The 40-year story of FEST Travel, the pioneer of cultural tourism in Turkey, has been brought to life in a book by İlkay Baliç.
Since 1985, FEST Travel has been designing cultural journeys from Istanbul to Anatolia and to hundreds of destinations across seven continents — guided by the belief that “what matters is not to see, but to perceive.”
Around the World in Forty Years tells this remarkable story through the voices of nearly one hundred guides, team members, partners, and travelers who have been part of the FEST community. Based on extensive archival research and an oral history project, the book offers a rich, polyphonic narrative.
From the backstreets of Istanbul to the foothills of the Himalayas, from Cappadocia to Patagonia, this journey captures not only the places visited but also the ways of seeing that have evolved along the way.
More than a record of FEST’s first four decades, Around the World in Forty Years traces the past and future of cultural tourism in Turkey.
Editorial structure, research and text: İlkay Baliç
Book design: Ayşe Bozkurt
Publisher: Kırmızı Kedi
312 pages, full color, thread-sewn paperback
The book’s royalties have been donated to the Cultural Awareness Foundation.
