Istanbul Day 1

June 6, 2011 – Monday

At some point Sunday night has morphed into Monday morning while I’ve been pretending that having my eyes shut is the same as sleeping.  Silly, really, when everyone knows you can’t really sleep sitting upright in a cramped torture device!  It doesn’t matter, though, because there are more movies to sample and dawn to watch and presently breakfast is being served!  It is a rich mixture of east and west with one dish that holds eggs, potatoes, roasted tomato and eggplant and others with gouda, feta, tomatoes and olives, and yogurt. Another delicious hot roll with butter and strawberry jam and a cup of Turkish coffee round out the experience.

After our ten-hour transition from the known to the exotic, our captain brings us in for a gentle landing and we are pleasantly surprised to find that, although we are at the rear of the plane, that doesn’t mean we have to be among the last off it!  There is a rear exit and we get off so quickly that we are able to scarf up some of the very few seats on the bus that will take us to the terminal!

Once inside we moo gently and follow the herd to the visa line.  For twenty American dollars or fifteen Euros we can remain in Turkey for ninety days.  We swap our large green paper for much smaller colorful paper with an adhesive backing and move on to the passport line.

There are lines for returning Turkish citizens, for “others”, for diplomats and for NATO members.  We are sent all the way to the right, to the NATO line which is very short and even then, the gentleman doing the directing moves us from that line to the one for Turkish citizens.  We know he has seen our American passports, but know better than to argue!  The Polisi at the counter isn’t too impressed, but he processes us and after tossing my passport back at me, we begin to regroup, then head on to reclaim our luggage.  Baggage claims carousels all look the same, and so do most bags;  but we can pick ours out and soon breathe a sigh of relief when everyone’s bits and pieces are accounted for.

On now to the exit to look for a friendly face holding a sign that says, “White”.  Hmmm, there are an awful lot of people waving signs, but one does indeed have the right name, although it has the wrong hotel and someone else’s name, too!  Some discussion ensues and Ginger is satisfied that we have the right sign-waver and we are escorted to an ATM machine before heading for our Mercedes-Benz fifteen passenger bus.  Funny story about the ATM – last year in Japan the ATMs refused my card for the first week.  This time, it was Nick’s card that was rejected!  It’s only funny, I guess, because for a change it wasn’t mine!

Once we get away from the airport we travel along the coast and can really see all the tankers that were only dots from the air.  There is a virtual armada out there on the Bosphorus!  Then we turn into the city proper and realize that it’s a darn good thing we decided against trying to drive ourselves!  It is one giant game of chicken and it is many minutes before se see a single traffic light to control the movement on the narrow, crowded, crooked streets!  Our driver stops at one point and a young man hops on to sit up front with the driver.  A bit further along he hops off again!  Must be a friend?  Who knows.  At any rate we do eventually arrive at our hotel and it is a welcome sight!  And a lovely one, too!  It is called the Erboy Hotel and as we sit in the lobby waiting for at least one of our rooms to be ready, we are served iced apple tea, a national favorite, and are able to log into the hotel’s Wifi.  It’s about two in the afternoon and we’re thinking that if we can just stay awake a few more hours, we’ll be on local time and can go to sleep right on schedule.

When the first room becomes available we decide to pile everyone’s luggage into it and go exploring.  There is also the matter of lunch, since dinner is still five or six hours away!  After a bit of walking and checking out prices we land at Café Han, Margile & Café.  Some of the tables come equipped with water pipes, which people seem to really enjoy. They come in a dozen or more flavors, including apple, cinnamon, lemon, orange, banana and rose! That’s something for later, we decide.  Right now we mostly order doner kebabs for chicken kebabs, which are quite a bit like gyros, but without the tzatziki sauce and tomatoes.  Instead of pita, they are wrapped in a much lighter pastry. Andy has a Turkish pancake with spinach which looks great but sure isn’t very filling.  It’s like a crepe, and he is happily surprised when I can’t finish the second half of my kebab!  Nick orders a Turkish Delight Plate for dessert and everyone samples some of the powdered-sugar covered treats.

