Frugal Flying to Byzantium: A Historical Tour in Turkey

I recently had the great honor of visiting Turkey and getting to fulfill a long time travel goal of mine: to go on a tour regarding the history of the Byzantine Empire which is built into the soil there.

There was no other option for choice of travel experience: I had to go with the History of Byzantium Tour hosted by the gallant and dashing Robin Pierson, to whom I have been listening for many years. 

He made his dream come true of working as a podcaster full-time on the peerless History of Byzantium podcast and so as someone who’s been fortunate enough to be a recurring guest on Frugal Flyer’s Miles Ahead podcast, I also had to ask what it was like giving a tour experience as a podcast host.

Because flights weren’t included in the cost of my tour package, I got to use the magic of miles and points to get myself there in style in Turkish Airways business class aboard the Boeing 777 from Montreal and got to pen a review of Discover’s business class cabin on the way back.

The History of Byzantium Tour: Keys to a Forgotten Empire

So you might be wondering what the heck the Byzantine Empire was, why I was interested in it, and what this had to do with a niche podcast selling tours to history nerds.

Well, I’m glad you asked. If you aren’t interested in the history lesson and just want to hear about what happened on the tour, skip ahead now.

The Byzantine Empire is a name we use today to refer to the rump state left in what is today Greece, Turkey, and the Levant in the wake of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire all the way back in 476 AD. It’s so named for the ancient name of modern-day Istanbul, which was known as Byzantium before its re-foundation as Constantinople in the Byzantine period.

It’s not well-known in the modern consciousness today, as many of us have images of barbarians at the gates overrunning Roman civilization, but the Empire actually survived in the East. 

From the city of Constantinople (named for Constantine I), modern-day Istanbul, this rump Roman Empire ruled as a major power in European and Middle Eastern politics for another 1,000 years, all the way to the fall of the city (under Constantine XI) to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II in 1453. The Roman walls still stand to this day.

It sounds a bit like fantasy, but this medieval Byzantine Empire very much saw itself as the continuation of Roman traditions. While the common people spoke the Greek language, they still called leaders “emperors” and continued to practice Roman law all the way to their dying breaths.

They were also profoundly influenced by their devout faith in Christianity, primarily in its Orthodox variant, and this faith affected every level of public life, with emperors being crowned in the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom (the famous Hagia Sophia as it’s known in Greek).

In many respects, this marvelous tale has been lost to time. But not to podcasting. Years ago, I was a huge fan of Mike Duncan, who made a podcast entitled The History of Rome documenting that great city from its founding in 753 BC by the legendary king Romulus to the fall of the West in 476 under the emperor Romulus Augustulus.

However, Mike chose to end his podcast in 476. That’s where Robin Pierson picked up and made the wonderful History of Byzantium podcast. That project has been a roaring success, and since 2019, Robin has been running trips to Turkey to see all the historical sites. 

During these trips, he’s teamed up with Serif Yenen, the most experienced tour guide in Turkey who is the author of the first guidebook to the country written by a Turk, Turkish Odyssey, and who has been the chosen guide of statesmen and celebrities like the Pope and Oprah.

When I got the email inviting me on the tour, I had to take him up on the opportunity.

A Trek Across Thrace and Anatolia

When I say Thrace and Anatolia, I’m being a bit facetious. These are the old Byzantine names for Turkey, with Thrace being the European bit to the west of the Bosphorus, and Anatolia meaning the rest of Turkey proper closer to the Middle East. 

My Turkish business class flight landed a few days early, so I took the opportunity to stay at the excellent Orient Occident Autograph Collection hotel in the Sultanahmet neighborhood.

While it was nice to explore the city on my own for a few days, by the Sunday of the week I arrived, we were off to the proverbial (hippodrome) races with an exploration of the finest Byzantine sites in Constantinople. 

First up there was no other choice but the Hagia Sophia. This cathedral was built by the emperor Justinian the Great in his bid for immortality. By the man’s epithet, it’s clear that he achieved it.

Now serving as a mosque, the magnificence of its design can’t be expressed in mere words or pictures. You have to stand there for yourself to feel its majesty weigh upon you. It was designed so that the enormous dome looms independently above us petitioners waiting below, to draw us closer to the divine.

The design succeeds in every way. It’s also filled with some of the greatest examples of medieval Byzantine religious mosaics, variously depicting various emperors as well as Christ, the Virgin Mary, and all the saints.

From there we went to the Chora church, another exquisite example of Byzantine art depicting the life of Christ, which also serves today as a mosque. Thankfully, the government of Turkey and the Muslim faithful both respect these cultural heirlooms and have preserved them in full.

From there, we explored the old walls of the city before going to an amazing welcome dinner where we history nerds got to eat, drink, be merry, and talk about all things Byzantium.

The first day was great but thereafter we went into the interior of Turkey. Byzantium was an empire, after all, and so while Istanbul is marvelous and I’d love to spend more time there in the future, the rest of the country awaited.

Over the next few days, we mounted into a wonderful tour bus to explore the interior of Turkey. First up was the town of Iznik, which is built on the ruins of the ancient city of Nicaea. Nicaea was famous because it was where the emperor Constantine called together all the bishops of the early Christian church to establish their formal doctrine back in 325.

What I remembered the most was the kittens. There are semi-wild cats all over Turkey, which are fed and petted by the citizenry at large. As a cat person, I approve.

