The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy invites you to join us for

During Feb. 1998 totality, the Sun's awesome corona stretches beyond the edges of the image  (photo by Gene Barnes)

Witness the last Total Solar Eclipse of the 20th century. We will view the eclipse from Osmancik in historic Turkey, starting at 1:32 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11, 1999.     Join the Friends of MIRA for a 9-day benefit tour through historic Turkey. The package includes round-trip transportation from Monterey, California, to Istanbul on Delta Airlines, plus all transportation inside Turkey, all hotels (all 4-star except Samsun), and all meals except three dinners in Istanbul. Your ticket price includes a $200 tax-deductible contribution to MIRA.  Enjoy the most thrilling astronomical event visible from Earth, as well as visiting some of the most well-preserved ancient Greek ruins in the world, at Ephesus and Pergamum, and Istanbul, the center of the Byzantine world.

Osmancik is the site we've chosen as the best in the world to view this eclipse, which will achieve totality at 1:28 local time for a duration of 2:15 minutes. Fifty kilometers inland from the Black Sea and high above the frequent coastal stratus, this site is favored for its excellent weather prospects and its wonderful tourist qualities.    Diamond Ring, February 1998  (photo by Bill Brown)

 TOUR DETAILS 

• The tour begins in Istanbul, with a quick cruise through the Bosphorus and local sights.
• Then on to Samsun to prepare for the eclipse. Following this major event are several more full days of sightseeing in Turkey, a country extremely rich in history and the cultures of many peoples.
• First Ankara, viewing ruins from the Hittites, the Phyrgians, through the time of Alexander the Great, the Romans, early Christianity, the Seljuk Turks, the Crusaders, the Byzantinians, the Mongols and the Ottoman Empire.
• From Ankara, the tour will go next to Izmir and will  spend a day touring Pergamum which became prominent after the death of Alexander the Great.  Its ruins include the acropolis which was the heart of the city and a medical center.
• Another day will be spent visiting the city of Ephesus, well known for its Biblical events,  although it was colonized by the Greeks in the 10th  century BC. The House of the Virgin Mary, in which she is believed to have settled with St. John the Evangelist, and the Basilica of St. John are among the sites to be visited.
• Then follow two full days in Istanbul, an international, cosmopolitan city full of history.  The tour will include the Castle of Seven Towers and sea walls from the 9th Century AD; several museums displaying Byzantine art; Sultan Ahmet Square, the Hippodrome and St. Sophia Cathedral; the Underground Cistern; the Mosque Complex of Suleyman the Magnificent from the 16th Century AD; the Blue Mosque, Topkapi and the Grand Bazaar which houses 4,000 tiny shops selling almost everything.

This promises to be an exciting journey for tour participants, enthusiasts of solar eclipses or not.

Here's what they said about the February 1998 MIRA Caribbean Eclipse '98 Tour:

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