The Aegean coast beckons, and we arrive

Clock tower in the central square Izmir

We were met for our journey to Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, at 9 AM by a dignified driver dressed in a suit from the private shuttle service Backpacker's Travel Service. 

For the four of us and all our luggage it was a bargain 50 euros or 105 TL (plus small added gratuity)  the ride took over an hour and it was nightmare traffic all the way, particularly crossing the Bosphorus Bridge to get to the Asian side of Turkey.  The driver was quiet and a very patient. (He even had a small fridge in the front, offering us cold bottles of water for us to drink midway on the journey!)

We got to the airport in plenty of time to check in for our flight, have a glass of çay, and make our leisurely way to the gate.

I had struggled with the options of getting us all to the airport. I looked into bus or train or boat and even considered taxis.  In some instances (example:public transportation) some alternatives were much cheaper. But it felt a little like we'd be herding cats, and I remembered we were all "on vacation". 

The ease of booking the Backpacker people online (and their quick response), was what convinced me to go this route.  (we COULD have schlepped the luggage ourselves and made it happen for less, but there's enough stress in travel now a days and this seemed like a perfect solution). I include this diversion for any who may be considering travel to Istanbul and wonder at "the thing in the middle" ie: "airport....?.... hotel".  If you are feeling intrepid there are many options, but lately, as I get older and have tried all the options, I find myself shepherding my resources...a little bit like "picking your [travel] battles".

The Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is very new, only built in the last 5 or 6 years and is really lovely. 

We flew on Pegasus airlines, (they have a rather charming URL: www.flypgs.com which always making me smile and think of pigs flying, instead of a flying horse) I made all the arrangements online and printed out the tickets.  When we checked in with the print outs, there were no problems.  We were assigned excellent seats at check in and boarded painlessly.  Well except for the slight moment of "duh" when we got into the wrong line and waited to go through passport control.  When we got to the desk we were turned away.  It was after all a DOMESTIC flight.  sigh.

We arrived in Izmir to sunny skies and part of a familiar airport.  The old international "terminal" was now the domestic terminal and it looked out onto a HUGE new building that apparently was now for International arrivals.

We were met by the representative of Elit Car Rental.  28 euro/day, everything included! (Full Insurance, Unlimited Mileage, Insurance for Tires, Headlights, Windscreen, Theft Insurance, Airport Delivery, V.A.T, Second Driver, 24 hours road service, and Theft insurance with NO excess!)

It was the best price I'd found on the internet for the sized car I was looking for. 

I did have misgivings though as when I called no one spoke any English, except finally a young girl who told me everything would be alright and just fill out the form on the internet page.  (I emailed a Turkish friend and asked her to call and talk to them in Turkish and give me her opinion, and she confirmed that they were actually all right, just short on English speakers as it was the off-season) I rented a Fiat Doblo Diesel (seats five and has room for five huge suitcases) and that's what the rep had brought to the airport.  Clean and basic.

In broken English he explained everything we needed to know, took us to the gas station and filled the tank, filled out all the forms with our driving licenses, all the while smiling cheerfully while repeating all the services we were getting for free, and generally told us everything except where to find the map to the entirely new highway system that now rings around and through Izmir!  Sadly the car didn't come with a map.  Needless to say there were no bookstores en route.  In fact he called his office and someone drove to the gas station with a sort of tourist map, and that's how we went off in search of the hotel - on the new highway.

We honestly found it by sheer luck, tempered by a vague memory of where Balçova was.  As we were driving down a hill I happened to glance out the window and saw the entrance! Fortunately I looked at pictures on the net before we'd left!!

The hotel is a Thermal "spa" hotel, or rather small complex of spa facilities medical support, thermal swimming pools and jacuzzi, as well as meeting rooms and banquet facilities.  There are two hotels: a simple hotel and a rather grand one.  We were staying in the simple hotel.  For 61 euros/night we got an en suite room, with a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner and access to the pools and the fitness center as well as the park with the tennis courts and lovely gardens. 

almost exactly our room

As we had taken advantage of the bargain prices, we got the "bargain" rooms. 

The rooms were clean, if a bit "tired", but they were larger than I'd expected, and warm. 

