Istanbul, Not Constantinople

So, finally, getting back to our trip the first week of April. As luck would have it Jack had a conference in Istanbul and asked us to go with him. Yay! I could finally have some good food!

Needless to say, I was a little leery of going back, but finally decided that what I was worried about was the same thing as being worried about going to New York City and meeting up with someone from some po-dunk town in West Texas. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but less than 2 hours after checking into our hotel our new “best friend” turned out to be from said po-dunk town. Great. He was one of the guys who “stalks” tourists to get them to go to his families carpet shop. We told them we would come into the store on Thursday, so for 4 days whenever we walked out the hotel, there he was.

It was Jack’s first time to Turkey and he liked it. On one day his conference took a tour of all the main spots in Istanbul, plus an evening tour on the Bosphorus. I saw the itinerary and was like, “there is NO way you can see all this in one day.” But, we did.

We started at the Aigha Sofia, then went to the Byzantine Hypodrome, then the Blue Mosque, then Topkai Palace, then the Grand Bazaar, then the river cruise. It was a fast tour and just gave the highlights, but it was still interesting for him. The “best” part of the day was at Topkai Palace. I’d already seen it twice and Sammi was tired of being carried around. So, I let her play on the grass and was waiting where the people would come out. But, I started to freak out because it was way past the time we were supposed to leave there and go to the Bazaar. I thought maybe somehow they had gone out the entrance or something, or missed us and I missed them. So, I rushed out the to front gate – no one. So I rushed out to the exit and saw our bus pull up. So, I got on and asked the bus driver to call the tour guide and tell him I was there. He got out his phone and text someone. After waiting about a minute the tour lady and a guy got one. The bus started up and we left. I was thinking, “Wow, I must have really been late. They already went to the bazaar and had to send the bus back for me. But, why would THIS guy come looking for me, not Jack? Hmmm….” Finally, after about 5 minutes Sammi made a noise and they looked back. The tour lady said, “Oh, you are here? We are going to airport.” Ha ha!! Turns out this guy had to leave the tour early and didn’t want to pay for a taxi, so the bus was taking him to the airport. The group was still in the Palace and then going to walk to the Bazaar. Great….Sammi and I had an hour on the bus to bond before meeting up with the group – who still did NOT know where I was because the driver did NOT text the main tour guide. Finally, when we were about back Jack convinced him to call the bus, where they discovered I was, much to everyone’s relief.

It was so awesome to be there, though. Our hotel was really nice but the best part was just being somewhere where the people are NICE, and the restaurants and businesses are open ALL THE TIME! I did not have to plan Sammi’s nap around some bizarre business time so we could eat. We didn’t have to wait until 8 at night to go out and eat. We could eat any time we wanted. And since Turkish food is my absolute favorite evah, eat I did. Jack loved being someplace they actually eat breakfast. I ate 3 meals a day, and would have eaten more, but I was always full. Oh, it was so good!! My favorite juice is this sour cherry juice, visne suyu, that tastes like the cherry cider we used to get in Colorado when I was a kid. One day I bought a little juice box of it and I was going to “share” it with Sammi. Well, I gave her one little sip, and then she grabbed the little juice box, giggled, hugged it to her chest, and ran off and drank it all. It is the only juice she will drink, too. (Except she calls soap and pop juice, too, and drinks them as well when she can.)

It was also nice being someplace where I kind of speak the language and can read the signs. I haven’t been actively trying to remember my Turkish these past couple years, but as soon as we landed all the words dropped back into my head. Everyone was like, “You speak really good Turkish.” The carpet guys said, “You really do speak good Turkish. Most tourists come in and say the words, but they sound funny. When you say, you sound like Turkish!” This also came in handy when we were buying our carpets!

On Thursday before we went into the store, Jack and I had a ballpark price we were willing to pay for what we wanted. We also developed hand signals for if we liked the carpet, didn’t like it, thought it was too expensive, or would die if we didn’t get it. Now, you can’t just zip in and buy a carpet. Well, I suppose you could, but that isn’t how you should do it. We went in, sat down, had tea, asked about their families and chatted a bit. They asked if we had looked at any other carpets and we said, no, we told them we would come there and so we did. They liked that. Then, we got down to picking our carpet. We had looked at them before, but when they got to the price part I said, “Look, we aren’t going to buy a carpet today and I don’t want to offend you by you telling us a price and then we leave.” The guy was all, “ok, you come back later.” So, now it was later. We picked the one we liked the best and got down to it. I had told Jack how to do it because it was better for him to be the “voice.” He did well, and our signals worked, too. Then, at the end I heard them talking. They had offered a price Jack would have taken, but we were still “thinking” about it when I heard them argue back and forth. The “stalker” guy was telling the other guy to offer a lower price if we said no. He didn’t want to but finally agreed. I heard the price since I know numbers in Turkish (I guess they didn’t know that.) So, I called Jack over and said, “Hey, offer this much. They will take it. I heard them talking.” He did, and that was that. We now have one big and two small Turkish carpets that we like a lot.

It was a fun trip and Jack, Lil’ G, and I all had a great time!