Turkey Art Tour - Drawing On Istanbul with TRICI VENOLA

2011 Season: 15 July – 23 July 2011

DRAWING ON THE OLD CITY
NINE DAY ART TOUR/OLD CITY/ISTANBUL

15 July 2011: Arrival to Istanbul
Welcome to Turkey! You’re greeted upon arrival and escorted to your hotel located in the Old City area-Sultanahmet. According to your arrival time you can either check in to the hotel and relax or check out the Old city area.
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals (D)

16 July 2011: Orient Express
In the morning we’ll shop at an art store near the Orient Express Train Station, and perhaps do some warmup drawings there. After lunch we’ll walk through the crowds and bustle of the Spice Bazaar to the small, beloved Rustem Pasha Mosque high up on its dark medieval walls; its stone courtyard, classic Iznik tiles and iron-grilled windows ideal for an afternoon of drawing. Art: A Pause on the Bridge
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals (B-L)

17 July 2011: Just Under Your Feet
The Old City is a honeycomb of centuries, and there’s likely to be a whole unsuspected world just below the surface. We’ll draw one with the Basilica Cistern, a fantasy of Roman columns and Byzantine brick domes that has for 1500 years been holding up the street and everything on it. After lunch, we’ll take a cruise up the Bosporus to see the lay of the land, drawing as we go. Art: Column of Tears
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

18 July 2011: The Grand Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar is the oldest mall in the world, with over 4000 shops, 40 arched entrances and the most amazing windows, designed to keep the structure lit before electricity. We’ll do a little guided shopping, and after lunch, we’ll draw some of its unique architecture. In the evening, those who care to can join us for more drawing and relaxation at an Ottoman tea garden full of painted domes, hanging lamps and rugs, and fabulous faces smoking waterpipes. Art: The Coca-Cola Kiosk
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

19 July 2011: The Blue Mosque
We’ll start the day by drawing the soaring architecture of the Blue Mosque, surmounted by wheeling seagulls. After lunch we’ll visit some shops in the historic Arasta Bazaar, built by Sultan Ahmet on the site of the Great Palace of the Byzantine Emperors. We’ll see ceramics and tribal textiles and Turkish towels. We’ll go into the site of the Palace, see centuries-old Byzantine mosaics and observe how the artists maintained the passion to create vital images in a tedious medium. We’ll do some drawing there, too. Art: Byzantine Griffin
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

20 July 2011: Work and Prayer
A morning drawing the bones of a Byzantine church showing through the flesh of an Ottoman workplace, the stones of the courtyard rounded marble from the original floor. We’ll tour first and learn about this amazing place of layered history. In the evening, we’ll spend 90 minutes in a restored antique domed hamam—a bathhouse—drawing tribal dancers/dervishes. Art: From Pat’s Book, Big Mother Han
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

21 July 2011: Ottoman Splendor, and How.
Now that we’re all warmed up, we’ll spend the day in the Topkapi Palace. Seat of the Sultans, home of the Harem, source of myth and legend: volumes of marble domes, arches, stairs, passageways, high ornate rooms steeped in history. After a tour of the Palace we will settle in to draw.
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

22 July 2011: Crown of Byzantium
The culmination of our week, Hagia Sophia, in Turkish Ayasofya. Epic survivor of fifteen centuries of celebration, fire, siege, conquerors and the Crusades: history made visible, the pinnacle of High Byzantine architecture, a basilica so sublime that Mehmet the Conqueror refused to burn it, converting it instead to the mosque it remained until the Turkish Republic declared it a museum. Ayasofya’s very graffiti is a paean to the human spirit, and to draw it could take a lifetime, but we will start with the entire day. A tour followed by all the drawing that fits. Art: Ayasofya Rising
Overnight in Istanbul. Included Meals(B-L)

23 July 2011: Departure Transfer
After breakfast at the hotel you may ask our office for other options while enjoying tea with us. Depending on your departure time, transfer to Airport for your return flight.
Included Meals(B)

Inclusions:
• All tours in the Itinerary
• Meals as per Itinerary; (B) as Breakfast, (L) as Lunch
• All admission fees in tours
• All tours are exclusive to our group
• Top quality accommodations (Bed & Breakfast) – Double Room
• Lunches in tours
• Transportation with comfortable AC non smoking Bus / Van
• Professional Guiding Services during Tours by a licensed Guide

Price exclude
• International airfare.
• Drinks and meals which are not listed at the itinerary.
• All personal expenses.
• All customary tips to drivers, guides and escorts are made at the traveler’s discretion
• Turkish Visa Fee