The warmth was generated by the thermal waters that heat the place!  In fact ALL the water was thermal.  The shower, the sink... the toilet... yes, the water was hot in the toilet!!   We actually had to run the cold tap for a while (the  way you run the hot tap in most places!) in order to get the shower water to be a bit more bearable!  Our last morning coincided with a group who got up early and took showers --- draining all the COLD water, and making our showers very brief, emerging hot pink and very clean.  We felt that the temperature of the water had sanitized us.

Our first objective after arrival was to scope our our local environment ... AND buy a map. The hotel didn't sell any maps in the gift shop.   

We drove into Izmir, but ended up doing so by taking a back road, the only road that we recognized.  SO many changes.  When we arrived in town, we parked at the only familiar memory in town (so we could find the car again!!)  the Hilton hotel parking ramp.  Fortunately we managed to do it with all the elan we'd hoped to show C& S so as not to worry them overmuch at our bafflement of how to get around!

We wandered around a bit and tried a few places looking for a good map (including the Hilton hotel!) and couldn't find one, but we were referred to the "new" Konak Pier.  When we lived there, the Konak pier was really just a sad falling down structure that was being eyed for demolition, until someone finally decided to invest in it and "do" something.  When we left, they were still working out what they were "doing".

The Konak Pier building was designed by the famous Gustave Eiffel in the 1870s and has been used as French Customs, İzmir Customs, fish market and parking lot. The original steel construction structure were renovated with the latest technology and began to be used as a modern shopping mall in 1998. Konak Pier is the most prestigious center in Izmir with its movie theaters, restaurants and the famous brand shops. It is located on an area of 8,000 m2. A small parking lot is available.

It's lovely inside and filled with great stores, restaurants and a movie thearter.  Also a really terrific bookstore with many, many English language books.  In Remzi Kitabevi I bought several good maps, with the help of a really great guy who spoke excellent English and found exactly what I was looking for.

We would never have had the money to retire to Corfu, if that bookstore had been in town when we lived there.

So we returned to the hotel and had a surprisingly delicious dinner. (The food was simple Turkish home cooking with fresh ingredients and a large variety of dishes to select.)  There were two other restaurants in the same building and if you ordered your meal (and paid for it!!) there, then you could enjoy wine with dinner.  Our meals came with water, fruit juices, tea and coffee.

We also discovered that the thermal pools were open until midnight.  Yes. We did.  And an amazing event it was, as the weather had turned cold.

The jacuzzi was warm enough to need to get out and swim in the huge warm pool in order to cool down a bit.  It was LOVELY.

The next morning we left with the best of intentions and were planning to go to Priene, Miletus and Didyma.  Due to a fair amount of confusion, and T throwing up his hands and saying we'd go the "old way" (meaning via the back roads from where our old house was). 

the old limani /agora

We'd arrived close to Ephesus by 10:30 in the morning and I knew that at this rate, we'd get to the three cities much too late to see much and we'd have to turn back before we'd explored everything.  So, ever flexible, I suggested we visit Ephesus instead.  That suggestion went down well and we'd arrived at our destination with plenty of time to wander. 

The new discoveries at the site, and the changes made to some of the standard things were wonderful as it was - for me- like visiting an old friend, and her new family!

For now I'll just post pictures of Ephesus and let it speak for itself... or else the captions will!

in the great theater- still used today!

advertising to incoming sailors

the library of Celsus

falling lizards... or beware the edge? you decide.

Samson after the haircut

main street Ephesus

a sort of experiment in comfort

walk this way...

Inside the Slope Houses- the new excavations, now a new and wonderful exhibit.

a maze of upper class dwellings buried in the hillside

still assembling the puzzle pieces

but when the puzzle pieces fit...

it can be pretty amazing.

imagining people going from room to room

maybe house proud

kitchen with cooking vent and fish painted on the wall...

early church like room inside the complex of houses

even looking up, there's something to see.

so many puzzle pieces left!

exiting slope houses and wondering if they went to the library often...

walking back to the car

a choice for lunch in Kuşadası

We returned to the hotel just in time to quickly change our clothes and be picked up by our Turkish friends.  About twenty of them showed up at a wonderful cocktail party they threw for us.  We felt so cherished (and so awful that we'd waited so long to come back for a visit!)  Everyone looked fantastic and we were only sad for not seeing everyone we wanted to see.

Sorry, by the way, the post has gone out so late, (I worked on it most of Saturday, but now it's 2 AM Sunday morning, so it would seem this will be a Sunday post!)  I forgot that people need to fit into my day, even when I'm trying to write "important" things for my blog. (yes. go ahead and laugh.  you know who you are!)

