We leisurely left our hotel in Hurghada Egypt at the Red Sea and caught a short taxi ride to the airport for our departure to Istanbul. Everything had gone very smoothly in Egypt and we were ready for the last leg of our trip: Istanbul Turkey!
We entered the shiny new airport and were abruptly and harshly asked for our passport at the door, “Oh! OK, here it is…” we said showing it to the guard. Then we proceeded to another checkpoint where the next gaurd harshly demanded our tickets. “Oh! oK….” we replied as we pilfered through our things looking for the reservation on our phones. “Here it is” we say as we show him our reservations for 2:00 on Pegasus airlines.
“Pegasus?!?” He demanded, “There is no flight today on Pegasus airlines!” Oh no, we are starting to be a little concerned. But we look up at the scheduled flights on the screen above us and we can see the scheduled flight on Pegasus Airlines to Istanbul at 2:00 so we feel reasonably confident that everything is going to be ok.
“No!” Our gaurd shouts at us, “there is no flight today, only tomorrow!” “What?” How can that be? We have the reservations right here…. Much confusion insued and we debated with him for a few minutes until finally we understand they are saying we missed our flight, it was at 2:00 AM not PM!
A knot forms in our stomach as we realize we had gotten it wrong, in Europe and the Middle East they use military time so when the ticket said 2:00 it meant 2:00 in the morning, we had indeed missed our flight! So we sit down and start scrambling for solutions, I called Pegasus support line and the customer service woman had terrible customer service, for one, when she answered the phone she just said “hello”, like it was her personal line, then when I explained to her what had happened she shouted at me “you are a NO SHOW!” At first I could not understand her English and what she was trying to say to me so she had to shout it at least three more times “NO SHOW, you are a NO SHOW! N O S H O W!!!”
“Oh, ‘no show’, yes, I guess we were a ‘no show’ for our 2:00 am flight because we THOUGHT it was 2:00 pm, so what can we do about it?” I reply trying to remain calm. She shouts at me again “You must buy new ticket!” really? That’s it? I eat the other ticket and buy a new ticket? That’s your customer service? I hate you. Ok, Its not nice to say “hate”…I am really not happy with Pegasus at this moment….but I will let bygones be bygones and buy a new ticket because obviously I can’t stay in Egypt!
We start looking for other solutions, other airlines, we even look into just flying home to Rome, but alas, we must bite the bullet and buy new tickets on Pegasus no matter how we feel about it, they were the cheapest option. So that was a $250 mistake, yikes, that’s hard to bare for a tight-wad like me! So we bought our tickets, called an Uber and went back to our hotel with our hat in our hand.
Our all inclusive was kind to us, they charged us a nominal fee of $20 to keep our bracelets that entitled us to lunch, dinner, drinks and use of the facilities. So we hung out at our hotel lounging in the sun and trying not to be too disappointed.
It was a pretty grueling night as we slept on a couch in the lobby of our hotel from 9 pm until 11 when we caught another Uber back to the airport. We went through security with no incident, it’s a lot easier when you are at the airport at the right time for the right flight. Now we had another two hours to burn at the airport until our 2:00 am flight so we found a dark table in the Burger King and slept on the bench seats.
Finally it was time for our flight and we boarded the plane. When Jeff saw our seats he shouted “OH NO! No!…..No!…..no no no no NO!” and proceeded to have a conniption fit! “What has happened?”, I thought, it was the isle seats that don’t recline, so we would be sitting very upright for the next three hours. Man! He reacted way worse to this little development than the colossal mistake I made in the missed flight. Maybe it was the late hour, no sleep or a culmination of the exhaustion of the whole trip. But it was the straw that broke the camels back.
It all turned out ok because there was no one in the third seat in our row so we could spread out and try to get a little more comfortable. We ended up sleeping the whole flight….if you can call that sleep. Soon we were touching down in Istanbul. It was still dark outside because first light doesn’t appear here until 8:00 am. So we proceeded to passport control and waited in line haggard and exhausted from the nights traveling.
