Eastern Europe Vacation, Day 1

Attempting to keep a daily blog about this trip. I know I haven't updated this in a while, but I've just been writing in MS Word and not posting anything. No real reason, I was just giving more attention to writing skills. I am writing these on the fly and I'm throwing the Turkish alphabet out the window on this draft.

Today we flew to Istanbul! It was remarkably easy, this whole planning process, and even being here seemed too easy. This morning, we were already packed, said goodbye to everyone, watched some of Underworld on TV, and Dave drove us to Sharjah. Sharjah Airport is a thing to be experienced, since you just kind of blaze your own trail, any counter you want, and you get a boarding pass. We had McDonald’s for brunch because it was around 11am and we couldn’t stomach Indian or Chinese food that early. Bada bing, bada bang, bada boom, we’re on a plane to Istanbul. There wasn’t anyone next to us, so we spread out. The plane was SWELTERING and it was DISGUSTINGLY HOT. Just a trickle of air from the personalized air vents and everyone started fanning themselves because we’re on a tarmac in a metal vehicle and it’s at least 115 outside with no real A/C and one door open. It was so hot that I could barely stay awake during take-off, I was passing-out hot-tired. I slept for at least an hour, maybe more, on our 4 hour flight and amused myself with my iPod and writing a letter to Jeannie the rest of the time.

We got in to Sabiha and got somewhat screwed because we thought we got visas at passport control, but after we’d been waiting and we were now next in line, they made us go buy a visa at a hidden counter (it really was hidden) behind a bunch of Emiratis who were buying visas for their families of 10. We also got stuck behind them on our exit from the airport and they had hundreds of bags going through the only x-ray machine. Pompous asses. I was more assertive than I am in the Emirates. Watch out world, Miriam is back!

We got on the Havas bus to Taksim, which was only 10 YTL, compared to the 50 Euros the hotel wanted to charge for a pick-up. We were stuck in traffic a bit but it was our first time on the BRIDGE SPANNING THE CONTINENTS! Next thing you knew, we were in Europe, huzzah! We got out at Taksim and I had convinced Aaron to get a cab because I didn’t want to take the funicular and the tram at rush hour with our packs susceptible to pick-pockets, so we took a cab who ripped us off. Lesson learned.

We got to our hostel, a clean, modest place called Second Home Hostel with shared bathrooms. We’re actually sharing a bed (SHOCK!) and we convinced them to bring us in a fan since the room is A/C-less and has no overhead fan, then we lay in front of it for a while. We asked the hotelier’s advice for dinner and ended up at a slightly pricey (but worth it) place called Home Made with a Turkish ravioli chef in the restaurant using traditional tools on a dais in the middle of the dining room. I had an Efes (the start of my drinking thru Europe) because it was almost the same price as soda or water. We shared a platter of mezze and sigara boregi and had forgotten that they always give tea afterwards. Our waiter was very nice and we talked with him about Ephesus, the Virgin Mary’s house, Turkish, and took some pictures.

Afterwards, we walked to the train station and bought our departure tickets to Plovdiv for July 2. Then we walked back to the street next to the hostel, which is set up with pillows galore for sheesha (nargileh here) buffs. We had melon/rose mix, Turkish coffee, and water. Oh Turkish coffee, how superior you are to Arabic coffee! So much more body! Of course, there’s also a ton of sludge in the bottom. Ma fi mushkila.

We’ve been having a hard time because we’re speaking to everyone in Arabic (whoops) and our little bit of traveler’s Turkish is coming back slowly from our honeymoon. We have yes/no/thank you/you’re welcome/1/2/3/4/good morning/hello down. It’s fun to see how many words from Arabic have made it over.

There are street cats here, but they’re so much healthier looking than Omani ones, even if they are skinny too. They’re fed here by everyone and are so perrrrtyyy! Makes us super-miss our babies.