Tomorrow, OK, later today, I'll try and make another post and include more of our excursions...

g'night for now.

Of pleasures and palaces

street art-literally- near Galata tower

We woke up "on vacation", a wonderful feeling wherein all the possibilities of the next two weeks are on the edge of your consciousness, waiting to happen. Even when you are 'retired', there's the same anticipation and refreshing feeling of things 'different'.

T's brother and sister-in-law (from now on referred to as C & S) were arriving later in the day, so we got up and had a very nice breakfast in the hotel's breakfast room.  It was a typical Turkish breakfast: bread, jam, honey, yogurt, sliced cucumbers, tomato wedges, white cheese, black olives, and hard boiled eggs.

my çaydanlık

The preferred morning drink is çay or Turkish tea.  When I first arrived in Turkey it became important that I master the art of making tea and having it available for when someone would drop in.

a couple of my tea glasses

Tea is typically prepared using two stacked kettles (çaydanlık) especially designed for tea preparation. Water is brought to a boil in the larger lower kettle and then some of the water is used to fill the smaller kettle on top and steep several spoons of loose tea leaves, producing a very strong tea.

When served, the remaining water is used to dilute the tea on an individual basis, giving each person the choice between strong (koyu; "dark") or weak (açık; "light").  Tea is drunk from small glasses to enjoy it hot in addition to showing its color, and sweetened with lumps of sugar.

As C & S wouldn't be arriving til evening, we decided to walk along Istikal street, and discover old landmarks and revisit places we'd gone years ago as well as discover where things were - in daylight.

We did manage, along the way, to find a computer guy who got my laptop to work fine at his place of business, because he had unprotected wi-fi.  Still the idiot computer continued to be stubborn in hotel (and all subsequent hotels) so I found myself letting go of my frustration with it and I began to refer to it as "my little door stop".  I figured I'd go on vacation from my computer as well. 

I started keeping a journal on paper again and was amused by the novelty.  However, I can't tell you how glad I was to have printed out all relevant emails, confirmations, and tickets (along with receipts!) that I had arranged before we left on the trip.  Several times, they became VERY important to have to hand.

Hüseyin Aga Camii

We walked from Taksim Square to the Galata tower, taking in the sights and sounds (I have too many pictures of the buildings along the way, as I was fascinated by how lovely so many of them were!)

Along the way we went inside to see St Anthony of Padua Cathedral (link is a cool 360 photograph- not mine) and we also, just to be ecumenical, stopped to see a small but lovely old mosque Hüseyin Aga Camii built in 1597. We hunted up the locations of a few places to visit the following day and then we took the little tram from Galata all the way back up to Taksim Square.

lightly battered shrimp- very yum

We found a very nice Chinese restaurant, full with a lot of locals, where we had lunch.  The food was made by a real Chinese chef and was wonderful, though the decor was seemingly an afterthought.  Still, the prices were reasonable the food delicious, and so for me "Life was Good."

C& S arrived safe and sound and best of all with no problems.  They checked in and then we all went for a short walk, then on to dinner at Haci Baba restaurant. (if you click the link, we sat at the middle table next to the window!) 

end of tour downpour

We all made an early night of it and we off and running shortly after breakfast to visit Dolmabahçe Palace.  We decided to walk, as C& S expressed a need to stretch their legs after 19 hours in an airplane.  So walk we did from our hotel to the Bosphorus!  Then we walked the whole of the Palace tour.  When we finished it was pouring rain, so we decided to visit the little clock museum and the 'crystal palace' which turned out to be a (newly opened to the public) lovely Victorian solarium in one of the houses in the palace grounds.

Were it  not for the rain we might have missed both!  The clock museum was filled with amazing treasures, both Ottoman and European, gorgeous unique clocks (at least one of which took a whole lifetime to build) very nicely displayed.

Kamondo Staircase

From the palace we made our way to the Metro and took the T1 from Beşiktaş to Karaköy. Originally we'd thought of continuing on the metro and taking the second oldest underground rail line, Tünel, (1875; after the London underground in 1863!) but we took the amazing (and iconic thanks to Cartier-Bresson's photo)  Kamondo staircase (1870) instead,  finding yet another little piece of art nouveau tucked away in the city.


