Randy and Alice Live in Turkey: January 2013

I am writing this in bed watching the sunrise over the Marmara Sea at the wonderful Cinar Hotel, the only to place to stay in Istanbul in my opinion. The first of many posts as we begin our residency in the most fascinating of countries, Turkey.

Things began stressfully as when we arrived at the new International Terminal at the Atlanta airport to find everything shut down due to security breach (supposedly a suspicious package). We were stopped about 20 minutes but then the parking garage was closed down so trusty student Ozgur Kabadurmus, who drove us to the airport, had to leave us at the curb. This was problematic as we had 7 (!) suitcases. Instead of checking them inside we did curbside check in. That actually turned out to be a great decision as the man there helped Randy ferry the suitcases to the check in location and he did not weigh them!! We were slightly overweight on at least three suitcases and were worried about having to repack or even leave things behind. We did need to go inside to check the fifth suitcase with the voucher from the Fulbright office in Ankara. After consultation, they took that voucher and we were on our way. But, Randy discovered he had left his smaller carry on bag in Ozgur's back seat! We called Ozgur and asked him to turn around (he was heading to Auburn by then) and he did but his GPS could not find the new International Terminal. With time ticking down he finally arrived and we grabbed the bag and headed for security. By the time we got to the gate, boarding was almost done but we scrambled on board and took a deep breath.

The flight was very smooth and we were comfortable in our bulkhead spot with lots of leg room. I watched an old movie along the way (The Dirty Dozen which I had never seen and was inspired by Kurosawa's Seven Samurai). I slept some and so did Randy. It was still pretty dark when we flew into Amsterdam after a beautiful crossing over lit up London in perfectly clear weather. We were admitted to the VIP KLM Lounge in the airport (thank you Sky Priority status) and ate some breakfast including very strong and good coffee. We rested a bit in the "quiet" area of the Lounge which had individual cubicles with loungers and was keep dark and quiet. Bought a couple bottle of booze (good Scotch and Cognac) and headed to our gate. We boarded priority while most passengers had to wait (again thanks to Sky Priority). The guy next to us on the plane was an American business man and Delta Diamond flier. He was heading from his home in Florida to Izmir. We chatted with him and slept a bit. In late afternoon we touched down at a very cloudy Istanbul.

All of our luggage made it!! A brief cab ride to the hotel and we were able to shower and relax. We took a walk along the sea and saw the many cats who reside there, all well fed and very nice looking. We had a drink at the bar next to the hotel, an upscale pub called The North Shield. It had a genuine wood fire going and we sat in couches next to it with wine and nuts. We intended to eat at our favorite Istanbul restaurant, the incomparable Beyti. However, as our cab pulled up, we found it is closed on Mondays! Instead we headed to a restaurant nearby which Ozgur recommended, Develi (means With Camel). It was a very nice, non-turistic place where I could exercise my Turkish because almost no English was spoken. We feasted on cheese kofte and lamacun and assorted meze. After a night fraught with jet lag, we woke late and had breakfast overlooking the Marmara at Cinar.

We cabbed to the city to see Galata Kulesi (Galata Tower), which we had never seen. We took an elevator to the top of this 1500 year old marvel. The views, even in the cloudy weather, were excellent and inspiring. We were both so happy to be back in Turkey! We learned that during the early Otoman Empire a man flew on artificial wings from the tower across the Bosphorus over to Asia, some six kilometers. He lived to tell the tale. We then walked through this old section of Istanbul down to the Galata bridge (Randy stopped for his first doner). We walked across the bridge (over the Halic, or Golden Horn) on the lower level and was propositioned by every restaurant owner along the way. They all wanted tourist trade and there was none to be had. We got to the big ferry terminal at Eminonu and headed to Kadikoy (Asia). A bracing 20 minute ride. We walked around a little and found a ferry leaving for Bakirkoy, not far from our hotel. This ferry was more modern and we sat indoors. A short cab ride later brought us to the Cinar. After I sauna'ed and Randy rested, we took another walk along the sea, got some lira from the ATM and went to Chez Kirkici with Bekir Kirkici, Hulya Kirkici's nephew and current METU student. We indulged in plenty of great Turkish home cooking by Mom (Gunel Kirkici) and Duygo Kirkici and saw old friend Mehmet Kirkici, who looked very dashing. We saw a variety of old family photos which were interesting and touching before cabbing back to the Cinar for a nightcap (actually two rounds) at The North Shield watching Euro Cup basketball on the TV (we were subjected to Turkish soccer on the TV the previous night) and drinking wine by the fire.

A better night's sleep brought us to now with sunrise (occurring about 7:15 AM) over the Marmara and the prospect of getting our car and driving to Ankara today.