After waiting in line it was finally our turn, the passport control person said “Where is your Visa?” We told him we did not have a Visa but needed to buy one. He said “Go, buy your VISA first then return” and handed our passports back to us. We said “Where?” He said “Over there” “But there is no one over there…” we replied as we looked in the direction of his finger. He just kept indicating that we should go. So we stumbled over to the window that said “Visa” but it was not attended when we passed it the first time. Within seconds of standing at the window someone appeared. He said “€70”, we said “Do you take credit card?” “No! Go to the ATM” he indicated it was just a few step away. Ok, we need local Turkish cash anyway, so we get a couple hundred worth of Turkish money and head back to the VISA window. By this time the exhaustion is kicking in and Jeff is about to snap but I reassured him we needed to get cash anyway. But then a million people flood off the next arriving flight and we see the line for passport control getting longer and longer.
We approach the Visa window again and hand the man our Turkish money and he says “NO! I told you! It has to be Euro!” “What?!?” You don’t take your own money?” “NO! I already told you that! Go get Euros from the ATM!” Ok, my husband is going to snap. “Come one, let’s go get some Euros…” I try to coax him away from jumping off the ledge of hysteria. So back to the ATM we go and get Euro this time.
So we pay for the Visa in Euros, get a new shiny stamp in our passport and get back in line for entry into Turkey. The rest went smoothly as we got our luggage and caught a taxi to our Airbnb that was about an hour away from the airport.
The morning light was beautiful as it shone over Istanbul as the city was just waking up. We crossed the Bosphorus River and had our first glimpse of the Hagia Sophia with its iconic architecture. Istanbul is a huge metropolitan city of 15 million people, and here at the Bosphorus river is where the East meets West.
Istanbul straddles two Continents: Europe and Asia, you can take a short ferry ride across the Black Sea and you can step directly into Asia. In fact the Bosphorus River connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea so its an important trade route.
For us Americans it can be a little confusing because we don’t think of the Middle East or Russia as being Asia, but they are. In fact we say Middle EAST, so yes, it’s the East, and the East is Asia. At least that’s how I understand it. Also, Paul traveled extensively in Asia Minor, that’s basically modern day Turkey. The seven congregations referred to in Revelations are here, in Turkey, in Asia Minor.
The border that separates Europe from Asia are the countries of Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia. What separates that part of the continent of Europe with the continent of Asia is Russia.
So basically during our 10 day trip to Egypt and Istanbul we have traveled the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. So I guess you can say in our lives we have almost traversed all seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia….opps, we haven’t done Antarctic yet, when I pointed that out to Jeff, without blinking, he said “Well, let’s go!” How I do love that man.
So that ends my geography lesson. Now on to our history lesson! Istanbul was part of the Roman Empire as we know from Paul’s travels through Asia Minor. You can also see remnants of the Roman Empire from the underground cisterns such as the Basilica Cistern (built in 532 CE by emperor Justinian) and the Hippodrome where they held horse races and sporting events in the time of Constantine.
The Hippodrome was built by Emperor Septimius Severus in the third century but Constantine expanded on the Hippodrome to celebrate the move of the Byzantine Empire from Rome to Constantinople (Istanbul). He mounted two Obelisks in the center to show his far-reaching power over countries such as Egypt. The original obelisk was ordered from Egypt in an early version of Amazon.com but did not arrive in time for his event. Don’t you hate when that happens? So he did what any self respecting emperor would do and constructed his own “Egyptian” copy. Both can still be seen today on the location that was the Hippodrone almost 1700 years ago along with a copper serpent.
Constantine’s influence is strong here, the world views him as the Pagan Ceasar who converted to Christianity but we know him as the Pagan Roman Emperor that blended true Christianity with pagan worship to strengthen his empire. The result was the corruption of the Christian faith, blending pagan holidays with Christian ideas. Such as combining the worship of the sun in the pagan festival of Saturnalia that was celebrating the return of the sun on the winter solstice of December 25 with the birth of Jesus. Of course we know Jesus was not born in December but that is how the world now celebrates it due to this amalgam of Christianity and Paganism that Constantine created.
