Jenni & Joe
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Istanbul, Turkey
Wednesday, September 5
We arrive in Istanbul with Jenni running a fever and feeling very ill. So sick, in fact, she is letting Joe handle the money issues! Yow! And the taxi driver isn't helping much either. He gets lost trying to find our hotel to drop us off so, to his credit, he starts asking people directions. Unfortunately, the people he is asking are sending him driving in circles. After about 20 minutes of this madness, the taxi driver stops and tells us to get out of his car. He gives up on trying to find the hotel. To his discredit, the jerk announces he is just dumping us out on the street nowhere near our hotel. With Jenni obviously sick to her stomach, doubled over in the back seat!? What? No way, Jenni says. She refuses to leave the taxi! Joe gets out and starts flagging down other taxis and finally finds a friendly driver that allows us to follow behind in our taxi to our hotel. We pay the driver (no tip) and send him on his way back to the Bulgarian border. Then we check into the Apricot Hotel for about $35 per night (sort of expensive, but well worth it) where we are greeted by a very warm, caring, attentive staff. First stop for Jenni is off to bed while Joe steps out to get her some soup for her poor stomach. Joe brings back Lentil soup from a nearby restaurant and a salad, which apparently starts Jenni on the road back to recovery.

Thursday, September 6
Jenni is feeling better, but still… Joe grabs the free hotel breakfast - consisting of feta cheese, toast, eggs and olives - while Jenni sleeps late. We decide that today we will take it easy. Skip the sightseeing so Jenni can get her strength back. However, we have a wonderful curve thrown at us when Ahmet, an old friend of the mother of a friend, shows up to take us on a tour and proceeds to impress us in so many ways (See the Istanbul Journal).

Ahmet first takes us on a tour of Eyup, an important Muslim site and off the beaten track for tourists. Then he treats us to a lunch of lamb chops and potatoes, and a dessert made from 90% milk and finely grained chicken. And this restaurant in Eyup, because it's near a mosque, does not serve alcohol. Instead, the staff creates innovative drinks and juices that distinguish themselves from the many other restaurants. After lunch, we cross a bridge into Asia (where most of Turkey happens to reside). We then proceed to a lovely tea garden at the top of the tallest hill overlooking old Istanbul and listen to Ahmet tell story after hilarious story. After tea, Ahmet takes us to tour one of the sultans' summer palaces, a glittering little gem that was built in the late 19th century. We then stop for another snack at another tea garden; this one on the European side of the Bosphorus Strait.

Today's tour is a huge, pleasant surprise! We thank Ahmet for his generosity, then jump out of his tour van back at the Apricot Hotel where Jenni proceeds to go right to sleep. Joe is still buzzing from the experience when he meets Mary, a traveler from Toronto, Canada who joins him for dinner on the hotel terrace. Mary has also quit her job to go traveling and will spend half of her travel time volunteering for missionary work helping homeless street children. Jenni comes up to the terrace a couple of hours later and we all three sit and told stories, then later walk together to the Internet café and check e-mail. We turn in around midnight.

Friday, September 7
We meet Mary for breakfast (traditional Turkish breakfast of white cheese, eggs and olives) and then we're off to go sightseeing. Jenni is back to nearly full strength and she'll need it because we're going to the Grand Bazaar! We walk through this shopper's paradise and it takes Joe about 5 minutes to realize he's not a shopper. Joe hangs on for about 20 minutes then, bored out of his skull, goes for a walk and takes pictures while Jenni and Mary shop around and convince salesmen to try on belly dancer costumes.

We all meet at 12:30 down at the pier where we catch a taxi to the Dolmabahce Palace. Before we go in we stop for a lunch of Kebap (grilled lamb) and coffee. After touring the palace, we're off to a fancy shopping mall for more shopping. Mary buys some clothes and we buy some videotapes for the camera. Joe delights in buying a coke with ice! We had planned to eat dinner on the roof terrace of a nice restaurant, but it started raining so we had to eat inside. We made the error of not checking the prices ahead of time, so we ended up paying quite a bit of money for a terrible meal. The conversation was excellent, however. Mary met a nice Italian gentleman from Milan named Uberto who joined us for dinner and kept us entertained. He is also a traveler who is writing a book about seeing the world. We wish him luck with his project.

Saturday, September 8
We spend the day touring Prince's Islands; a collection of tiny islands just off the coast of Istanbul. The big island does not allow cars, so people are only allowed to ride a horse and buggy, walk or ride bicycles. We opt for bicycles, pedal our way up the hill to a nice park overlooking the Bosphorus and doze for a few hours on the ground with the sound of the surf in our ears. On the way home, we stop for a fish sandwich cooked fresh right on the boat where they caught it.

Sunday, September 9 Don't really remember what happened this day, but we think we just relaxed, and did no touring or sightseeing.

Monday, September 10
Ahmet and Gonul are kind enough to spend their entire day taking us on more tours of Istanbul. We start off checking out the Suleymanya Mosque, then Ahmet takes us to buy carpets near the Grand Bazaar. That's where we have the pleasure of meeting Gonul, and she then takes us for the afternoon. We start in Taxim Square seeing all her favorite haunts, then head to Topkapi Palace and then back to her neighborhood where we meet Ahmet for a dinner of Iskender - a kind of grilled meat - small pizzas and other assorted goodies, including a little appetizer of raw beef with spices.

September 11 - 14 That awful day. We slept very late, and then were checking e-mails in the afternoon when we learned of the horrible attacks (See Adana Journal). Joe has stuffed himself with junk food and is starting to feel very ill. We spend the next few days holed up in our hotel room watching reports. Eventually we buy bus tickets to Izmir, but we end up never using them. Instead, Joe's been hired on a freelance basis by NBC and we're headed south to Adana, Turkey, near the Syrian border.