TURKEY December 21, 2009: Americans in Turkey – Day 5: Near the Syrian and Iraqi Borders; Police Escort to “Hotel;” and More!

Hi All –
December 21 (Mike’s Birthday) –

Not even certain how to begin telling our day today… But I’m going to try to do it quickly as it’s nearly midnight and I still have to try to post my grades for ASU (somehow they didn’t post from here and I need to try again)..

We left our very sweet abode in the Sultanameht (old) district of Istanbul… right after breakfast; it looked like it might actually be a nice day, and headed to the airport to catch our 12:45 flight to Gazantiep (Antip, as the Turks call it).. We arrived with plenty of time and finally navigated the system of checking in, getting seats, going through security (they don’t seem to care about liquids), and locating the gate in the domestic terminal… Everyone tried to help us in English, but they really didn’t speak well…  we got to the gate side and decided to get a snack, when we looked at the boarding passes and realized they were for a 2:00 flight, not the 12:45 one..

No one on the gate side could deal with this, so we went back out of security to wait on a “problem traveler line”.. and were told (sort of) that the 12:45 plane wasn’t going (or it was going late) so they put us on the 2 pm flight, but no one had explained this… As it turned out both the 12:45 and the 2:00 flights left at the same time — at 3:15!!..

So we went through security again.. we were clearly not a risk.

The flight was uneventful (except hours later than anticipated and we had a two-hour drive ahead of us)…As in India, people tend to stand up as soon as the plane touches ground (sometimes sooner thatn that!) and start getting their bags and walking to the door… Mike had a chat with an elderly Turk sitting next to him, except that the Turk spoke no English and Mike’s Turkish is below zero.. Anyway, they kept laughing and the guy kept patting Mike on the back and arm.

We did meet a very nice young man who grew up in Gazantiep (a pretty nondescript working class, industrial town we soon learned) who was now living in New Haven, CT.. for the past 8 years.. coming home for two weeks to see family… he gave us his cell number, just in case we ran into any problems while in this south eastern area of Turkey where very few tourists come… Everyone that we told we were coming here was duly surprised. One Turkish guy who did speak English asked if we were spies (It’s very close to Syria… and just further east and south.. it’s near the Iraq border. We are being very careful not to wander to aimlessly…)

We landed, got our bags and headed to the car rental desk, only to find that EuropCar where we had a reservation and number was not at the airport and no one could explain where we should go.. We thought maybe it was off-site and we needed a shuttle but none could be found.. so we decided to go back to the terminal and rent with National.. Easier said than done. Once out of the airport you can only enter by going through security again.. so one more time we took off our shoes, etc. and started again, even though all we wanted was the car rental desk. Without a reservation we needed to go through the entire process of booking the car, without any language to convey type, duration, etc.  Anyway, we did it.. and off we went in our little Renault which they call Menange..

The drive was a little complicated because the directions weren’t completely obvious, but we made it to Sanlirufa with just a few wrong exits including one where we went about 5 miles and truly thought we were at the end of the earth in complete darkness.

Then the fun began… we got into town and had no idea where to find the hotel.. even with mapquest directions and GPS.. A little background.. we were never able to find or contact any hotel here in Sanliurfa — and now we know why — we did find a few on the Internet, but they did not look too appealing.. then we found one that looked acceptable.. and we couldn’t make contact.. We asked the Istanbul hotel to book it for us and they did, but they said they knew nothing about hotels there.

So we stopped twice to ask people by showing them the name and noone knew where it was.. Finally we saw a police car and we knocked on the window and asked them.. but they didn’t know either..They called someone who didn’t know … and then they went into a restaurant (with me standing outside and Mike in the car)… and someone in the restaurant explained where to go… The cops came out and motioned that we should follow their car.. complete with lights flashing the entire way.. and they literally escorted us to the hotel. There is no way we could have found it.. It took dozens of turns in streets and tiny alleys..

But lo and behold we arrived… Unfortunately the hotel is… well, not quite up to a one quarter of one star in a 5 star rating scale.. The price is certainly right.. $20 with breakfast!! All along the way, we looked at other options (and again as we walked to “dinner”).. but the other options seemed even worse..

Our room is difficult to describe.. The shower is in the bathroom just above the toilet. We have very strange window coverings. To get to the room you have to walk up two sets of stairs from outside and since it was raining the stairs were sort of muddy… I took pictures of the room, so I’ll say no more. I can only think what those cops were thinking as they led us here. (Mike was hoping we’d be able to go through red lights)

Anyway, there is a nice couple here with a young child — from Australia. He’s a mosque buff and has traveled extensively in Turkey.. Brave souls — they are staying in this hotel for 5 nights.

We, on the other hand, have decided that one night will be enough and that we can see what we need here in Sanliurfa in one full day.. We are planning to get up early.. I don’t think that will be a problem as I probably won’t sleep.. and there is a heater in the wall that when turned on sounds like what I imagine the Wright brothers first plane sounded like.. So we will head to Harran — the main reason we headed this way — to see the conical mud dwellings and some other rural indigenous structures and villages — and then we’ve rebooked ourselves back to Istanbul for tomorrow night.. and will stay at the Four Seasons!!  If we average out tonight’s rates with tomorrow night’s rate, it just comes to two expensive nights.. not two outrageously expensive nights..

And poor Mike — this was his birthday. We went to the “best” restaurant in town.. Let’s just say it won’t be on the list of great eateries in Turkey–or anywhere else in the world.

But I don’t want to totally mis-judge Sanliurfa, I’m sure seeing it in daylight will be much better. I cannot say the same for the hotel.

It’s been an adventure.. Not sorry we did it, and I think Harran will make up for it all. We catch an 8pm flight tomorrow night.. After this brief unexpected return interlude in Istanbul, we head to Kayseri and Capodocia and then drive to Konya and on to Antalya.

But hey — I’ve been able to connect wirelessly.. although I have no idea where this connection is coming from. You’d laugh if you saw this room — complete with one electric outlet and I’ve got cords all over the place.

Best —
Fern