All of the other holidays having similar fusions such as the pagan festival of Lupercalia that was a festival of love celebrated by pagans on February 14. Constantine had it deemed “Christian” by calling is St Valentine’s Day. Even Easter bears the very name of a pagan god of fertility and is celebrated with fertility emblems such as bunnies and chicks, nothing to do with Christ’s resurrection. Constantine also adopted the doctrine of the Trinity from the council of Nicaea held right here in Constantinople, or modern day Istanbul. A topic that had long been rejected by the early Christian congregation who worshipped only one true God, not a triune god like the pagans around them.
Constantine founded the Byzantine Empire in the 300’s CE and moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople (called Istanbul today). The Byzantine Empire is sometimes known as the Eastern Roman Empire and it continued to flourish after the decline of the Roman Empire and Rome’s ultimate fall in 476 CE. The Byzantine Empire ruled from its capital in Constantinople for another thousand years until it fell to the Ottomans in 1453 CE.
Who are the Ottomans? They were the sultans, with Arab and Persian influences, their religion was Islam and they were determined to spread Islam and expand their borders. So you can think of Sultans with their silk robes and turbans, their harems and concubines.
This mix of religions and cultures is evident in the striking architecture of Istanbul. In the historical district of Sultanahmet I stand in the plaza that was once the Roman Hippodrome and look towards the Hagia Sophia. This peach colored building with its dome and tall towers dominates one end of the Plaza. The Hagia Sophia was a church built in 527 AD at the command of Justinian, the emperor.
After Constantinople was taken by the Ottomans the Hagia Sophia was made into a mosque and today it is a museum. Directly across from Hagia Sophia is the Blue Mosque, it gets this name from the blue tiles used inside to a striking affect.
Enough history! Do you want to hear about the area and things to do? During our visit we stayed in Beyoğlu, a young hip residential neighborhood with its popular street of Istiklal Caddesi near Taksim Square.
Here there is a grand pedestrian strip for high end shopping of all kinds and a cool restaurant district. The grand avenue was rebuilt after a fire to resemble the shopping districts in Paris near the Arch d’triumph. I loved our Airbnb, it had old wide wooden plank floors, brick walls painted white and cool furnishings. After being in Egypt I thought all of Istanbul was quite swanky.
On the other side of the Bosphorus River is the old section of Sultanahmet that has all of the historical buildings such as the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, the Hippodrome from Roman times, Topkapi Palace where all of the Sultans lived with their harems and eunuchs.
On the Sultanahmet side of Istanbul is also the famous Spice Market and Grand Bazaar. These are always fun for walking, shopping and people watching. I had been told the Turkish Bazaar was worse than the Cairo Bazaar for being haggled but that was simply not true, NOTHING in Istanbul can be compared in a negative light to Egypt.
Of course at the bazaar we shopped, I bought a Turkish lamp, pillow covers for sitting on the cushions at low tables on the ground, Turkish hand woven cotton towels and Turkish bath hammam natural soap. All specialties of Turkey.
On our side of the Bosphorus River, in the neighborhood of Beyoğlu, we have the iconic Galatia Tower that had been erected in the late 4th century and was one of the oldest towers built by the Byzantine Empire. It has gone through many renovations and improvements through the years being used as a Watchtower for fires, a safe house for Christian prisoners of war in the 1500’s and an observatory. 1n 1638 Hazerfen Ahmet Celebi flew from the Galatia tower on wings he had designed and built. This would be the first human flight, some 260 years before the Wright Brothers achieved controlled powered flight in 1903.
But what some of you really want to know is “How was the food?!” It was delicious!We couldn’t get enough of the baklava and stopped at least 4 times to go into a Turkish Delight Cafe and have baklava with Turkish tea. It was the perfect way to rest and warm up on a cold December day. Turkish Delights is the broad category of sweets here and boy do they love their sweets. In fact the jelly Turkish delights are the forerunner of the Jelly Bean! So just image the early form of the sweet fruity chewy jellybean but these are cut into squares and brighten up store front windows all over town.
