Rediscovering Istanbul continued: November 29, 2012

The Petty Hagia Sophia 

We hired a company called Istanbul Walks which provided us with a guide named Selma Şen for a walking tour through the Blue Mosque area.  We strolled through the old neighborhoods, toured little visited sights, and thoroughly enjoyed her information about historic Constantinople and Istanbul.  One of the sights we saw was the Petty Hagia Sophia.  The structure and its history is very similar to the Hagia Sophia.  It was built by Justinian I as a church and later minarets were added and it was turned into a mosque.  While the large Hagia Sophia is now a museum, the petty Hagia Sophia is still a functioning mosque.

Interior of the Petty Hagia Sofia

We covered a lot of ground during the five hours on this tour.  She took us into historic hotels and along narrow streets to discuss Ottoman architecture and those who lived around the Topkapi Palace in the service of the Sultans.  We visited the new Four Seasons Hotel that until the 1970s was Sultanahmet Prison.  We descended below a restaurant to see the remains of Emperor Justinian's Palace.  

Our last night, a full-moon evening, we walked across the Galata Bridge, up the hill to the Galata Tower, the length of Istiklal (Independence) Street, to Taksim Square.  The street even in late November was packed with people strolling, window shopping, stopping at cafes, or listening to street musicians.  Overhead, Istiklal Street was decorated with blue and white holiday lights.  If we didn't already love Istanbul, then this night would have convinced us that we should.

The Galata Bridge and Tower

The Yeni Mosque and its well-fed pigeons

Corn on Cob (Misir) and Chestnut Vendor 

Street food in Istanbul is plentiful and everywhere people are in a hurry: roasted corn, roasted chestnuts, hot salep.  On either side of the Galata Bridge barbecue carts grill freshly caught fish and slip the fish into a french roll for a delicious fast sandwich.  Along the waterfront, mussel vendors do a brisk drop-in business.  Stop by, snack on a few mussels, then move on.

We couldn't leave Istanbul without a Bosphorus boat trip so on our last afternoon, we took a two-hour ferry trip from the Galata Bridge up the Bosphorus past the second bridge.  

And, then it was time to return to Macedonia.  While in Istanbul, we received an email from the US Embassy stating that the Macedonian government had printed our ID cards.  Even though I knew that now I was technically no longer an illegal alien, I still cringed when the non-Macedonian woman in the line next to me was asked how long she had been in Macedonia.  At that point the man she was traveling with stepped up and the conversation continued in Macedonian while she looked on.  In my line, the immigration officer stamped my passport and I quickly left.

Detour to Istanbul: April 27, 2012

Last night we made our way to Macedonia's Alexander the Great Airport for our flight to Cairo.  It was actually two flights: Skopje-Istanbul and Istanbul-Cairo.  We had about 90 minutes between flights and they were both Turkish Air so we didn't anticipate any problems.  How silly of us!  Our Turkish Air flight to Istanbul left very late because the Turkish Air flight we were to take arrived in Skopje very late.  We arrived in Istanbul after 12:30 a.m. which was after our connecting flight had already left.

The Turkish Air Transit Desk was overwhelmed with passengers with the same problem--missed connections to all parts of the world.  When we finally got our turn, we gave the Turkish Air employee our information; she told us to take a seat across the terminal from her desk.  We waited and waited, and we watched new waves of disgruntled passengers queue up or usually just mob the Turkish Air Transit Desk.  Finally, feeling forgotten, we got back in line.  After quite a bit of waiting, we were finally rebooked on an afternoon flight and sent to Turkish Air's Hotel Desk.  To get to the Hotel Desk, we had to buy a visa ($20 each) so we could leave the airport.  At the Hotel Desk, we waited some more with other delayed passengers.  Finally, our names were called, and we boarded a shuttle bus to a "5-star hotel" somewhere in greater Istanbul.

Around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. we arrived at our hotel which was at least 45 minutes from the airport.  We checked in, and I asked for and was given a toothbrush and toothpaste.  Because our carry-on bags consist of camera equipment and our laptop, we had no other toiletries or clothing other than what was on our backs.

This morning we woke to a beautiful view of the Sea of Marmara.  Our room was very nice and the bed was two king sized beds.  We have no idea where we were.

Turkish Air told us a shuttle bus would pick us up at 11:00 for our 2:00 flight.  We waited.  The shuttle bus finally showed up about 11:30, but it was a van not a bus.  Once the other passengers got in with their bags, there was no room for us.  The driver said he'd call another van for us.  Again, we waited.  Finally fearing that we would miss yet another plane, we took a taxi to the airport.  Our flight was left late so our worries were for naught.

Our baggage did not arrive with us at the Cairo Airport.  Egypt Air filled out reports for the missing luggage and they paid us a "baggage delay" allowance of 200 EGP ($33 USD).

One thing that did work well was our Cairo hotel, the Hotel Longchamps.  We asked for a driver to meet us at the airport, and he was there with a sign.  He had a nice car with air conditioning and whisked us to the hotel.  Our room was serene and quiet.  After checking in we went in search of a change of clothing.  It was lovely to be back in Zamalek.

We each bought a shirt and I found a pair of denim capris.  After dinner at Abou El Cid Restaurant, we found The Body Shop recently opened in Zamalek on 26th July, and I bought makeup.  Interestingly,  there are several new shops in Zamalek opened post revolution.  There is a fancy cupcake shop (Nola's Cupcakes) on Brazil St and a Gourmet Food Shop with Australian beef and Norwegian Salmon.  And, some of the old shops have remodeled their old spaces.