Every time we go to Europe we have a great time.\u00a0 We have been wanting to go back since the last trip and finally we found some good flights and a time schedule that worked for us.\u00a0 The plan this time was for three countries – Turkey, Spain and Greece.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been anxiously awaiting this trip since it has several destinations that we\u2019ve wanted to see our whole lives, and the last six months it has been just about all that we talk about.\u00a0 Trip, trip, trip.\u00a0 So when the day finally came, we were more than ready.<\/p>\n
Our first flight was delicately scheduled at 10:30 pm on Thursday, and since we were both working, we felt that five hours was more than ample time to get to the airport two hours before departure.\u00a0 But actually, we almost missed the flight.<\/p>\n
In order to make sure that we made it, we took precautions and drove to work that day with our suitcase and clothes inside.\u00a0 We wanted to avoid the worst case scenario of a train stoppage, so the car made sense.\u00a0 The plan was to drive home after work, change clothes there, leave the car, and then take the train to Kobe and then the bus to the airport.<\/p>\n
During the workday I watched the train schedule carefully, and looked for any delays.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t any problems at all, until one minute before I left.\u00a0 Suddenly my cellphone alarm went off – it was an emergency alert for an earthquake nearby.\u00a0 What that also meant was that the trains were shutting down.\u00a0 Also, to make things tighter I had some last minute student visits, so I left a few minutes late.\u00a0 Kuniko was waiting outside in the car, and we dashed off.\u00a0 It turned out the earthquake was pretty mild, so we figured we\u2019d stick to the original plan, hoping that the trains would resume service by the time we got home and changed.<\/p>\n
Luckily, the trains were running by the time we got to the station.\u00a0 Unluckily, there were still periodic delays and we missed a few chances to change trains and catch up.\u00a0 Finally we made it to Kobe, and we caught a bus from there to the airport.\u00a0 Several times we had to stop for traffic, but we made it about two hours before the flight.\u00a0 Safe!<\/p>\n
Kansai airport was pretty quiet, actually.\u00a0 He had our customary pre-trip cocktail at our usual bar, including a light dinner because we figured we\u2019d be sleeping on the plane soon enough.\u00a0 The pre-trip cocktail is one of our favorite routines – work is done and only vacation ahead to look forward to.<\/p>\n
We easily caught our flight on Turkish airlines, and enrolled in their mileage program since we\u2019ll be flying with them quite often this trip.\u00a0 The food on board was actually pretty good.\u00a0 The eleven-hour-flight was smooth, and we even landed early in Istanbul (at 5 am).\u00a0 We walked out of the arrival gate and there were many guys standing around holding names on paper.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t arranged any transportation for this stage, but a guy had Kuniko\u2019s name on a paper.\u00a0 We are used to this – the hotel sells the names to guys who will arrange some driver to take you to the hotel.\u00a0 It ends up being more expensive than a taxi, but we went over and asked him how much it would cost.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t quote a price right away and desperately tried to reach his driver by phone.\u00a0 No luck, though – so we left him behind to take the train, which was our original plan.\u00a0 He called out in desperation as we left, \u201cThere\u2019s no train running at this time!\u201d\u00a0 We sneered because we had already researched it and knew the truth.\u00a0 Scam, scam, scam.<\/p>\n
One thing I noticed right away was the interesting blend of Middle East and European in the people walking around.\u00a0 I know the city straddles the border between Asia and Europe, but you can really tell by the appearance of the people.\u00a0 Maybe it is the fashion, the attitude, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Another thing I noticed immediately was that the men seemed to hung up on machismo.\u00a0 Living in Japan you don\u2019t really see that kind of thing, but this was like a flashback to my visits to Mexico when I was young.\u00a0 Guys were dressed up and checking out girls, and they looked very meticulous about their image.<\/p>\n
We figured out the train system easily enough, and caught the next train into town.\u00a0 There was one transfer, and then we arrived in the historic Sultanahmet district.\u00a0 There was a scent in the air when we arrived – it smelled like cinnamon or clove, and I noticed it for the first few days of our visit before I got used to it.\u00a0 The area where we got off the train was deserted (it was awfully early after all) and so we started walking to our hotel based on the GPS direction that I had on the cellphone.\u00a0 We ended up walking right by the Blue Mosque.\u00a0 It was beautiful to behold from the outside, and I couldn\u2019t resist parking the suitcase and taking some pictures right there.\u00a0 Around us there were tons of stray dogs running loose.\u00a0 I noticed later that each one had an electronic tag on their ear, but I\u2019m not sure why they were bothering to keep track.\u00a0 We also saw some dogs chase a passing BMW sedan and try to bite the tires.\u00a0 The driver stopped the car and the dogs just stood there looking bored until the car started up again, and they chased after it again.\u00a0 Weird neighborhood!<\/p>\n
