If you get a chance to spend a winter in Cyprus, I do recommend
it. The beaches are mostly deserted, the
weather is sunny and in the low 60’s most of the time, and it’s just a nice
welcoming place. I truly love it there.
But it was time again.
My 90-day visa was about to expire and, as my Schengen days haven’t quite
reset yet, I decided to head back to Türkiye (surprise!).
Why there is no direct flight from Cyprus to Istanbul is
baffling to me. It’s right there! Instead,
you’re expected to fly to Athens and get to Türkiye from there. Even that was more difficult to book than it
should have been.
You can fly from Cyprus directly to Heathrow because, as I’ve
mentioned before, the island is full of Brits.
You know where else you can fly directly to from Cyprus? Warsaw, Poland. Who’da thunk it?
So then this was the flight I booked, one that took me all
the way up to Poland (hey! A new country!),
then all the way back down to Istanbul.
Makes no sense, but at least the trip went off without a hitch.
By this point, I’ve been to Istanbul numerous times. I always take a cab as I usually get to the
city pretty late and the Metro is closed (not that I’ve had much luck riding it
anyway). The cost to Balat (approx. 25
miles away) is around 1000-1400 lira (approx. $30-$40 USD). Why then did the first cabbie I meet quote me 2300
lira ($60)? Are you kidding me? I realize that it was after midnight and they
had me over a barrel, but that price is ridiculous!
After fumbling around for a bit and trying to get an Uber, I
ran into a guy who offered to take me in his shuttle. The price he quoted was the expected 1400
lira, but since that was all I had in my purse, I went to search for more cash
just in case. The first ATM was
empty. Great. I went inside only to see the security set up
to scan anyone entering the airport with no other access. Sigh.
Back outside, I tried to hit Uber again. The problem there was two-fold. The first problem was that the address given by
my host was not in Google maps so I couldn’t give Uber a proper address. I would normally stay in one of Mehmet’s
places in the neighborhood but since they were all booked, I chose a new place. I called for an Uber anyway and thought we’d
figure it out on the way.
The second problem arose when the driver messaged me to let
me know that the airport doesn’t allow Uber to pick up in front of the arrivals
gate. Why? As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the
Ubers in Türkiye are also taxis (taksis) so what’s the big deal? Instead, I would have to go to him.
Walk through the long hall with the moving sidewalks to the
Metro. Take the elevator at the end – except,
since the Metro was closed, the elevators didn’t work. Cool.
Take the escalator – which also didn’t seem to work until I approached
it and then it woke up. Try to get both roller bags and my tired self on the escalator
at the same time. Fail miserably and let
the big roller bag slide down the metal stairs.
Well, better it than me. I managed
to make it down safely to see the cab waiting outside.
Oy.
I tried to tell the cabbie about the address issue and he didn’t
have a better time finding the address than I did. We got to Balat (yay!) and pulled up to an
apartment. He got my stuff out but, sweet
man that he is, he again checked the address.
We both realized, on a narrow Turkish street at 2 in the morning, that
we were at the wrong place. Beautiful.
I then checked the message my host had sent me. Now I know why he included pictures of the
place and a separate link to a map. Dude
knew that Google maps didn’t acknowledge the address. Following these new directions, we actually
made it to the right place. I will be forever
grateful to that cabbie for not wanting to strand a foreign woman at the wrong
address in the dark. That man earned
every penny of his tip.
The entrance was a new thing for me. The metal gate can only be accessed by a keypad. Funny thing, though, you have reach through the bars to get to it. Really not a fun experience to figure out in the dark.
The inner door is unlocked and leads to this ever so inviting
entry way.
It was late. I was tired and still optimistic enough to think that my apartment would be
the one on the left so that I wouldn’t have to climb those accursed Turkish
stairs with all my crap, but … no.
I truly hate Turkish stairs.
Then it was onto another gated door in front of my apartment. This one was unlocked and, when opened, awkwardly
blocks the entire walkway (WHY?). I grabbed
the keys from the lockbox and finally got into the apartment.
Pictures didn’t do this place justice. For a one-bedroom apartment in Türkiye, this place is HUGE! I can’t get over it. I love the separate office area off the living room where I naturally set up shop.
There’s also a full-size fridge, a gas stove (thank you!) and an oven. I don’t remember ever having an oven in Türkiye.
But, even with all those goodies, there was no microwave. It was almost perfect.
Then, there’s the noise.
Apparently, there are a couple of American yetis above me, stomping on
the floor and talking loudly (that’s how I heard the English). Also, and I have no idea what this is about,
some jerk keeps playing the drums for a few minutes every morning at 3
a.m. Is this some new religious
tradition now that the 6:45 a.m. call to prayer isn’t done anymore? I don’t know.
I haven’t been in this city in six months. Been to Portugal and Cyprus (and really didn’t
want to leave either country as I was very comfortable in each) since my last visit. Why then does it feel like I never left
Istanbul? The place feels as familiar to
me as ever and, while still being exhausting, I get why I keep coming back here
by default.
Alas, Türkiye is about 20 degrees colder than Cyprus which really makes me miss the island. My second
full day was also drizzly in that special way that Istanbul does – just enough
cold drops of rain to make everything wet and miserable. Didn’t miss that from the winter of 2023.
But there are other things I did miss in Türkiye. One of the items I love to get in the city is a special brand of
coffee that I can only find in the Bim grocery store. After having
breakfast at my favorite place in Balat (Simit! Give me that yummy sesame covered bagel so I can shove it in my face!),
I looked forward to grabbing a handful of coffee (they come in individual packets as is very popular
in Türkiye).
Why then when I went to Bim’s location, I found a Sok
instead? Sok is the other major grocery
chain in the country. They also have
(had) a location just a block away from this Bim. Sok does not carry my coffee. What are you doing to me, Türkiye? Why you go and change on me like that? Where my
coffee at?
Fortunately, this was just one store as the Bim chain still exists. I was lucky to find another location that's even closer to the apartment. I happily left the store with my caffeine fix in hand.
The second day in the new digs, the power went out just
as I was about to make breakfast. Okay.
I figured I’d wait a little while for it to come back on. A few minutes turned into over an hour as the
apartment got cooler and cooler without the heat on. I gave up on waiting and decided to head out
for breakfast. But there was a problem.
Remember that metal gate at the entrance to the building I
mentioned earlier that you have to use a keypad to enter? Well, with the power off, that keypad doesn’t
work. I figured that one of the two keys provided would be for that
gate. Nope. I had the wooden door open and was trying
both keys in the metal door and could not exit the building. That is a fire hazard. Not to mention that, standing at the metal gate looking out onto the street, I felt like a prisoner in
what is supposed to be a cozy Airbnb.
Power was restored after about an hour and a half. With that issue resolved, I might just extend my stay. It beats having to navigate my luggage down those stairs again any time soon.
