We had booked seats on the Island Link bus, but decided that there was too much snow on the road and sidewalk to lug our luggage the 5 blocks to the bus pickup place, opting instead to have Brian drive Kris down to the stop with the luggage then take the car home and walk back (much easier without luggage in tow). So, there we waited, with our luggage in the snow bank...
The bus came only a few minutes late. Not bad considering it was still snowing quite heavily and there was a lot of it on the roads. It snowed pretty well all the way to Victoria, letting up only after we crossed the Malahat and by the time we got into downtown it was raining and there was no snow on the roads or sidewalks. We got settled in at the Embassy Inn then started our 2 days of last minute shopping and visiting friends before a loooong flight day to start the actual trip.
Wednesday morning we were up just after 3:00 am to get ready (i.e. finish packing), catch a cab to the airport and wait for the early morning AC flight to Toronto. Thus began the very long day of travel...
- Wait in Victoria airport: 1.5 hours
- Victoria to Toronto: 4 hours
- Wait in Toronto airport: 8.5 hours (followed by a sit on the Frankfurt tarmac for an hour while they searched for the baggage of some goof who didn't make it onto the plane)
- Toronto to Frankfurt: 7 hours
- Wait in Frankfurt airport: 3 hours
- Frankfurt to Istanbul: 2.5 hours
In Frankfurt, even though our luggage was checked through to Istanbul,we still had to go through a security checkpoint. No biggie, but we did get to witness, close up, a confrontation between a security guy and a Spanish speaking traveller. We didn't get the full gist of the argument but did grasp the intended meaning of the multiple loud F*CK YOU's she hurled at the agent. We were quite surprised when the security folks just let her walk away. The group of agents seemed to think it was all quite funny! We thought she was just asking to be pulled aside for a much more intensive, say full body, search!
Oh,yeah, we should mention our flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. We had a "chef" (or at least a guy in the full chef getup) and the food was fabulous. Checkout the menu .... (Air Canada...you should take note)...
The food caused Brian to comment..."screw Istanbul, maybe we should just fly around on Turkish Airlines in business class for three weeks!"
Anyway, the trip is officially on. We were met at the Istanbul airport and our driver delivered us to our apartment where the manager gave us an overview and some suggestions for groceries etc. After the orientation we walked up the block to Carrefour where we picked up some nice Turkish red wine and some peppery Gouda cheese for munchies. Back at the apartment we enjoyed them and called it a day.
Friday began the exploration of Istanbul starting with a coffee at Starbucks up the hill on Istiklal Caddesi, one of the more popular pedestrian shopping strolls in the city. Sat at Starbucks for awhile taking in the ever changing street scene and lots of people watching...
Afterwards we wondered the length of the street checking out many stores. The folks here sure enjoy sweets...
...and we also came across numerous fish mongers on side streets just off Istiklal Caddesi...
In the evening we decided to start the search for a good local establishment for indulging in a glass of wine or two with some possible munchies. We started with the upscale Hotel Marble near Taksim Square. Man what a deadbeat place that was. Even all the flowers on the tables in the lobby bar were long dead. We lasted one glass and skedaddled out of there. Second stop was Otto just up the street from our place. What a difference... A lively younger crowd with a great atmosphere. So far this looks like it will be our place of choice for a couple of glasses of wine out for an evening.
One thing we noticed early on is that the Turkish culture has yet to embrace the no-smoking movement. Many, if not most, of the young people in Otto were smoking. Something we also noticed strolling Istiklal Caddesi.
Saturday we set out to get a couple of Istanbul cards (istanbulkart), the re-loadable transit pass. This kind of pass will be good for us as it gives a discount on individual rides along with the convenience of not having to go to a machine to buy a token every time we want to get on any kind of public transit. After a stop for morning coffee we strolled the length of Istiklal Caddesi to the top end of the Tunnel funicular (inaugurated 1875) where we purchased and loaded our cards then hoped on the funicular for our personal inaugural ride on Istanbul transit. At the bottom we transferred to a tram that took us to the old part of the city and the Grand Bazaar.
We decided the secret to not getting totally lost or disoriented in the maze of streets and alleys making up the Grand Bazaar is to remember the street name on which we entered then just look for directional signs pointing back to it. We chose Kalpakçilar and it worked like a charm. Didn't matter how many turns we took we found more than enough signs pointing out the direction to Kalpakçilar. The bazaar is full of colourful vender stalls...
..and the merchants were no where near as aggressive as we expected. Perhaps it is just early in the year and they are just getting warmed up for the tourist season. Sort of like spring training. Kris bought a beautiful silk scarf and although she would likely have been happy with the vender's initial price, she worked on honing her own bargaining skills and knocked 25% off. She said afterwards "I should have started lower!". Ok, but not bad, after all, it is spring training for us too!
After a couple of hours we called it quits for the day (we'll be back) and left the bazaar area to find some lunch. Had a nice lunch, at Faros, near the Blue Mosque, which we'll visit another time, then strolled around the area for a bit before heading back to our apartment for a rest. Later we wandered up to Otto for a couple of glasses of wine and some munchies. Same type of young lively crowd. Leaving there we stopped in Carrefour for dinner supplies. While in the store we could hear the noise of some kind of scene out in the street. Leaving the store we saw the smoking remains of trash etc that had been set on fire and looking up the street saw more fires being set and fireworks going off. The air was quite smokey and we heard one guy say something about pepper gas as our eyes started to sting slightly, but it could have just been from the smoke in the air. We were headed in the opposite direction so off we went. Near our apartment we asked a young fellow what was going on. We didn't speak each other's language but we did grasp that it was a protest of some kind but he assured us in his best english and with a smile..."no problem". Maybe this will be a regular Saturday night entertainment feature.
Sunday was a bit of a rest day. We've been doing a lot more walking up and hills than we are used to so, needless to say, these old legs are a tad on the tired side. After a late morning coffee at the apartment we walked up the hill to Taksim Square and took the funicular down the hill to the Bosphorous shore. After wandering along the waterfront for awhile it started to rain so we elected to catch the tram along the waterfront to the Galata bridge then take the other funicular back up the hill to the lower end of Istiklal Caddesi. Man is This place ever popular on Sunday...
By this time it was approaching lunch so we walked down Galipdede Caddesi toward the Galata Tower where we knew there several restaurants. First we went over to the tower where we found a lineup of several hundred people. Sunday is obviously not a good day to do the tower. We decided on Kiva for lunch and were definitely not disappointed. Wow... What an excellent lunch of assorted Anatolian shared plates.
After lunch we went to the Galata Dervish Monastery and picked up tickets for tonight's Whirling Dervish show. The show runs about an hour and is an extremely interesting performance...
Thus ended the week...
| On to Week 2 |
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