Revived by our treats, we continue exploring.  Ben had suggested a park which appears quite close on the map, and it was an inspired choice.  The grounds are beautiful, with fountains, lots of trees and even more couples obviously enjoying being with one another.  I’m sure that by tomorrow, when I’m actually functional again, I’ll remember which beautiful buildings are housed there.  For now it is enough to walk and stretch, and revel in the soft temperatures and gentle breezes. 

Randy spots a sign pointing toward a tea garden overlooking the Bosphorus and we head up the slope to find lots of small tables nested among a huge rose garden and with a view of the water and land across the Strait.  Tea for six arrives in a copper pot which is really a tea tower!  The large pot at the base contains very hot water, while the top pot has extremely strong tea, with the leaves still inside.  Our water sets out the traditional glass cups and pours a small amount of tea through a strainer and into each cup.  He then fills each one the rest of the way with the hot water and leaves us the tower and a bowl filled with miniature sugar cubes wrapped in bright pink paper.

We relax, enjoying the view, the breeze, the tea, and the knowledge that we are exactly where we should be, doing exactly what we should be doing.

Everyone has at least two cups of tea and we slowly make our way back to the hotel to get settled into our rooms and plan for the evening.  Ginger, Randy and I are all for doing some more exploring, while Nick, Ben and Andy stay behind and take naps.  Our plan is to locate the Romantique Hotel, where Ginger’s friends are staying, so we can at least leave them a note or, even better, get a chance to say hello and make plans for dinner tomorrow night.  We set off, armed with a map that the hotel has printed for us with the Romantique marked with Google’s trademark A in a balloon.  Along the way there are a million photo ops and we happen upon a man who is quite friendly.  He has a younger brother in Seattle, he says, oh, and by the way, we are going to pass his family’s shop as he guides us to the hotel.  What a surprise!  When we get to the shop, his friend joins the “conversation” (read that, “sales pitch”) and when he hears “Florida” he responds with I-95, Tampa and Sarasota.  Georgia yields I-85 and Peachtree Street!  He must study maps of all the states so he can end with “we are all neighbors, only ten thousand miles apart!”

We are able to break away with going inside for apple tea (thank goodness for travel guides like Lonely Planet and The Rough Guide!) and really are quite close to our goal.  The gentleman outside tells us the Chatells’ room number and they are quite surprised to see us!  We chat for a few minutes and agree to meet again tomorrow at seven at their place to select a restaurant.  We’ll all be touring the city tomorrow, but with different guides.  Our group, of course, has six people and theirs has seven, so I’m glad we aren’t all going to try it together!

Going back is a lot shorter!  (Go figure?!)  There are more beautiful photo ops and  happily we are all in favor stopping every time another gorgeous view reveals itself.  It is now nearly seven and the  light is magnificent, making the gilded letters gleam and glisten!

Back at our hotel the plan is to meet for dinner at seven and go upstairs to the rooftop café.  When we arrive nearly all the tables have “reserved” signs on them and we are afraid we might be out of luck.  Since we are guests, though, the maître d’ creates a table for six for us and what a lucky break that is!  The food is divine, the Turkish beer is delicious and there aren’t words for the view!  As the sun sets, the Ay Sofia acquires a deep pink glow and the lights on the minarets come on.  There is glass nearly six feet high surrounding the patio, so the winds don’t blow on us.  Everyone else is tall enough to shoot over the top of the glass.  In my next life I WILL be tall! 

Back upstairs we agree to meet for breakfast around 7:30, so that we will be ready to leave when our guide arrives at 8:30.  I think I’ll blog – but my eyes disagree with me and keep slamming shut.  Instead I’m already in bed when Ginger returns from her walk with Nick and Ben.  At least I managed to download the photos and plug in all the electronics!