The hotel called us a taxi for our 10:00am flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul. Clearly the taxi driver was trained in New York. He wove in and out of traffic like a master, never once using his turn signal and got us to the airport in record time. To say that security at the airport was tight would be putting it mildly! Our bags were checked twice and our passports three times. There was no need to take off our shoes or remove liquids from our carryon - that's kid stuff. There are flights to many locations from this very modern airport, although there are limited flights to Arab countries.
The Turkish Air 737-800 was almost brand new and the new thinner seats, huge windows, and large luggage bins made the plane feel even larger than it was. After two hours we landed in Istanbul. The airport was so busy that there were probably as many planes that couldn't use a gate - ours being one of them - as there were using a gate. Thus we had to disembark and take a bus to the terminal. Because we had purchased our Visa online - smart move - the passport process was very easy. While waiting for our luggage, a Turkish woman asked Mark if he would mind watching her daughter in a stroller while she went to look for something. It's one thing to worry about unattended luggage, but quite another to worry about unattended kids! She returned after 3-4 minutes and we were quite relieved - what would we have done if she hadn't come back? Could this be the Turkish version of Candid Camera? After securing our luggage we found the driver with our name on a placard - the hotel had arranged for this - and we were off to the hotel.
On our way to the hotel we could see many ships lined up in the harbor apparently waiting their turn to go up the Bosporus. The Hotel Amira, which is the Number One romantic hotel in Istanbul on Trip Advisor, is located in a neighborhood which is full of restaurants, hotels and shops and is not far from the Blue Mosque. The manager of the hotel said that he wanted to provide us with an orientation to the area but first he wanted to show us to our room. He took us to a large room where they had used rose petals on the bed to make the outline of a heart. There was also a platter of strawberries and chocolate and a couple of small bottles of wine. He said, "When you are ready, come down and I will give you the orientation." We wondered what he thought we were going to do?
When we came downstairs we had some wine and he showed us on a map where the hotel was in relationship to the various sites. Boy, had Mark chosen wisely! Almost all of the sites were in easy walking distance. In fact, the restaurant that he suggested for dinner was around the corner from the Blue Mosque. He arranged for a guide for Saturday, as that will get us past all of the queues, a boat ride on the Bosporus for Sunday morning, a Hamam for Sunday afternoon, and a performance by some Whirling Dervelishes on Sunday night. We had already made our own arrangements for a shopping tour of the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar for Monday, so we were set. The hotel provided tea every afternoon and in honor of Independence Day they went all out!
When we left for dinner the hotel explained that they loan guests a hotspot so that they can use WiFi anywhere in Istanbul - I was so relieved! Dinner tonight was at the Balikci Sabahattin Fish Restaurant - a great fish and seafood restaurant - and as one can imagine, all of the fish was amazingly fresh. Wonderful service, great food, Turkish wine, just a wonderful meal. After dinner we wandered back through the winding streets to our hotel and went to sleep with the anticipation of our tour on Saturday.
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