We made it to the Galata tower again, (from the other direction this time) and C & S went to the top.  (as T is not fond of heights and I'd been up there already years ago, we stayed below in a little cafe and had a glass of fresh pressed orange juice..)

tea at the Pera Palac

From the tower, we decided on a short walk to the venerable Pera Palace Hotel, there to have our version of "tea".  Two of us had lovely cocktails whilst those of us with real brilliance decided to try the profiteroles.  (and, oh my, were they amazing.)

I was one of the brilliant ones. (see my profiteroles with incredible chocolate sauce, below. They were so good, I have nothing to compare them with!)

profiteroles to die for

We sat in the main salon and listened to classical music and took in the ambiance.  SO cool.  The room had enormously high ceilings making for a rich and wonderful musical sound.

I could imagine myself in an Agatha Christie novel, and expected to see Hercule Poirot step into the room at any moment.

We decided, since we were so close- even though we were pretty well walked out- to go across the street and see the Frieda Kahlo/Diego Rivera exhibit at the Pera Museum.

It was there that I had a little senior moment, as when the lady was about to sell us the tickets, she asked if any of us were students or over 60, and three hands went up, whilst I started to say I wasn't 60 yet... only to remember that in fact I was creeping up on 62!!  Ah the irony!  The last time I was in Istanbul, I wasn't even 50!!  Of course I took a great deal of crap for the rest of the afternoon, from the three hand raiser "over sixties" on that boo-boo.

The exhibits were wonderful but we were totally blown out of the water with the Scenes from Tsarist Russia  exhibit offered from the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg , with paintings from the 19 century, in the period of Russian realism.  It was stunning.  (it also shined a spotlight on the life of the average man and what it meant to be a serf!  Almost makes you understand the Russian revolution.)

After that we all knew it was time to take a little rest before we went out for dinner.  Thankfully.  We all napped well for a couple of hours.

We opted to walk back to Istikal street and search out a place for dinner.  Dinner ended up not so special - and fairly expensive as "we" decided to listen to the "very nice man" who walked along side of us and directed us to his restaurant.  [Reminder to self: NEVER eat in a restaurant where there are no other people...really.]  T and I had misgivings but we figured it was probably going to be a good lesson early on in the trip for C & S.  It was.

After dinner we walked around a bit and took in the lights and made our farewells to Beyoğlu.

The next morning we were packed and ready to check out by 9.  Our transport showed up on time and swept us off in comfort to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus.

And a fine welcome to Asia it was!

Tomorrow I'll write a bit more about the next leg of the journey, but I'll close with a few more pictures from our time in Beyoğlu.

Galata neighborhood

T, C & S walking past a tobacco seller

hanging out my hotel balcony in the rain

Santa Ottoman Hotel

Galata tower at night

Memorial (with Atatürk) Taksim Square

Dolmabahçe in the rain

more Dolmabahçe in the rain

the Palace guard

the Bosphorus

newly restored ceiling in Pera Palace Hotel

Taksim Square at night

Young Turks protesting politely

side street near our hotel

we're having fun!

Nostagia isn't what it used to be

We were going back to Turkey- but this time with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law- and were trying very hard to create a trip that would show them the best of why we chose to move there and stay (in spite of the "work" part...)

T and I left Corfu on the early morning flight, in order to make our connections.  This involved, of course, a significant amount of waiting around while in the Athens airport.

The good news: there is an excellent bookstore in the airport.  The bad news: if you buy heavy books at the start of your trip, you have to drag them around for the whole trip.

T bought the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson.
Total number of pages in trilogy: 1949.  Still it gave us something to do while waiting.

Finally we arrived in Istanbul.  Our first impression was not the typical chaos we remembered but the generic chaos that goes with most arrivals in "any" airport.  Everything looked new.  Passport control was fairly organized.  Rather than a small table off to the side, there was now a "visa" window just next to passport control.  Quick and easy visa purchase and then on to the relatively short wait at passport control for the arrival stamp.

Luggage was actually waiting at carousel.  (unlucky with choice of luggage cart as it had the same problem so many grocery carts seem to have wherein one wheel operates in an alternate universe.  Problem solved while T went to change money, I found a replacement cart.)

On exiting we were confronted with around 90 placards with all names but our own.  It took several tries over a period of about 15 minutes, but we finally connected with our free shuttle to our hotel.

