Day 77 - Turkish Delight

We spent the morning attending to some travel details. In the afternoon we were away to the airport for our first flight since before the Camino. It was odd being in an airport again, but all went smoothly. Our bags were searched, but nothing other than Cz's sunscreen (liquid) confiscated. If you have any excuse to use Turkish Air, do so. Even in Economy, the seats are huge and soft with flexible headrests. They fed us a dinner even though the flight was only 2.5 hours. They remembered that I was a vegetarian. OK, so on this trip I'm not, but my records with Expedia say that I am, and Turkish Air honored it. Once in Istanbul, we breezed through customs. At the airport, we were approached by loads of taxi and hotel touts, but I had good directions to the hostel via public transportation, and we warded them off no problem. The Metro operates on old-school tokens which are purchased from kiosks outside of each station. To get from the airport to our hostel we needed top take a metro and then the above-ground tram. From our windows, a heady mix of old (as in Byzantine) and new streamed past. At the transfer point, we could have sampled all sorts of fruits, bought any number of toys, and in general been parted with our cash in a myriad of delicious ways. We pressed on though, and hopped on the tram and headed to our neighborhood. Here I will give you an excerpt from the directions to our hostel. Follow the tramline to the corner with the traffic light. Turn right into the courtyard past the Haggia Sophia. The Blue Mosque is a little farther down on the right....Not even to our hostel, and we are already walking through the courtyards of Haggia Sophia and The Blue Mosque! Later we discovered that the rooftop terrace of our home in Istanbul has views over the Maramar Sea, and the Domes and Minarets of both landmarks.

Turkish hospitality is legendary. As we were sitting outside nibbling cookies, the cousin of the night desk person from the hostel drove up. He opened two cold beers (for himself and the clerk) and apologized for not bring one for us. We said not to worry about it, but after a little while he dove into his trunk, and produced a bottle of Hungarian apricot liquor which he said we must try. We did try it, and spent a lovely hour or so chatting, trading cookies and drinks in the cool evening air. (Istanbul is HOT during the day, but nights are breezy and pleasant) At the end of the visit, the cousin pressed the bottle into our hands and declared that we must finish it.

As part of the conversation, both clerk and cousin warned us against accepting offers of hospitality from shop owners, and that people on the street are often friendly to try to make a sale, etc, etc, etc. Don't worry, this wasn't the case here. This was just a few people sitting outside and enjoying the summer night.

Istanbul takes all the colours and warmth - both in temperature and friendliness - of Spain and kicks them up a notch. I'm not sure if more is necessarily better, but it certainly an intoxicating mix. As of one evening, I like it here very much.