Denitz:
Thank you again for a wonderful tour. The sightseeing in Istanbul was very enlightening to us especially thanks to your expert explanations. It deepened our appreciation for the Byzantine and Ottoman cultures and histories. We really enjoyed freely mingling with the Turkish people during the Ramadan celebration in the ancient hypodrome area and found their dishes delicious.
The trek on the Lycian Way is unforgetable as a beautiful blend of nature and ancient cultures. Gaya was a wonderful guide, showing us wonderful hidden beaches and spectacular Hellenistic and Roman ruins.
We will never forget this tour and highly recommend it to anyone interested in a more in-depth exploration of Turkey's beauty and history.
We are looking forward to joining you oin another Turkish adventure.
Gule, Gule:
Gerard & Marja VanderBeek
Glenwood Springs, CO. |
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Hi Yunus have just returned to South Africa. I did sent you an e-mail to thank you from Germany, but I did not have your e-mail address, I think I sent it to Gaya. Hope you did get it. If not, I want to thank you once again for putting that fabulous trek on just for me . Really I am very impressed with your company and I will advertise for you as much as possible. A big thank you also for the tour to Termessos, I could not have had a more experienced guide
Regards Ursula |
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It is a pleasure to recommend Middle Earth Travel's excellent operation under the fine leadership of Atil Cuce and Yunus Ozdemir. My hiking group of 18 women were privileged to enjoy a splendid hike/adventure with the two of them in the Fall of 2007. We began the trip in Istanbul and were overwhelmed with the extensive City Tour they planned and the intellectual, political, and cultural depth of their knowledge. Under their thoughtful guidance, we experienced an exceptional insight into one of the world's most interesting and exotic cities. Our actual hike took us more inland and led us from village to village along a portion of the Lycian Way. Over the years, Middle Earth has carefully established and tended close personal relationships with key villagers along this long distance trail and consequently, hikers enjoy a unique window into the lives and homes of Turkish villagers. The hospitality and the food we were served during our home stays and along the trail made for an incomparable experience and exposed us to intimate settings and opportunities that we could never have organized on our own. Travelers with Middle Earth benefit not only from the vast historical and archeological knowledge of the principals of this company, but from their keen sense of customer service. They are incredibly well-organized and sensitive to the custom needs of their clients and are a dream to work with in the pre-planning aspects of the trip as well as on the trip itself. Any endeavor involving 18 different personalities requires infinite patience, flexibility, support, and skilled leadership and Atil and Yunus gave us far more of these qualities than we have ever seen on any of our other international hikes. Their love for their country and knowledge of its history runs deep and as passionate ambassadors, they offer their customers a rich, rare, and forgettable understanding of their fascinating country. I recommend Middle Earth's staff's successful blend of experience, knowledge, and service to you with no reservation - only with applause to you for connecting with such a premiere organization and with best wishes for your future endeavors with this young and exciting company. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or for additional information. |
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September 2, 2008
My wife and I had the pleasure of using the services of Middle Earth Travel to provide us with a guided 15 day tour of Turkey in late May, 2008. We still speak about with good time we had on our unique vacation with Yunus Ozdemir
our guide to Turkey . We appreciated his professionalism, knowledge, energy and friendship in providing us with an introduction to the amazing archeology and history of Turkey as well as to its food, scenery and contemporary culture. Middle Earth Travel arranged for our hotels, meals, internal transportation and entry into the numerous museums and archeological sites we saw along the way, all of which were handled professionally competently and with sensitive anticipation of our needs.
We do not hesitate to recommend Middle Earth Travel to anyone seeking knowledgeable and reliable assistance in arranging a trip to Turkey
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Dear Kerem,
It is one year agp that we wnt up the Kachkar Mountains under your inspiring guidance.
