Jeremy Seal’s Cultural Tours to Turkey for 2024 and 2025
Booking Now for 2024 and 2025 (with further dates to follow):
5th-19th October 2024: A Gulet Fortnight from Fethiye to Bodrum. Cabins still available.
9th-16th February 2025: Winter Istanbul and Cappadocia. A magical out-of-season adventure in the metropolis and the country’s wonderland.
25th April – 3rd May 2025: Göbekli Tepe and southeast Turkey. A land tour to Turkey’s most alluring inland region.
10th – 24th May 2025: The Coasts of Caria. A late-spring gulet fortnight from Bodrum to Fethiye.
We are: Jeremy Seal, writer on Turkey (A Fez of the Heart, Meander, A Coup in Turkey); and Yunus Özdemir, expert archaeologist, lecturer and guide.
Together we have been creating and leading outstanding small-group cultural tours (12 guests or less) to Turkey for the last decade.
We run tours on both land and sea (in the lovely timber gulet, or schooner, glimpsed in the pic opposite).
Our knowledge and authority is second-to-none, not least on the most idyllic anchorages, secret archaeological sites, wonderful walks and memorable places to eat, drink tea or simply take it all in. And our guests keep coming back; here’s why.
‘I’m never going to Turkey without Jeremy Seal again.’ – Barnaby Rogerson, Publisher, Eland Books.
‘…I was enjoying a gulet holiday run by Jeremy Seal who organises fabulous tours in Turkey by boat and by land… highly recommended.’ – Jason Goodwin, Country Life
‘This was a wonderful trip. It filled in a vast gap right at the centre of our understanding of the world. It showed us vibrant cities we had never heard of. It made us feel at home across vast swathes of time.’ – SM, Johannesburg.
What made the trip so special was your attention to detail. Every anchorage a joy to wake up to, every day full of new surprises, marvellous food and the camaraderie with like-minded fellow travellers. The knowledge and history of the area that you and Yunus bring to bear is impressive and did so much to bring a marvellous past to life.’ – KB, London
‘No exaggeration here – our best gulet trip ever. The food was remarkably good (fresh cakes at tea time were scrumptious), The brief wide-ranging talks from you and Yunus over a drink before dinner were fascinating.’ – JB, UK
‘That was one wonderful, wonderful week which seemed to last for at least two – in a very good way – time certainly expanded to fit in so much. The mix of famous sights and those that seemed like hidden secrets was perfect – and similarly for the mix of eating places. Your leadership was brilliant – lots of knowledge passed on to us along with a lot of fun. We felt cosseted throughout the week rather than herded through hordes of other visitors. And then snow in Cappadocia! Just perfect.’ – CG, Dublin
‘It was a very successful week, everyone got on so well and we all had a brilliant time. We’ve had so many good trips but I wonder if this one wasn’t the best! I most certainly hope I’ll be fit enough to do another one before I’m too old! You really do run brilliant trips!’ – JC-G, London
Also of possible interest may be:
29th November – 6th December 2024: I am leading a Guided Writing Week in Dorset with fellow writer and Turkophile Jason Goodwin.
4-11 May 2025: Istanbul Revealed for Martin Randall Travel
23-30 October 2025: Istanbul Revealed for Martin Randall Travel.
Our tours are designed and run by us. We make it our business to be there every time you descend a ladder into a dinghy, clamber onto a jetty, wander through an ancient site or along a footpath. But we cannot always be your eyes; it pays to be aware that the ground is often uneven, not to say steep, with no shortage of rocky protuberances, in Turkey. You will need a reasonable level of mobility, balance and fitness. We grade the sites we visit to the best of our ability, but cannot be absolutely sure that all outings and activities will be within the capabilities of all guests. We expect you to follow our advice if we feel that an outing, or an element of an outing, is beyond you. If you are the least uncertain as to your suitability to join a tour, I’d urge you to consult me.
Please feel free to express any interest whatsoever, however conditional, by emailing me or calling me on 07757 703604.
www.somewherewonderful.com/tours
Call Jeremy on 07757 703604
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Our Tours: Some Background
From 2013, as the internet reduced many travel journalists to penury, I wondered how I might otherwise turn my undimmed enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, Turkey to account. I began guiding for companies like Westminster Classic Tours (now no more), and soon discovered how much this rather more hands-on and sociable relationship with an audience appealed. Unlike travel journalism, with its insistence on the new and the newsy over the tried and the tested, guiding allowed me to take guests to places, people, restaurants, swimming spots and much else besides that I, and often they, had encountered before – secure in the knowledge that we would enjoy ourselves. Guiding has given me a platform to develop my relationship with a country which means a great deal to me, while sharing its joys and delights with like-minded types whom I have come to think of as friends.
What with coups, crises and the subsequent collapse in tourist numbers to Turkey, however, Westminster Classic Tours and my other employees were all but gone by 2016. I might have given up too but for a hard core of splendid Turkophiles who soon made it clear that they would not be put off, whatever the papers and neighbours might be saying. So I teamed up with my Turkish friend and guide Yunus Özdemir and launched a tour programme; in 2017, the nadir for Turkish tourism, we managed to run two tours, both on gulet schooners, which proved a great success. Since then we have been developing and extending a programme which now sees us offer not only gulet tours and land tours, both in spring and autumn, but also a midwinter tour to Istanbul and Cappadocia.
Our classic gulet tours are often described as archaeology holidays, though that po-faced description fails to evoke the diverse and joyous experiences on offer: visits to southwest Turkey’s superb and picturesque classical sites, certainly, but also pristine swimming spots and idyllic overnight anchorages, wonderful food and drink and exceptional service, informed talks on the region’s culture, history and politics, and like-minded company.
As we run such a limited schedule of tours, we are always interested in making itineraries to order, not least for groups of walkers as we think gulets make a perfect base for walking holidays: daily walks, of negotiable length, to remote and lovely ruin sites, before returning to the gulet for the usual round of swimming, sunning and relaxation. Click here for a typical itinerary
Our holidays are led by ourselves – two guides who have been exploring Turkey for decades: myself, originally a teacher in Turkey in the 1980s and latterly a travel writer specialising in Turkey whose books include A Fez of the Heart (1995), Meander (2012) and A Coup in Turkey (2021), as well as Santa: A Life (on local boy St Nicholas); and the delightful Yunus Özdemir, a qualified guide and archaeologist. To ensure maximum comfort, there are never more than 12 guests on board the gulet, though the land tours may go slightly bigger. The cost of your holiday now includes all tips, including that for the gulet crew. Rest assured that rather than leave you to fend for yourselves on the final day, as many gulet holidays do, our itineraries now extend to the moment we drop you at the airport for homeward flights, often in the evening.
These holidays are full-board; all meals and on board drinks, including alcohol, are included as are land visits, entry fees, crew tips and airport transfers. Alcoholic drinks are not included on the land tours and where meals are taken on land during gulet tours. International flights and visas are not included. These holidays are fully bonded by Heritage Group Travel, your contact point for the paperwork.
www.somewherewonderful.com/tours
Call Jeremy on 07757 703604