Arrival yesterday was an adventure, but it was a dry adventure
(that will have more meaning later). The flight was fabulous, we were just
about the first off the plane but we didn’t realize how long lines in IST
airport actually are. We walked to the sign for “Passport,” past what we
thought was a line for transit passengers before we realized that the “Passport”
line started about 100 yards (yes, a football field) back. The good news is
that we were just in front of another American couple so we chatted about our
respective travels for the 45 minutes it took us to get to the front of the
line.
Next adventure was finding our driver. OMG, how to describe
the chaos outside the customs area! Conservatively, there were 300 signs all
with somebody’s name, some very professional some hand-lettered, and all being
waved frantically by the holder of said sign. Some had 10 signs, one on top of
the other! We did finally find our guy and he took us to the hotel along with
most of the population of Istanbul. I do wonder, however, how long car horns
last in Istanbul! It was an Experience and if we didn’t already acknowledge
that we are never, EVER driving ourselves in Istanbul, that taught us that
basic fact of life. Our driver was very good. That means he did not get into an
accident. Not that he—and half the population of Istanbul—didn’t try extremely
hard to have an accident.
We got to the Wyndham Hotel unscathed but for our shortened
fingernails. Except that we were going to stay at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza.
Even the driver was confused. It appears that Wyndham took over the Crowne
Plaza just last weekend. But nobody from Uniworld bothered to tell us that we
were to be staying at the same hotel, just a different name! (But Uniworld hasn’t
bothered to tell us much of anything since we paid our cruise fare in full. But
I digress.)
Randy mentioned it was our 52nd anniversary at
check-in and they immediately (I mean IMMEDIATELY—within 10 minutes of checking
in) sent us a heart-shaped delicious frozen delicacy, personalized with Happy
52nd Anniversary. We took a picture. The picture has vanished into
the ether somewhere. The problem with digital: you KNOW you took the picture
but it isn’t there. Oh well, we have to let it go.
We have been to Istanbul before, albeit for just a day so
our tour has been personalized just for us and the places we’ve NOT visited. Today
we had our first personal tour—just the two of us and our guide (whose name I
cannot begin to spell!). It is raining. It continued to rain. All day. But we
still had a great time (we’re with the same guide tomorrow). Since we had been
to Istanbul before our guide has personalized our tour to the things that we
hadn’t already seen. So—
We took the tram to walking distance of Dolmabahce Palace.
BIG lines—in the rain, we figured that must mean the palace is fabulous (it
is). He took us to the harem first, hoping that the lines would get shorter.
They didn’t. But we survived. I have no photos because they aren’t allowed (and
I’m a rule follower). A good place to see it is here
http://www.dolmabahcepalace.com/.
We walked and walked. And walked some more. Saw Taksim
Square (google it for info on the Occupy movement here) and the Istiklal
walking street. Along the way we stopped for coffee and later a Turkish lunch.
What a lunch! No dinner for us tonight, just crackers and cheese and martinis.
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| The narrowest minarets in the world! |
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| Entrance to the Palace |
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| It may be raining but it's still fun! |
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| One of the streetcars (not to be confused with the trams!) |
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| Not counting London, Istanbul has the oldest subway in the world. |
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| This is where we got our cheese. The cracker place was not memorable. |
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| Our guide |
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| Our lunch place |
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