We left each other very abrupt in Erzurum and never had any contact since. We haven't forgotten that beautiful trio, it was special to all of us and, although this message is very late we want to thank you for all good cares and the extraordinary way you stole our hearts. None of us have been to Turkey since but we went individually into the Alps and other mountain sites this summer. As you might have noticed, this year's weather is pretty strange in the middle of Europe. We went up a mountain and on about 2300 mtr. We even had about 15 cm. of snow over night. As you might remember, we live in different places in Holland but we meet each other frequently and still talk about your tour.
We hope you'ıı once be able to visit us here and you are hereby invited to stay with us if you like to.
We hope your travelling agency is doing well and many more people are enjoying trips in the Turkish mountains.
With love from;
Elly, Clem, Lotus, Leo and Peter.
www.peterkrynen.nl |
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(Part of this is from the email I sent to Wayne from the group that was concerned about safety.) |
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Middle Earth Travel was the best way for us to see Turkey and the only way we would want to come back. Our guide's name was Atil, and he and the Middle Earth Travel team were fantastic to work with. They really know their stuff--everything from nature to politics to culture and history. Also, perhaps most importantly, they have great relations with the local villages and people. Everywhere we went, the locals were genuinely happy to see Atil and treated him as a real friend, which was proof to us that their relationship went beyond just a tour guide bringing customers to an establishment. Because of this, we had a fascinating cultural experience on top of the great trekking and majestic scenery. We learned more about Turkey and its people on our 5-day hike than we ever would have touring Istanbul or traveling on our own.
Debby and Joshua | |
I would be happy to let anyone know the lengths that Middleearth travel went to accommodate our rapidly changing estimated time of arrival (ETA). You were able to shorten our schedule one day and the ultimate accommodation occurred, Ibrahim, when you loaned my wife Dorothy your hiking boots, foamy, sleeping bag and day pack after hers were lost by BA Air.
The modified schedule was very effectively drafted to begin with a "proving" trip out of our little pension in Yayalar with the trips becoming progressively more adventuresome but interspersed with little breaks with a bath and a good bed in the pension. We were all very impressed with your technical knowledge of all aspects of the nature and the political history of this part of the world we were seeing for the first time.
We also noted your skill and warmth in your interactions with the many people we encountered on our two treks. We will have warm memories of your assistant, Barish and your muleteers for a long time to come. We deeply appreciated your patience with our 13 year old grandson, Jordan, coaching him in mountaineering and in cutthroat card games.
Regards
R. F. (Dick) Wilson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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“Every end has a new beginning” (In Hebrew in sounds better)
Dear Kerem,
At start, as you know, we even didn’t want to take a guide. You know Israelies -they know all better. But as you already saw, we couldn’t have done a better desicion.
We want to thank you for everything, we had an amazing time with you. It was a big challenge and
a great adventure. We want to apologise for speaking Hebrew in front of you. Sometimes
because we wanted to talk about you, and sometimes just because we were tired of speaking English. Thank you for having a lot of pation for us.
So, thank you verymuch, and now we would like to see you in Israel...
You are always welcome!
Ata totach! (You are the best!)
Friendly,
Anat, Adva, Naama, Liron, Herut. |
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02/06/2006
Dear Atil,
We had a marvellous trekking. Thanks, with love, Stefan. |
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Hi,
Thank you very much for organising mountain trips. Special thanks to Gaye who did each minute her best to make this trip wonderful.
At the end, we get our airplane. To tell the truth, after the bus engine breakdown, I was not really optimistic. It was without taking into account the capability of Middle Earth Travel team to manage desperate situation. One more time, Thanks for all!
Olivier Bisous Améleé |
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Dear Team of MiddleEarth Travel,
We wish you a happy new year and all the best.
We send you some great pictures of our great trip to Kachkar mountains last summer. Please feel free to use the digital pics on the Cd on your website or for advertisement if you like.
We hope that you are all doing well and miss you.
We are looking forward to our next visit to Turkey. Maybe we could do the volcanoes and Aladaglar next time...
