November 11 - Istanbul

Here I am in my hotel overlooking the Bosporus Strait.  I had a very nice flight on Turkish Airlines.  We had something I’d never seen before on a plane.  We had a chef complete with white outfit and chef’s toque.  He came around to take our dinner order. The food was better than average airplane food, but still not great.  

We arrived in Istanbul around 5:30 PM on the 10th and I didn’t check into my hotel until nearly 8 PM. Traffic was horrendous!  For anyone who might come to Istanbul I have a good tip.  The airport is the largest one in the world, or at least it will be once construction is finished.  It’s huge already.  I had arranged for transportation through my hotel from the airport to the hotel and they had several different kinds of arrangements.  I opted for the one that was the “VIP pickup” and was it ever worth it.  A young woman was waiting for me with a golf cart when I came up the jetway.  We drove to a special border control place with no line and then we had a porter with a cart waiting on the other side. I had to walk through the baggage claim area and to the car park where my driver was waiting and even that was about 2 miles.  The cart ride was close to ten minutes long so I’m not sure how long my walk would have been without that.

Anyway, I got here and went to the casual restaurant called the Roof for something to eat. I ordered a gin and tonic to chill out a little and I’m including a picture which doesn’t really do justice to the size of this drink they brought me.  It was easily the size of 4 brandy snifters and half full of gin. With it came a small bottle of tonic.  I actually had to let the ice melt some before I could drink it because it was essentially straight gin. After a light meal I went to my room and crashed. One of these days I’m going to have to figure out how to sleep on a plane.

                             You may not be able to tell, but trust me, it's a huge glass

    

After a good night’s sleep I awoke to a partly cloudy day.  Evidently the storm isn’t supposed to get here until later this afternoon.  I had read about a museum of mosaic tile art in the old city so after breakfast I asked the concierge about how to get there and also asked if it was safe to go alone.  I was a little concerned because they have been having big demonstrations here.  She assured me it was fine.  I got a taxi and off we went to the old city.  Along the way we passed the port and I saw my ship docked waiting for me to board tomorrow.  Traffic in Istanbul is awful, but then it has a population in excess of 20 million.  The taxi dropped me off at a park below the Topkapi Palace and pointed in a direction which I assumed was where I needed to go. (He spoke no English.) So I set out through a very nice park with lots of signs in Turkish none of which looked like the name of the museum I was looking for.  It was pleasant with a lot of trees and benches and two colorful sculptures, one of which spelled out Istanbul and the other spelling something for which I haven’t a clue. I tried asking a couple of people for directions to the museum but had no luck.  After walking a couple of miles I gave up and since I was near an exit to the park I went out to a street where there were lots of taxis.  

                                      A street vendor selling roast corn and chestnuts

And that’s where my day took one of those serendipitous turns.  I hailed a taxi and got in with my new friend Metin.   As usual I got in the front seat with him and he spoke pretty good English.  At first I was going to go back to the hotel, but I asked him how far to the Grand Bazaar.  He said it was close so off we went.  He parked in a car park near the bazaar and we walked to it. Actually we strolled arm in arm.  We talked about our families and it was very pleasant. I’ve written in the past about the Grand Bazaar but just a little recap.  Construction of the bazaar began in 1455 AD and it now encompasses 60 streets with more than 4,000 shops.  It covers an area close to 350,000 sq. ft.  In other words, it’s huge!  I’ve only ever walked through a small part of it  and it is almost overwhelming.  I wasn’t looking for anything; I just wanted to experience it again.  Metin and I found a coffee shop with little tables and stopped for a coffee.  If you’ve never had Turkish coffee, let me tell you it is strong!  It’s not filtered so it has texture, it’s very strong and in the bottom of the cup there’s coffee sludge.  Regardless, it’s very tasty, kind of super-charged espresso.  We watched people go by and then me being me, I had to diplomatically ask Metin about what the average Turkish man thinks about what’s going on in Israel. His perspective was interesting and not at all like the people protesting in our cities.  He had a much more measured opinion.  I can’t help myself; I have to try to understand the feelings and thinking of people in other countries.  To be perfectly honest, if I have to make a choice between seeing a church or a museum or getting to meet ordinary people, I will always choose the latter.

                                     Entrance to the Bazaar

After we sat and talked for a while we walked back to the car and Metin drove me back to my hotel.  He gave me his contact information so if I come here again I can call him to pick me up.  I think I got back just in time because as I sit here now the wind has picked up and we’ve had two squalls.  It’s been a very nice day even though I never did get to see the mosaics.  I made a new friend and that’s, as they say, priceless.