First impressions of Istanbul were that it was VERY much changed.  The airport and the highway to the city were much better organized.  We passed several HUGE shopping malls and literally, an entire new city of tower apartment blocks.  The current population (13,120,596 in 2010) seems to be into shopping!

Then suddenly we came around a corner of the Kennedy Caddesi and there was the Bosphorus!

Of course there were hundreds of cargo ships moving slowly in the distance.  The Bosphorus is like a giant airport for ships picking up and delivering cargo. Turkey is one of the few countries that remains self sufficient and can feed itself.

Among the products produced (though one would think from the local street touts that it's mostly carpets, leather jackets and tourist plates...) the manufacture of textiles is Turkey's largest industry (Domestic cotton and wool provide much of the raw material for the industry) Also produced for export, sugar, flour, processed meat and milk, and fruits and vegetables as well as iron and steel, boron products, caustic soda, chlorine, industrial chemicals, sodium phosphates and automobile parts.

That certainly fills a lot of container ships.


As we continued along we saw the ancient walls of the city, fortified by all and sundry... for more than two thousand years.  The original Byzantium was founded in 667 BC by colonists from Megara, and obviously considerably built on for the next two thousand years!


I was fascinated to discover from my good friend Wikipedia that :
 

"the peninsula was settled thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Thracian tribes established two settlements—Lygos and Semistra—on the Sarayburnu, near where Topkapı Palace now stands, between the 13th and 11th centuries BC. On the Asian side, artifacts have been found in Fikirtepe (present-day Kadıköy) that date back to the Chalcolithic period. The same location was the site of a Phoenician trading post at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC as well as the town of Chalcedon, which was established by Greek settlers from Megara in 685 BC."

Finally we were nearing our destination which was the original European outpost in the city: The Galata area, and Beyoglu.

As we neared our destination the view out the window reminded us that we had missed lunch.

Street food is abundant and really cheap in Istanbul!  (basically the exchange was 1 euro to just a touch over 2 TL which pretty much meant that it was simple to divide the price in half and figure out how much you were actually spending.)

view from a balcony window

So finally we arrived and settled into the Santa Ottoman Hotel, near Taksim Square (5 minutes) and Istikal Street.(3 minutes). The room was lovely.  We had two wonderful balcony windows and a heavenly memory foam mattress bed.

On arrival I texted an old friend and we arranged to meet at 7:30 for dinner.  Then we took a wander out to discover the wonders of Istikal Street.  Istikal street NEVER sleeps.  There are people going somewhere, either up or down the street all day and all night.


We wandered along with the crowds.  I'll end today's post with a few pictures from out wanderings, and tell you that we had a great evening with our friend and had a brilliant dinner at Refik. Tomorrow will be more of our next couple of days in Istanbul (on the Galata side of the bridge, and our departure to Izmir)

Greek Embassy Consulate on Istikal (main Embassy is in Ankara)

Çiçek Pasajı

lovely art nouveau window above pasaji exit (duplicate above entrance as well)

St Antoine Church, Beyoglu, Istanbul

(for you Nina!) I ate one every day.

Galata Tower

and last but not least... where we had our lovely dinner:

tres tasty!

Excursions in my own mind

From whatever place I write you will expect that part of my "Travels" will consist of excursions in my own mind.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1809

Galata tower and bridge from Topkapi Palace

Home at last, and finally.  Not just "arrived" with all the luggage and the laundry, which was, actually, on Monday- but finally I feel here solid and re-rooted in my own soil today. 

There always seems to be a certain disconnect when traveling between places and finally arriving.  Maybe it's because travel is so fast.  Flying time between Corfu and Istanbul is a mere hour and 50 minutes. Of course the airport waits and transfers and posturing is much longer.

Needless to say the dog was ecstatic on our return.  She likes us both to be in the same room with her, so she doesn't have to keep track of where we are.

For sure, we had a marvelous time. 

Turkey was as complicated and confusing and multi-layered as ever, with the same wonderful energy, charm  and hospitality we remembered so well from our time there. (Our surprise was that it was much better organized than when we lived there, as well as much more modern and updated.  In it's heart though, it was just the same...)

We kept fairly close to our initial itinerary schedule, surprisingly enough, to my way of thinking, as it was only an outline of suggested things to do and see.  Still it was an outline that worked and so we all fell into it.  We only made a few changes and that because of time and circumstance.

