Arriving in Istanbul ~ the nexus where Europe Meets Asia

Arriving in Istanbul ~ the Nexus where Europe Meets Asia

April 24, 2013

I have wanted to go to Istanbul ever since our sabbatical in Oxford in 1997 when I met some Brit friends who said Istanbul is “no doubt, one of the world’s greatest cities.”  Our son, Seth, provided the excuse for taking this trip only a month after returning from the Middle East where we thoroughly enjoyed learning about Arabic culture. We wanted to share this experience with Seth as a way to celebrate his graduation from medical school (effective June 1^st).  Again John amazingly worked his magic to find available airline tickets and a lovely apartment only a week ago despite the fact that April is the start of Turkey’s tourist season. However, this time we could not use air miles to able to go business class ~ so our coach travel conditions were very different from our prior Emirates first class travel ~ that experience has completely spoiled us. It took 20 hours traveling from Seattle to Frankfurt on Lufthansa and then on Turkish Airways to Istanbul. None of us managed even an hour of sleep and we arrive looking bedraggled and jet lagged as we wait in long lines to get visas and our passports checked. Luckily we have not checked any luggage so that is convenient.

As we fly over Istanbul I see mosques and minarets everywhere standing tall against blue skies and the weather is sunny and warm. As we drive from the airport the cab driver explains that one side of the road is the Asian side consisting of 10 million people and the other side is the European side consisting of 7 million people ~ Istanbul a city of 17 million people of whom 99% are Muslim.  It is the nexus of cultures where Europe meets Asia. Turkey is the biggest moderate Muslim nation that seems eager to connect with the west and be part of the European Union.  It has an incredible history of Roman emperors and Ottoman sultans and I struggle to remember this history and am embarrassed by how little I can recall of my high school education. I vow when I have more time to go back to university to learn more Turkish history. I do however, remember that Istanbul was first called Byzantium and then Constantinople. 

Our first glimpse of Istanbul before we collapse into bed is of an exciting, cultural, prosperous city.. much more European than I felt in Amman or Oman. In contrast to the blog I wrote about Oman where women seem to be hidden behind house fences or under veils here we see Turkish women many wearing Western clothes mixing naturally on the streets with men  ~ no men wearing dishdashes, many women without burkas and very few abayas.  






We arrive at our sweet, 2-bedroom apartment that John found after much web searching. It is conveniently located and close to key sights and has a lovely living room area and kitchen, lots of light with floor to ceiling windows each with window boxes filled with geraniums and includes all the amenities including dishwasher, washing machine, hair dryer, Wi-Fi and daily housekeeping. (Galata Flats)However, John remarks there is no Nespresso machine and only powdered Nescafe and announces he wants to buy a coffee maker! He discusses this with the apartment manager who tells him he can buy coffee and make Turkish coffee. John looks unconvinced about this coffee after his experience with mud-like Turkish coffee in Amman, but the manager assures us someone will help the next morning and show us how to do this.  We start making a grocery list. 

We decide to find a Turkish restaurant for dinner.. and John checks the menus on several places and rejects some as being “too American” and finally finds one that seems “authentic”, or at least tourist authentic. This one has waiters dressed in Turkish garments while the owner standing next to a huge hanging side of meat is carving off slices of this part lamb and beef onto plates.  We order based on the food pictures on the menu as there is no English translation and try to learn a few Turkish food words ~ these seem to be most important first words to master. 

After dinner we head for a shopping market to get some supplies for breakfast. It is interesting to see the three of us in this market ~ Seth susses out the beer situation and buys several types of beer and leaves us to return to the apartment. John searches for what kind of coffee to buy (in addition to tomatoes and fruits) and I am obsessing about the butter. I look a lot of items that could be butter but can’t decide if they are cheese, or margarine or something else? I ask a woman and two of the store employees for help about whether this is butter or not and they look blankly at me and smile. Nothing is translated on the products in English and I realize that this is one of the first times I’ve had difficulty with making myself understood. In Oman, Jordan and Israel everything was also written in English and there always seemed to be someone I could find that spoke English to ask questions ~ in this store that was not the case. I found I enjoyed this mystery and challenge as this is what it must be like for so many new immigrants when they come to the US. But clearly we need to find out what the local Turkish breakfast is ~ in order to enjoy differences and perhaps find some new alternatives to our predictable pattern at home. We pay in liras now and take 30% off to calculate the cost in American dollars. We head back to the apartment… where all of us with our 3 computers and 3 I-phones decide who will first use the adaptor plugs for 220 voltage to charge up our technology. What creatures of habit we are!  Can’t wait to learn more tomorrow.