We also tried as much Turkish foods as possible such as the grilled meat kebabs, rice, grilled vegetables, gozleme and Künefe. Gozleme is dough that is rolled out thin like a large tortilla then filled with cheese, meat and potatoes. It looks like a large quesadilla.
Kunefe is a dessert made with thin threads of pastry in a type of “nest” filled with unsalted cheese and soaked in honey. We had ours topped with sweet cream and ice cream. It is served like a small pie and when you cut into it and bring it toward your mouth the cheese strings delightfully.
I especially loved the lunch we had at a place that had old brick walls with domed brick arched ceilings and Turkish pillows to sit on with low tables. The cushions were in bright red colors and we lounged around the table like in bible times and the food was delicious!
A definite highlight of Istanbul was meeting up with “friends of friends”. I had contacted a friend that had just moved from Calabria in Italy to Turkey and asked if she knew anyone in Istanbul. She gave me the name of a friend of her friend and I contacted her. Her name is Nadine and I noticed on Instagram that we shared a few of the same followers!
Come to find out she was from Canada but had lived in Mexico for several years and we shared many of the same friends! So I started communicating with her while we were in Egypt and by the time we arrived at their door in Istanbul we felt like we already knew each other! It’s a beautiful thing to meet someone you never met before in a foreign country and embrace like you been friends forever! Truly it’s like the song “I love you even though I never met you before”. It’s a beautiful brotherhood we have.
They not only welcomed us for dinner but walked with us to the meeting that night down the streets of Istanbul. The next day we met up with them at the Pera Palace Hotel where Agatha Christy wrote “Murder on the Orient Express”. We had fun walking into the old train station that the movie depicts as the plot unfolds.
They were gracious hosts as the toured us around the Sultanahmet district giving us historical tidbits from Constantine to the Hippdrome. They also took us to a factory and shop for Turkish Towels. I didn’t know that was “a thing”, but much like Turkish Rugs, it’s a long held craft to hand weave the fabric on looms. This shop is one of the last to still uphold the old traditions using organic quality materials like cotton and linen. The manager of the shop points out the quality workmanship and knots per centimeter.
It was a little costly for me, the girl who shops at Ross, but Jeff saw a plush towel and was sold! So he casually forked over the $40 for a towel! Yikes! I couldn’t do it at the time but now I’m a little jealous of his thick plush towel! I wish I could embrace decadence more!
But now we feel cold from the December temperatures so we experiment with our own “pub crawl”, moving from one Turkish cushion clad restaurant to the other sampling all of the yummy food that Turkey has to offer. That’s what you do in the cold weather, sample good food and warm up with tea and baklava!
Our new friends point out another “pop culture” fun fact about Istanbul, and that is that the James Bond movie “To Russia with Love” had scenes filmed here in the Basilica Cistern. It is a scene in which they are in a small row boat in shallow water in this big cistern with many columns.
Istanbul is a modern European city with classic architecture and a secular society. The women still cover their heads, but instead of the full burka they wear elegant head scarfs in many colors and patterns. They prefer to wear long skirts or loose fitting pants just to the ankle with a trench coat down to their knees or longer. The classy women of the city like sensible shoes or boots so the effect is still a completely covered woman but still a little modern. It was explained to me that it is not required for the women to cover themselves in this way, they are free to wear a head covering or not and dress the way they like. They pride themselves in being a secular society and not an Islamic one but the Muslim faith still the dominates this society.
So this brings an end to our journey in Egypt and Turkey. I would go back to both countries, although probably I would only return to Egypt for a beach holiday in the resort area of Sharm a Sheik and not a full “Egypt” tour, I think that is more of a once in a lifetime deal.
For Istanbul I would definitely return, next time with more time to explore the entire country. But there are so many other places to visit in this part of the world like Morocco, Spain, France and Eastern Europe to name a few. But at this moment no other place sounds as appealing as home. In this case home is Italy, in the green villa on the hilltop surrounded by olive groves.
