One of the reasons we moved to Dubai was the proximity to Europe.
We are out of Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in under twenty minutes. Short lines and staff who confused us for locals, we are ushered through the residence gates.
It is Türkiye these days, like Myanmar and Burma or Saigon and Hồ Chí Minh.
Turkey is one of those places we have always talked about visiting and went somewhere else.
We book an Uber. You can never trust a taxi driver in a foreign city. 500 lira, fixed rates. Our taxi arrives, an old Fiat Egea, and an over-friendly driver who speaks no English. He drives at incredible speeds while smoking and texting, the car is a manual.
He tells us through the translator on his phone while tailgating, that he is avoiding the tunnels and taking us the cheap way to save us some money and I know we are going to be burnt.
Shell puts on her seatbelt.
We make it to our place, in the heart of the European side, Cankurtaran. I have instant regrets. We can see The Sultan Ahmet Mosque which is tourist central. I pay the taxi, 1500 lira, triple the Uber fee. He assures us it is a fair price and five minutes later the 500 lira for the Uber slides out of my account. I knew it was coming, I just can’t be bothered getting into an argument with a guy who speaks another language over money.
Lesson learned.
Our place is nice, a little cramped. We have a dinner reservation to celebrate our anniversary and finishing our masters. An added bonus of Shell graduating with the Deans Award for Academic Achievement. Masters with Honors.
It is 4km to The Nicole so we decide to walk. It is early evening and Istanbul is teeming with tourists. Forget that we are tourists, but I cannot stomach how busy it is. I am already thinking of getting out of Istanbul and I have been here for two hours.
“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority”
Friedrich Nietzsche
We cross the Haliç. It is quieter on this side of the city. When we come back, we will book on the Anadolu Yakası, the Asian side.
Dinner at The Nicole is excellent, a degustation paired with local wines. It turns out that alcohol in Turkey is not haram. Apparently, like most religions, you get to pick and choose what rules you follow. In a country where over 98% of the population is Muslim, over 50% drink wine. How convenient, religion, but à la carte.
