Goodbye Turkey

According to Turkish Daily News, the top 10 countries in the UNDP development ranking the previous year included Canada, Norway, US, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Japan and Great Britain. Turkey was in 85th place, in the company of countries such as Brazil, Tunisia and Belize. As usual, development was uneven. In the cities you could obtain services to rival those in developed countries, but in the country it was a different story. Perhaps the greatest challenges to Turkey were to improve their human rights, to look outwards, and to care for the environment. They got a head start on other Middle Eastern countries thanks to the reforms of the Turkish Republic but they could still get left behind in a fast-changing world.

I woke at 0500 and went up to the roof to watch the sunrise, and the still lit Aya Sofya and Blue Mosque against the daybreak. Then I went back to stretch the time until breakfast by reading the paper and doing my packing.

Each room in the hotel had a poem. Mine was Listening to Istanbul by Orhan Veli Kanik. It was a fitting paean to Istanbul at the tail end of my holiday. It is a special place blessed by geography and climate. I had barely scratched its many layers of history. I would like to revisit it some day.

The hotel had a friendly kitten that I positioned on my luggage for pictures, that's why its poses look awkward. It was probably thinking: Am I doing this right? Will I get stroked after doing what this strange human wants of me?

My flight wasn't until early afternoon so there was no hurry. I sauntered over to the Orient Hostel and joined a shuttle. There were a couple of USAns and 4 Belgians or Dutch students in the van. The students had heavy duffel bags or backpacks. I'll never understand people who don't pack light.

At the airport I was so early that they hadn't even assigned a gate to my flight yet. I saw the destination Vnukovo on the board. Where the hell was that? I later discovered that it is the oldest of Moscow's three operating airports.

I had retained a 1 million TL note as a keepsake so I had just enough money left to buy a sundae. And that was my last purchase before we flew off into the sunset.

Istanbul 3

I woke around 0500, partly due to the mosque. Some late-night revelers had come in during the wee hours. I stayed in bed until 0700, washed and walked around Sultanahmet. I considered a buffet breakfast at the Acropol, but it was out of my class. So I settled for yet another Turkish breakfast at The Pudding Shop. Sigh, never mind, only one more day.

Then I moved into the Hotel Poem. The friendly staff were solicitous about my eyelid injury. Ah, my own room and bath, what luxury. I had a view overlooking the Sea of Marmara. There the noise was from the traffic on Kennedy Caddesi, which runs along the shore, and ship horns.

I caught the metro, to experience the ride, to Aksaray, then a dolmuş across the Atatürk Bridge spanning the Golden Horn. I had a look at the facade of the historic Pera Palas (where passengers from the Orient Express stayed), and finally ended up on Istiklal Caddesi, the famous shopping and entertainment pedestrian street in the Beyoğlu district. I hopped off the dolmuş near the British Council and found a place serving a tasty prix fixe lunch of Kadinbudu Köfte (Lady's Thighs Köfte), garnish and rice. A little later, still feeling peckish, I had a stick of fried mussels from a vendor. I posted off all the remaining postcards, and bought some apricots and cherries.

I returned to Sultanahmet via the Tünel, a short underground railway line, which took me downhill to Karakoy, within striking distance of Eminönü via the Galata bridge. The day had started off overcast but now it was sunny and steamy.

In the evening I returned to the Karadeniz, where the old waiter welcomed me. I accepted his suggestion of a Beyti kebap. I wasn't sure what it was but I was sure that it would be good, and it indeed was. I felt that I knew every corner of Sultanahmet now. I was not sorry to be leaving, but I just wanted to be sure that I had not missed some experience, as it might be a long time before I visit again, if at all. Who knows what Turkey will be like by then, perhaps it might even be in the EU.

I took my cherries to the sound and light show. It was a bit disappointing because of the poor sound, but I received a printed copy of the script. I had a nightcap of a glass of wine opposite the 4 Seasons Hotel. I noted that the area was starting to get lousy with tourists, especially USAns. Time to get out.