Best Of

"The Moores" Thank you so much for the great information. I really appreciate it. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! I did call Tauck and the person I spoke did not know why they were not offering a land tour of Turkey. When I got off the phone, it was then that I realized that I do have the email addresses of some "higher ups" at Tauck. I will email them tomorrow and then let you know their response.

Back to your question, Mowie. Here is what we did when we went to Turkey. We did an eight day tour of Istanbul with Road Scholar. We stayed in a four or five star hotel (not always the case with Road Scholar) and ate in great restaurants. Some of them plus the hotel were mentioned in travel or food magazines. Istanbul has so much to offer that you need all of that time to absorb this lovely city. We then flew to Selcuk. BTW, I like Turkish Airlines a lot. Our hotel arranged drivers to Ephesus, Aphrodisias, and Pammukule. We then flew to Cappadocia where we stayed in a great hotel. In addition to having a driver at the airport pick us up the owner arranged for our tours of the area and a hot air balloon ride. The combination of a tour plus DIY add-ons was one of the easiest trips we have made. And by flying, rather than sitting in a bus, we saved a lot of time and were able to concentrate on the sights.

Turkey and Tauck's trip to Japan are my two favorite trips. I don't understand why Tauck ignores the country.

You will see many dogs that appear to be homeless. If memory serves me correctly from our Northern India and Nepal trip a few years ago, we were told that these dogs “belong to no one but are owned by everyone.”

You will see all of what British mentioned and then some. To this day, however, this was probably our top trip. We have done 11 Tauck trips.

I cried during that Fado performance during the Week in Portugal tour as well. Love how they sing with closed eyes-so emotional!

Are you doing the "Week in Portugal?" When I did that last year, one of the nights in Evora we had a Fado performance at our hotel that brought tears to my eyes. As I recall, dinner that night that preceded the performance was a buffet, which was fine, but not outstading food.

you get 'what you paid for'! If u do not like your TD's efforts then do not TIP!

I would never not tip at all. If I was really disappointed I might reduce the tip. But the TD did the job, and spent the time. That should be worth something.