For me the surprise was that all my arrangements worked fantastically well! (with a few caveats in hindsight)

- We had three great yet very different hotels- all very recommendable!;
- The shuttles all showed up and worked nicely- both private ones and hotel shuttles (six separate shuttles to three different airports!);
- Our domestic flights within Turkey were great (Surprised and very pleased with Istanbul's "other" airport);
- Fortunately we connected with many old friends both in Istanbul and Izmir;
- The car hire worked out well (if a little roughly at first when we realized the car did not initially come with a map!) The fiat Doblo (diesel) is a basic and fairly comfortable car (LOTS of space for 4 people and their junk) to tour Turkey's back roads and ancient archeological ruins.  It's not pretty but it's cheap and did the job.

And finally, once we figured out the new highway system in and around Izmir, driving was actually not as bad as we thought it would be.  (sadly that "figuring out" part only happened the last couple of days... on our way to Pergamom we got lost following what we thought were the highway signs and ended up in a bird sanctuary. Nevertheless we persevered!)

My greatest regret was that I dragged my laptop along, which turned out to be as useful as a doorstop.  In spite of free wi-fi at all our hotels, my laptop pretended it didn't understand what was going on whenever I entered the password of the hotel. 

It did work once, when I found a technician the second day in Istanbul, and he connected with no problem- to an open and unprotected wi-fi signal.  (I will have to figure out how to solve this problem.  It would seem that when my computer was "wiped" and everything re-installed, that particular memory didn't quite awaken in the same way as it had existed previously...)

So this is the first post, but more will follow tomorrow, as I am trying to sort through about 800 pictures (t and i took separate cameras... so he could take HIS pictures, and I could take mine...) As my computer was pretty worthless I went back to my old fashioned journal keeping of years past, in a little spiral notebook.  Except of course that my handwriting seems to have morphed into squiggles that resemble a cross between a doctors script, shorthand and a kind of Arabic swoop that makes it harder to interpret as the time between writing and interpretation gets farther apart.

The last thing I have to say is that, while in the Athens airport (lo-ong delay before our flight to Istanbul) T in his infinite wisdom purchased all three volumes of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played With Fire; The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest) These books have totally consumed both of us!!  Really well written, and completely addictive,  with a really unique and original character - not typical in most thrillers.  Anyway, I will recommend them to you with a caveat- they are violent in parts but I will also say that these books grab you and hold on to you right through the end.

So, more tomorrow!

Well I seem to have skipped the rest of January

But all is not lost!

I've spent the better part of last month making all the arrangements (hotels, domestic air tickets, car rental, hotels) for our adventure.

T spent his time wisely and called old friends in Turkey so we could try and get together!!

foggy sunrise a few days ago

Tomorrow we leave on the early morning Aegean flight for Athens and tomorrow afternoon we arrive at Attaturk airport at 3 in the afternoon.

I am SO excited.

We haven't been to visit for almost 15 years.  It will be so nice revisiting old friends and familiar places!

We bought the house here on Corfu, just shortly before we moved from Izmir to Copenhagen.  (we couldn't bear to leave the region and we had fallen in love with Corfu.

Still we would probably have never found Corfu if we hadn't lived in Turkey, so I have a special thankfulness in my heart for our time there.

Our house sitter is here and the dog and cats are happy.  (as is our house sitter - he loves darts, so we put a regulation dart board downstairs in our guest apartment were he'll be staying!)  This is a totally win-win situation as we have someone to keep the house running smoothly, the dog and cats have someone to annoy, and our house sitter will be able to play darts and watch sky tv to his hearts delight.

So this is what I did over the past month... I made all the arrangements for THIS! (except for C& S tickets from Seattle... they did that part!)

Our Itinerary:

Monday-  February 21 brother-in-law and sister-in-law ( C & S) depart Seattle  1:30 PM

Monday- February 21 T and I  depart CFU arrive IST  15:00 PM

Airport pick-up (by free hotel shuttle) Check-in Santa Ottoman Hotel Taksim Square (poor C & S will be stuck in an airplane, while  we hopefully have dinner with old friend in Beyoglu.)

Tuesday- February 22 C & S arrive IST (via FRA) 4:40 PM (16:40)

Airport pick-up (by free hotel shuttle) Check in Santa Ottoman Hotel Taksim Square.  After dropping off bags, we take a walk down the famous Istikal Street in Beyoglu and down into the Galata area. 

