Thursday, August 23, 2007

The End of Turkey and the Beginning of Trout

Day 14
We spent the morning drinking warm drinks in a cafe and writing postcards and shopping. We then went to a mountain town called Sirince. The town was filled with white wached houses with red-tiled roofs, fruit orchards and fruit wines. For once I didn't mind the touts dragging us into their shops because usually it meant free wine samples. The following happened in Sirince and describes our night bus ride back to Istanbul.

Once when we pulled out our Lonely Planet guide, one of the locals comes rushing towards us. He informs us that his pension was in there and had to see it for himself. Later on, when we were in one of the shops, he comes in to show the shop owner his place in the Lonely Planet. So of course, the shop owner and Lonely Planet guy ask us if we want tea - cold apple tea- as their gift. The shop owner also proceeded to give us gifts. He takes two chains with the fairy eyes on them (they are creepy and supposed to ward off the evil eye), kneels down on the ground and proceeds to put them on our ankles. For the rest of the afternoon, we were followed by their jingle jingle.

When we bought our bus tickets, we were again intercepted by the regular tout, He was very helpful: gave us all the times, promised us that the bus would stop on the Asian side and promised us a servis to Bostanci. He also told us that tonight there was a special bus at 10:00. That was the bus we chose.
So we get on this special bus to choruses of "Christina". This time the whole camping group was on the bus. Group dynamics make for a special bus trip as there were people sleeping in the aisles or upside down in their seats with their feet everywhere.
We arrived in Istanbul, did not stop on the Asian side and were told that there was a servis bus that left at 11:30 (It was 8:30 at the time). We decided to take public transport. By the time we arrived at Amy's at 10:00 in the morning, we had taken the following forms of transportation: bus, bus on ferry, metro, tram, switch to another tram, ferry, feet, train. Needless to say, we had a morning nap.

Day 15
Our last day in Turket but we did not do much except how to get to the airport the next day. We contemplated going to the Grand Bazaar but would have needed to take a tram and ferry there and were done with public transport for now.

Day 16
The alarm souded at 5:00 am. Christina and I jumped out of bed and got ready. Amy phoned the taxi and we left. As soon as I got into the taxi, I realized that I had forgotten the paper with the name of the place that the Havas airport bus left from. Our taxi driver did not speak English ans we were all stressed out trying to communicate. I remember that the guide book said that it was near the Kirakoy ferry terminal. So wehile the taxi driver was babbling at us, I looked yp "boat" in the lonely planet. "Vapur" Finally we clicked,we communicated and he dropped us off.
There were some men in the vicinity, so we asked them (I think) where the Havs Terminali was. They pointed and laughed. We started walking in the direction. We passed another taxi driver (our angel in disguise) and asked the same question. he communicated that he knew where it was and that it was far away (for once the guide book led us to the wrong place). So we got into his taxi and raced to the correct place. After paying the driver (our angel), we were out of money. I ran to a debit machine while Christina stayed with our stuff (apparently there was a closer debit machine but I was to stressed/relieved to think rationally at this time). Our angel would not let us pay the full fare and stopped some women going on the same bus and asked them if they spoke English and then asked them to look out for us. Did I mention that he was an angel sent by God? and typically Turkish at the same time?
Once we were on the Havas bus I could relax and enjoy the scenery and look forward (?) to a day on a plane and in an airport. All in all Turkey was a great trip and I am glad that I came and that I had such an awesome travelling companion in Christina. Thanks Christina for sharing the adventure with me.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jen, Thanks so much for writing this all down. It is so interesting. What a great trip. I'm so glad you got to go.
Marilyn

Amy.E said...

I'm so enjoying your stories!! What an experience! What an adventure!

jerlight said...

Ooo! A trilogy! That's even better than a sequel. Thanks for sharing your great stories.

Hillary said...

Sounds amazing. Thanks for the great stories.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Jen. Thanks for the great posts, the awesome adventures, the picnics in random places, the talks and for having the idea in the first place. I have a cd or two for you with 225 pictures on it - more than you could ever want.

The Chatty Housewife said...

Each one of these posts are so amazing. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us!!!