In Istanbul

I arrived in Istanbul late last (Monday) night.

It was not easy getting here. It should have been easy, but the unusual weather played a key role. You know I love snow, but yesterday I didn’t enjoy it as much as usual. It was beautiful. I guess there was close to a foot of snow in some parts of Athens.

Weather wreaks havoc in Greece and Turkey

How true!

I left my hotel in Athens at 8 a.m. Monday. There were several inches of snow on the ground, and there was hardly any traffic. My taxi driver had chains on his tires, so he slowly and surely got us to the airport. I was supposed to fly out at around 11 a.m. I didn’t. I finally flew out about 9 p.m. I guess if you have to spend 12 hours in an airport, then Athens is not a bad choice. I was glad to leave however.

Turkish Airlines, like everyone else, had cancelled flights and was doing the best it could. The flight I finally got on had 3 flights worth of people on it. It was packed. There were people carrying chickens, goats and human kids, etc. JUST KIDDING. It was packed though, and the turquoise and brown interior of the jet reminded me that I was about to enter a different culture.

The plane landed safely. I cleared passport control, got my bag, and cleared customs without incident. Someone from a transfer company was supposed to meet me at the airport. Due to all the confusion of cancelled flights it didn’t happen, so I went to the taxi stand and got the next one in line. It was a spiritual experience - my prayer life has not been so intense and focused in a long time.

My driver was a young guy; friendly, confident. I got in the back seat and started to put my seat belt on. He waved me off with a smile, suggesting, “You don’t need that.” Wanting to be culturally compliant, I laughed and put the belt down. “This is probably a really bad choice,” I thought. He turned up the radio, blasting some kind of soulful Turkish soft rock.

I believe the car was a Honda. Whatever it was it had a lot of “get up and go,” and my driver knew how to get every ounce of speed out of it. Wow! He passed other cars, even taxis, like they were standing still. He was going 110+ in 30 and 50 speed zones (kilometers per hour), all this while leaning back with one arm stretched across the passenger seat, nodding with the beat of the music.

At one point he got out a cigarette and offered me one. I took it. Just kidding. If it had been whiskey I might have taken him up. Just kidding again. He teased me for not smoking, and I encouraged him to light up, thinking it will help his driving.

As we got close to my hotel he pointed proudly suggesting that I should be impressed that he found it so quickly. I was impressed, not that we found it but, that we were alive! I told him, using my best cross-cultural language skills, “You race-driver!” He laughed and nodded very proudly.

I got checked in and got some sleep. Today I am going to get organized and prepare for a few days here. I am going to use this time to study a little more about Ephesus and the 7 Churches of Asia Minor. I will probably go to The Grand Bazaar this afternoon. It is right across the street.

Here are a few photos from the hotel, mostly from the roof.