ANCIENT MEDICINE TOUR TURKEY & THE GREEK ISLAND OF KOS

Cultural Exploration ( 8 Nights / 9 Days)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP

• SEE THE MOST POPULAR HISTORICAL SITES OF TURKEY; ISTANBUL, TROY, PERGAMON, IZMIR (SMYRNA), EPHESUS & BODRUM.
• VISIT THE ASKLEPION OF PERGAMON WHICH WAS THE FIRST
• HOSPITAL IN THE WORLD. (4th Century BC)
  
• THE SNAKE WAS FIRST USED AS A SYMBOL OF MEDICINE IN PERGAMON.
• LEARN THE ANCIENT HEALING TECHNIQUES.
• MEET LOCAL TURKISH DOCTORS IN IZMIR.
• VISIT KOS, THE ISLAND OF HIPPOCRATES.
• VISIT THE ASKLEPION ON KOS ISLAND, AND SEE THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH SWORN BY THE PUPILS OF HIPPOCRATES.
  
• ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL GET A CERTIFICATE OF THEIR VISIT TO THE ANCIENT SITES OF MEDICINE IN TURKEY & ON THE GREEK ISLAND OF KOS

Day 1
ARRIVE ISTANBUL AIRPORT
Arrive Istanbul Airport. Our representative will meet you after the customs and baggage claim. You will be transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Day 2
ISTANBUL
Start full day Istanbul sightseeing tour. Visit Blue Mosque, Hippodrome Square, Hagia Sophia Church. Lunch at Konyali restaurant overlooking the Marmara Sea. Then visit Topkapi Palace. Before returning to the hotel, a shopping opportunity at the Grand Covered Bazaar. Tonight we will have our dinner at an outdoor seafood restaurant in Kumkapi district. (B,L,D)

Day 3
ISTANBUL
Visit the Spice Bazaar in the morning, then take a leisurely boat tour along the European and Asian shores of the Bosphorus. Lunch at a local seafood restaurant. Then visit Beylerbeyi Palace and Chora Church. Return to the hotel. Evening is at leisure. (B,L)

Day 4
ISTANBUL - TROY - ASSOS
Drive to Canakkale. See Gallipoli, the site of 1st World War battles. Cross the Dardanelles Strait by car ferry. Visit the legendary city of Troy, see the replica of the wooden horse. Drive to Assos for dinner and overnight. (B,D)

Day 5
PERGAMON - IZMIR
Drive to Pergamon to visit the Asclepion, the ancient healing center, learn the ancient healing techniques. After lunch, visit the Acropolis and the Bergama Museum. The Museum Director will be with us during our visit. Return to Izmir, ancient Smyrna. Check-in to Izmir Hilton Hotel. Tonight we will have our dinner at the Hilton Hotel and doctors from the Aegean University Hospital, the largest hospital in Izmir, and the Izmir Director of the Ministry of Tourism will join us. (B,L,D)

Day 6
EPHESUS - BODRUM
After breakfast, we will visit the House of the Virgin Mary on Mount Pion, and light a candle to make a wish. Then visit Ephesus, the most famous ancient Roman city in Turkey, maybe in the world. See the Odeon, the Temple of Hadrian, the Celsus Library, the Marble Street, the Great Theater and the Harbour Road. Lunch at a local restaurant in the early afternoon. After lunch, visit the Archaeological Museum of Ephesus. The Museum Manager will be with us during our visit, and he will show us new findings which are not yet open to the public. Tonight, we will have dinner at our hotel in Bodrum overlooking the Aegean Sea.(B,L,D)

Day 7
BODRUM
We start the day with a tasty breakfast at our hotel. Our first visit is to the antique theater in Bodrum overlooking Bodrum Marina. Then we visit the Mausoleum, the tomb of King Mausoleus, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the famous Bodrum Castle, built by the Crusaders in the 15th century. In Bodrum Castle, we will first visit the Underwater Archaeology Museum which is one of the largest in the world, then we will experience a wine tasting at one of the tower rooms where Crusaders used to drink six centuries ago. We will have a late lunch in a typical small Turkish village, and observe their relaxed lifestyle. We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. (B,L,D)

Day 8
BODRUM - KOS - BODRUM
Take the morning ferry from Bodrum to Kos. Visit the ancient hospital, the Asclepion, Hippocrates Plane-Tree (one of the oldest trees in the world), the Medieval City, Castello, and the Museum. Ferry back to Bodrum. Transfer from Bodrum port to your hotel. Tonight, a farewell dinner. (B,L,D)

Day 9
BODRUM AIRPORT - END
Transfer to Bodrum airport. Fly to Istanbul to connect to your international flight back. End of our services.(B)

THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
(sworn by the students of Hippocrates)

"I swear by Apollo the healer, and by Asclepion and the goddesses Hygeia and Panakeia, and I call to witness all the other gods and goddesses that, according to my ability and judgment, I will observe this oath and agreement: I will hold my teacher in this art equal to my parents and a partner in my livelihood; I will respect him as is befitting, and I will not distinguish between his male children and my brothers, and I will teach them the art, if they so desire, without pay and without any other special agreement. I will teach the preliminary and the special lessons, and in general all my medical knowledge, only to my sons, and to the sons of my teacher, and to my pupils, having first made them swear the oath, and to no other.

I will use treatment for the good of the sick, according to my ability and judgment, avoiding all harm and wrong-doing. I will give no one deadly poison, even if they seek it, nor will I recommend such a cure. Similarly, I will give no women a peccary to induce abortion. I will keep my life and my art pure and unsullied. I will not operate on those suffering from stone, but will leave this to the skilled and experienced therein.

Whatever houses I will visit, I will enter for the good of the sick, and will abstain from any deliberate wrong-doing or harm, and any kind of sexual operation on the female or male body, whether free or slave.

And whatever I learn during the time that I am conducting the treatment, as well as during my daily dealings with men, if it be improper to publish this abroad, I will keep silence, considering it to be confidential.

If I observe this oath and do not violate it, may I succeed in my life and my art, so that all men may always honor me. But if I violate the oath and forswear myself, may all the opposite befall me."