Afterwards, we went to visit the textile city of Bursa, where we stayed at the nicest Ramada I’ve ever seen in my life. In Turkey, hotels belonging to any chain, even those we’d consider budget-friendly in North America, are almost always luxurious. It was also the home of the Great Mosque, which I appreciated seeing.

All throughout the trip, Serif gave us great historical background on the sites we went to and translated as needed. He also had a supreme knack for finding great food just about anywhere, and you could often hear staff address him as “Serif Bey,” an honorific denoting the supreme respect people hold for him.

After Bursa, we rolled into the ancient city of Pergamum, which sits high on a plateau. The fortifications and buildings from the times of Alexander the Great and Romans still stood tall, and I climbed atop a broken column, much to Robin’s amusement, as Byzantine monks known as “Stylites” were known to preach from the tops of columns or rocks.

The view was also amazing. It was little wonder it served as a major Byzantine garrison throughout the entire medieval period.

After this, we explored the Greek ruins of an Asclepium, or holy healing place, in the lowlands.

Then we headed to the resort city of Cesme, which is a holiday destination for affluent Turks. The views of the Mediterranean leave little wonder why:

After a day of relaxing from all the walking and touring, we were back on the road to the ancient city of Aphrodisias. This had been a major Roman center of power, with many historic buildings or tombs with inscriptions in Greek and Latin still visible. This wonderful group photo came from the intact entrance to the ancient temple of the love goddess Aphrodite:

Leaving behind Aphrodisias, we made our way to the spa city of Hierapolis. This place was an ancient resort town in Roman times but later became a destination for holy pilgrimage as medieval tradition held that it was where the apostle Philip was martyred. I climbed on top of another column at the top of the hill where this was alleged to have occurred.

This also represented our last night with Robin, who thanked us for attending and was kind enough to give me some good insight on the ins and outs of podcasting.

He thought this hilarious but mildly embarrassing photo would be lost to time. Unlike Byzantium, it has not been.

With Robin taking his leave, we then had a few more days exploring the area around the resort town of Oluhdeniz. This town wasn’t my favorite because it felt full of English and Russian tourists and not at all dissimilar to any beach town in the Caribbean or Mexico.

However, Serif made sure we had a good time by taking us to historical locations to see some of the ancient rock tombs and Byzantine fortress towns built on older Greek ruins, such as in Dalyan.

It was wonderful to go on the trip, and I felt amiss leaving the tour, but had a great time meeting people, such as the incredible Kevin from Manchester in the UK. Without miles and points, I’d never have made this friendship, and with them, I’m looking forward to visiting England in the future!

Why is Frugal Flyer Writing about the History of Byzantium Tour?

Firstly, we wanted to write this article to thank Robin Pierson, the incredible host, and Serif Yenen, the peerless tour guide. Robin has given us great support toward our own podcasting effort and remains a stalwart champion of independent content creators making podcasts and other works in-house, without big-name sponsorships or flashy advertising.

Second, and also of great import: we wrote this article to live by our motto at Frugal Flyer which is to travel more, and pay less. Obviously, value is subjective to any person, and not every traveler is going to be as interested in a tour of this niche.

However, I think this can provide a good benchmark by which to assess what many tour-guided trips might cost and all the ways that Miles & Points helped me to travel here in style while paying less.

Not everyone wants the guided tour experience, and that’s fine. But for me, this was about being with other Byzantists with a shared enthusiasm for the subject matter, and to see a specific plethora of fascinating historical sites. All of this was achieved in spades.

The tour itself cost me approximately $3,250 (USD), $600 of which was via a credit card deposit, and the rest paid in cash for a discount. It should be noted that many Turkish businesses will offer a cash discount on large transactions for foreign currencies due to the instability of their currency, the lira. This price included all hotels and most of my meals.

I had a few hundred dollars in expenses on meals and souvenirs above and beyond this, but nothing extraordinary. And, yes, even in Turkey, most businesses take Amex.

If I had had to pay for a cash Economy fare, I would have needed to spend at least $1,500-2,000 to fly to Turkey for this trip and would have been cramped at the back of the plane.

As it stood, I was able to secure business class flights by booking well in advance via Air Canada Aeroplan. For the total cost of approximately 190,000 Aeroplan points, plus about $240 in taxes and fees, I got to fly on this trip without being cramped and uncomfortable.

So when it comes to value: I came to see the history of the Byzantine Empire, and I saw it firsthand. I was guided along the way, met excellent people, and got to go to and from the trip in luxury. And I got to save thousands of dollars for my trouble.

What more can a Miles & Points enthusiast ask for in life?

Lastly, we just wanted to show the magnificent and wonderful things that our planet has to offer, and the great people we can encounter when using Miles & Points not as an end in themselves, but as a means to accomplish memorable lifelong stories.

Conclusion

To wrap up, I want to say that the History of Byzantium tour was everything I had hoped it would be. It wasn’t cheap, and it may not have been the 5-star Marriott experience we can sometimes get spoiled within the miles and points game, but it was a blast.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the subject, and to any person going to Turkey, especially for gastronomic delight, I want to say that Serif Yenen’s decades of experience were invaluable in having a wonderful trip. So check him out if you wish.

Even if this sort of trip isn’t your thing, I hope this demonstrates the ways that miles and points can be used to save you money getting to and from different types of trips, whether they be planned events like cruises or ad-hoc experiences such as a trip to Disneyland.

There’s no other way to wrap up my feelings than to close with the words of W.B. Yates’ poem Sailing to Byzantium: