Istanbul - For the First Time
Trip Start
Jan 08, 2005
1
6
13
Trip End
Feb 12, 2005
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Istanbul,
Turkey
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Arriving at the relatively new, big terminal I was surprised to see the amount of people that were there. I think there also must be something about developing countries and their airport terminals. I get the feeling that if you are to start on your way to becoming "developed", the first requirement is a new, big air terminal. Anyway, once there and figuring out what to do, I paid my $10 departure tax and proceeded past a couple guards (showing my passport) to the checking in area. But before that came the x-ray of luggage and of myself to check for weapons...made it without much difficulty
Aya Sofya
.Then, I came to another spot where a customs guy was sitting. At first he indicated that I must have a custom form completed. I had picked one of these up earlier but it really seemed irrelevant to me so I didn't fill it in. Once I realized I had to complete it, I put my bags down and tried to find the form I had put in my pocket. At that point the customs guy said to me "American boy?" with a smile. I grinned back and said "No, Canadian" and then he replied something to the effect "Oh... Canadians don't have to worry...pass through." I chuckled gratefully to myself and thought back to that damn Kazakhstan customs form experience.
So then it was an easy matter of checking in, passing through passport control, getting my exit stamp and then moving on to the large waiting room. I was feeling like crap now and tried to sleep on an uncomfortable metal seat...no luck. So I just sat there vegging as more people arrived and the room filled up with smoke. This modern airport didn't even have a smoking area! Boy, the Almaty terminal was so much better (hah hah!). So there I sat feeling miserable until finally the call for boarding happened and I somehow got to the plane in a stupor. So then the next 6 hours of hell continued as I could not get any sleep until finally we landed
Blue Mosque
. By this time I was really cursing the Tajiks for denying me a visa and putting me through this grinding endurance test. I guess the best thing was that Turkish Airlines was quite good and we even landed slightly ahead of schedule. From there it was on to passport control where I was told I first had to get my visa. But all the visa places I had passed by to that point in the airport had been closed! So the passport guy motioned me over to another area and I went over to the dark booth. Peering in, I finally made out the form of a man passed out in a chair. After a couple coughs and "hellos" he woke up and gave me my visa for a mere $45. It was interesting that on the big list by the booth, Canadians had to pay the most (over double everyone else). Made me wonder what the Canadian governent must have done to piss of the Turks. Anyway, from there everything went smoothly and before I knew it I was at the hotel I had booked.The Hotel Ararat was smaller and older than I expected, but for 16 hours, I thought, "what the heck!" Settling into a tiny twin room I tried to sleep and finally got about an hours worth. By then it was breakfast time so I climbed up the creaky, spiral wooden staircase to the top veranda area where I was greeted by a gorgeous view of the water and the Blue Mosque. At that moment, I knew I had made the right choice! So much of the morning was spent enjoying the sun, the views and drinking caffeine to wake up
Istanbul Street
. I was definitely feeling more alive now and the "trauma" of this unexpected detour in my travels was becoming less and less a bad memory.Finally, I decided to even walk around town a bit but soon found one of the most annoying things about Istanbul. Even though this was low season, the vendors trying to get customers became very annoying. Perhaps it was because I was sleep deprived but by the end, I found I had to be rude to these guys. They would start off by chatting you up, asking where you were from etc., of course with the ultimate goal of convincing you to buy a carpet or whatever. This will definitely make me reconsider where I go when I return there in February on my way back home. I am hopeful that with more sleep under my belt, my return to Istanbul will be more pleasant.