Best wishes, Alf & Sabine / 03-01-2005 | |
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I, a Dutch woman, walked 14 days The St. Pauls Trail in the mounth juni 2005 with Ibrahim Turgut. It was a pleasure to do this trail with him. Everything was good organized.
About the trail when we sleep in tents he was cooked the food and that tasted very well.
The walk was nice and the people on the trip friendly. When you think about to do this trip you will be in a good company.
Gina Ensing holland.
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In reference to the trekking, we think that it was a great experience to walk along the Ihlara valley together with our guide Ibrahim. It was amazing to get in touch with the nature, enjoying its flowers, walking along the river, climbing into the caves and after the effort connect ourselves with the hidden treasures of the culture and the past.
Besides, while walking we could meet local people, children enjoying their bath in the river, groups of young people, women with their typical clothes refreshing themselves in the river, sheep’s with their shepherds ….
Everything was excellent, interesting and without stress. Ibrahim´s company was very valuable and always a stimulus for knowing and discover the wonderful land of Anatolia.
Alicia Wohlgemuth / Argentina |
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It was my dream since a very long time to go on a trekking trip in Turkey.At Chrismas
time my best friend and I decided to get organized and we contacted Middle Earth Travel whose e-mail address we had found in a magazine. Within a few days our 6-day trekking tour was arranged. So far so good, only: who was behind Middle Earth Travel? What was to be expected? We didn't know these people, we just trusted. And we were right to trust because we had 6 fabulous days walking through fantastic landscapes, meeting marvellous people in the villages and experiencing the best of Turkish hospitality. We enjoyed our guide Atil, and benefited from his knowledge of Turkish history & culture and geography & nature, not to mention his enduring sense of humour and his perfect organization.
We have no reservation whatsoever recommending Atil and Middle Earth Travel very highly.
Thank you Atil, we will be back.
Marie-Claude and Erika | |
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Hi, Atil, We are happy with your agency and in particular with Ogün and the local guide. Please tell them they did a very good job; my comments were just to help you to make it even better in the future.
Best regards.
Ignacio Gómez Montejo / Madrid |
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Hello. All is OK. When we returned of eating the boots was in the hotel.
I want say you that the tryp has been magnificent and we has been very happy with Ogun. Thank you for all things. We can speak very well of yours.
Best regards to Ogun
Ruben Spain |
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Hello Atil;
I was just talking to a friend who just got back from a business trip to Istanbul. She loved the city and I took great pleasure in telling her about our wonderful trip to Turkey last summer. Our family does one major month long adventure every summer and the Anatolian experience was one of our best.
When we first came across your web site we thought your company only did trekking based holidays but were reassured by your prompt and detailed responses that you could handle all the elements of our land based itinery.Everything went like clockwork including visits to the Pontic tombs in Amasya, the Museum of Anatolian Civilization in Ankara, Hattusas, marvelous day hikes and touring in Cappadocia, trekking in the Taurus mountains, exploring the Sanliurfa area to Harran and visiting multiple ancient monumental sites such as Aphrodisias,Termessos and Pamukkale.
Your guiding and the informative narratives provided by your associates kept our attention and energy levels up even in the most wilting heat. The choice of restaurants was fantastic and we will always remember the broad range of delicious, fresh foods available. We felt safe and welcomed every where we went and even in the Southeast were comfortable and confident as we walked through the broad mix of neighbourhoods and market areas.
I will recommend you to friends who travel to Turkey. Your intimate knowledge of the country, its customs, history, politics and natural spectacle made for a unique, unforgettable journey. Thank you for your hard work as you secured all the flight and hotel bookings (I know some of them were difficult to get).
For independent minded travelers who want to travel with friends or family - Middle Earth is the only way to go in Turkey. The country is safe, beautiful and has a wealth of history, wonderful people, food and abundant sunshine. We will see you again.
Thanks again,
Dr. Brian McGowan, Sandra, Zoë and Sinead |
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