Istanbul, not Constantinople

by Sheila on 02 Aug, 2014 - 1 comment

Knock on wood, all the border crossings we’ve had to go through so far have been relatively painless. Crossing into Turkey from Bulgaria, the border was fairly empty and we got everything sorted in about an hour. We told one border official that we were travelling through to Mongolia, and he just shook his head. “I live in Edirne (near the border to Bulgaria), work here at the border and I have never even been to Bulgaria! Mongolia…crazy.”

The drive from Edirne to Istanbul wasn’t long, but it was our first introduction to the rules of the road in Turkey: 1. There are no rules. Driving on the shoulder is commonplace, as is lack of signalling and pretending to not have seen you coming when they blatantly cut you off. The road signs are generally useless, and the toll system was bizarre. It is entirely automatic, but no one was able to give a straight answer on how we could pay. We were first told that, as we arrived on the first day of Bayram, the tolls were free. We later learned that drivers have to buy a sticker at unmarked buildings occasionally present alongside toll areas. It was less than ideal, but we know to expect more of the same in the near future.

As we saw the lights of Istanbul reflecting off the Bosphorus in the distance, the shuffle of my iTunes chose that moment to play They Might Be Giant’s “Istanbul.” I’m fairly confident that my iPad is sentient some days.

On July 29th we spent the day in sweltering Istanbul for a little sightseeing. Unfortunately for us, being the second day of Bayram, the Grand Bazaar was closed, and most other locations were either closed or flooded with people having fun for their Eid holiday. Indoors always being a better option for hot days, we decided to tour the Aya Sofia museum!