The hotel was actually just a few minutes from the Blue Mosque, and we were able to check in right away.\u00a0 We even got a bonus breakfast while we checked in – they had laid out a pretty nice spread of traditional Turkish breakfast foods that consisted of olive pastes, hummus, breads, eggs, and lots of cheeses and meats.<\/p>\n
Our room was on the top floor, and it enjoyed a beautiful ocean view.\u00a0 From our room we could watch the ships coming into the BosporusStrait.\u00a0 The view was very nice from there, but it turned out that it was even better from the rooftop of the hotel as we found out later.<\/p>\n
We cleaned ourselves up after the long flight, and then went out to explore the city.\u00a0 We stayed in a big arc around the hotel, but managed to skirt the northeastern port and see all the activity around it.\u00a0 Cruise ships, a palace on the hill, and some fat old guys swimming in the ocean in tiny rubber trunks.<\/p>\n
After we covered a lot of territory and really stretched our legs, we were starting to feel the heat of the day.\u00a0 During our trip we noticed that because there was comparatively lower humidity than in Japan, simply staying in the shade was a great way to cool down.\u00a0 We ended our loop on a cross town trip through empty streets.\u00a0 Apparently today was a religious holiday, and people were busy spending time at home with their families.\u00a0 That meant empty streets for us, which was no problem.\u00a0 Near our hotel we stopped and bought a couple of cold beers from the convenience store across the way, and then took them upstairs to the roof to watch the ships come and go.\u00a0 The view was superb – almost 270 degrees of ocean and city.<\/p>\n
For lunch we went back into the historic part of town which had turned into the crowded touristy part of town since we had walked through last.\u00a0 We found a small restaurant that served some meatballs that are supposedly the local specialty.\u00a0 Each dish we ordered in Istanbul came with a giant puffed piece of bread approximately the size of a watermelon.\u00a0 As it cooled it deflated to look more like naan bread, but a little more firm.\u00a0 It was good but filling, and we avoided it hoping to concentrate more on the main courses.\u00a0 We also discovered that it is pretty hard to say thank you in Turkish.\u00a0 \u201cTay-shay kkuray durim\u201d doesn\u2019t exactly pop right out as the waiter is walking away.<\/p>\n
After lunch it was getting hotter and even more tourists were piling into the neighborhood.\u00a0 We made a judgment call to head back to the hotel and take a nap.\u00a0 We cranked up the air conditioning and enjoyed a few hours of restful sleep.\u00a0 This kind of method of avoiding the heat became a bit of a habit in the first few days while we were resting up from our busy work schedule.\u00a0 I know that siestas are supposed to happen in Spain, but we started practicing early.<\/p>\n
When we finally got up and moving again it was close to dinner time, so we went to another restaurant that looked good.\u00a0 It was billed as a BBQ house, and they served so many kinds of kebabs it was overwhelming.\u00a0 I had the bright idea to order several kebabs a la carte instead of the way they were presented on the menu.\u00a0 I wanted to try different meats but I didn\u2019t want so many salads and veggies and rice on the side.\u00a0 Technically it was a success – we received everything a la carte, but on the bill they went ahead and charged us for the full meals anyway.\u00a0 Expensive dinner!\u00a0 The meat was very tender and delicious, but it was difficult to finish all of it.\u00a0 Eyes were much bigger than my stomach. I was interested to note that throughout our stay in Turkey we only saw male waiters – I can only guess why.\u00a0 We also tried our first Turkish wines of the trip.\u00a0 The white wine was pretty good, but the red was disappointing.\u00a0 It was almost more sherry-like to me.<\/p>\n
We walked back across the historic square in front of the Blue Mosque and found a festival going on.\u00a0 It was perhaps related to the religious holiday.\u00a0 There were tons of locals out celebrating, and only a few tourists walking around.\u00a0 We walked around enjoying the atmosphere, and even had a chance to buy some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor and go through a street market located right near the big mosque.\u00a0 Finally we ran out of gas and headed back to the hotel and headed straight to bed.\u00a0 We were a little alarmed to be awoken at 4:04 a.m. by morning prayers blaring from the nearby mosques.\u00a0 Loudest prayers I\u2019ve ever heard!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every time we go to Europe we have a great time.\u00a0 We have been wanting to go back since the last trip and finally we found some good flights and a time schedule that worked for us.\u00a0 The plan this time was for three countries – Turkey, Spain and Greece.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been anxiously awaiting this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOpl7-HL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}