Get to Know an International Member

Peter Sommer
United Kingdom Chapter
Director
Peter Sommer Travels

Peter Sommer studied Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University in England before completing a Masters on the archaeology of Central Asia. He fell in love with Turkey in 1994 while walking 2,000 miles from Troy to the battle of Issus, retracing the route of Alexander the Great. For this epic journey he received The Explorers Club of America Young Expeditioners' award.

He has taught at Birmingham University and Istanbul's Bogazici University. Two years into a PhD at University College London, he has worked on In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (BBC/PBS). Also an award winning producer/director, Sommer has shot around the world for films like Millennium: A thousand years of history (BBC/CNN), and Commanding Heights: the Battle for the World Economy (PBS/BBC). His most recent TV series, Tales from the Green Valley, 12 and 1/2 hrs about life on a farm in the year 1620, was shown on BBC2 in the UK in 2005, to large audiences and wide critical acclaim. Sommer also works as a freelance writer and photographer, and has written on a range of subjects, from travel to history, farming to film-making.

"I suppose the key for me is the opportunity to bring history to life whether it be on screen to a television audience or on archaeological site in Turkey to a small group of travelers," says Sommer of being a film maker and a tour operator.

Sommer has led and organized numerous historical cruises and archaeological tours in Britain and Turkey. He is passionate about leading cultural tours and delivering the very finest escorted tours. He has worked with his Turkish travel partners, Almira Yachting, since 1996.

Peter Sommer Travels is a UK-based specialist travel operator that provides a select number of holidays and vacations, primarily gulet cruises and archeological tours, to Turkey. On their scheduled archaeological tours, they take only small groups (max 16 on land, 14 by sea) of like-minded people, traveling in an easy-going, friendly, and informal style.