Dinner at a nice "inexpensive" restaurant and early night.

Wednesday February 23 Breakfast at hotel then sightseeing. 

[Choices include any or all:  Dolmabache Palace (hrs 9:00-5:00); Galata Tower, (hrs 9:00- 8:00);  Museum of Modern Art (hrs 10:00-6:00); Visit to the Mevlevi Monastery (hrs 9:30-4:30) lovely garden and cemetery (the rest of the monastery may be closed for renovation?); and, maybe a peek at the newly renovated to its former splendor,  Pera Palace Hotel. Or maybe the Pera Museum (10-6) to see Maria Callas grand piano – (special exhibition is Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera!).  Of course there are other things to see and do, checkout the links to Galata Area above!]

Thursday- February 24 Check out of Santa Ottoman Hotel around 8:30- 9:00.

Take private arranged (we pay) shuttle to Istanbul Sabiha Gocken International Airport (SAW) for our flight  12:50 departure to Izmir. (private shuttle for 4 people is cheaper, cleaner, safer and more comfortable than a taxi)

Arrive Izmir 13:50.  Rental car reserved at airport.  (hopefully.)  

 T will drive us to the Balcova  Thermal Hotel in Izmir.   (access to the hot spring "Baths of Agamemnon" to swim in!)

Spend rest of day scoping out our environment and maybe driving into Izmir for dinner (tho apparently dinner and breakfast comes with our hotel rooms- boy, did I make a good deal!) As the Archaeological Museum is close by, we might take the opportunity to drop in and see the loot from many of the sites we’ll be visiting.  

Friday- February 25 Drive to Priene, Miletus and Didyma to visit the ancient cities (may include Euromos, Iassos and Labranda). 

Eat en route (either picnic or small restaurant)  Return to hotel and do dinner and/or go into town and meet with Turkish friends (group will meet us at hotel - we may just stay there and catch up!)

Saturday- February 26 Drive to Pergamon (aka Bergama)

As there are three parts to the city it will probably take the better part of the day to see.  Dinner will either be at the hotel or in Izmir. Will meet with more Turkish friends.

Sunday- February 27   Drive to Ephesus (history), Selcuk (museum) and

Maryamana (house of the virgin Mary  (yes, I know, the URL link SAYS “cappadoccia”, but it’s not)

If we have time we’ll drive to the seaside town of Kusadasi (means “bird island”) and have a bite to eat, hoping no birds are directly overhead.

Monday- February 28  HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear bro-in law!! 

This is the day we drive to Sardis. It’s a very nice archaeological site but not too big so it shouldn’t take up the whole day.

Tuesday- March 1  HAPPY 42 ANNIVERSARY T& Me ! !

Check out of hotel 8:30 ish, and drive to airport in plenty of time to return the car and check in  for return flight to Istanbul  (dep 11:20)

Arrive Istanbul (SAW) 12:20 and take private shuttle service to Sultanahmet and check in to the AyaSofia Hotel.  Ask where a good place to have dinner would be!  Then take a little sightseeing walk.  Maybe visit Hagia Sofia (open 9:00-4:30), and perhaps (around the corner) the Cistern, Yerebatan Sarayi (9:00-5:00). 

Wednesday- March 2  Topkapi  Palace (9- 7) and the Archaeological Museums. (9-7)

Thursday – March 3 Blue Mosque (9-7) cannot enter during prayer time, Sulemaniye Mosque (8-6:30), Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar (day to wear thick socks as must remove shoes)

Friday- March 4 Chora (9:30-6:30), Mosaic Museum (9:30-4:30), Old city walls

(no mosques cause it’s the Muslim prayer day))

Saturday March 5 Catch up day to see (or re-see) anything missed.  Do Turkish Bath?

Or for anything C & S particularly want to see or do.

Or anything needing a second look (also shopping)

Sunday March 6 Relax catch up and pack

(as C & S will be in a state of NON sleep for the bulk of the night.)

Monday March 7 C & S fly out of Istanbul  5:45 AM. 

Hotel will arrange free shuttle to airport.  (will include a wake up call for C &  S…) am guessing  departure from hotel around 3 AM. Gaa.

T and Me depart Istanbul  for Athens, 15:50 (obviously a more civilized hour).  

We return to Corfu 19:15.  (sigh)

and All's well that ends well!