TURKEY 2009: Americans in Turkey – Day 15. January 1, 2010

PostScript

Greetings from the CIP Lounge at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, where we are waiting to board flight to London. Turkish Airlines is very generous with the use of the VIP Lounge and allows all Star Alliance Gold members entry into the lounge (something Red Carpet Clubs would never do).

Thanks to everyone who has been sending me notes about the travelogue… and especially to those of you who worried we’d miss our very early flight this morning, following the festivities of New Years Eve…. So now you know that we made it – wake up call from hotel (plus three different alarm settings, 5 minutes apart on my iPhone and one alarm on Blackberry)… 4 a.m. wake up… after getting back to the room at about 1:15 a.m. with a bit more last minute packing to do..

New Years Eve in Antalya (in Keilici) was great. Our decision to go to the local restaurant at the harbor was definitely the right move (although when we had stopped by earlier in the day to book a reservation the information was not what it turned out to be – which is good news.) When we booked the table, no one spoke English, and they just showed us a typical menu.. So we assumed it would be a simple dinner where we make selections. We made the reservation for 10pm.  When we got there the place was packed and quite festively decorated. We soon realized it was a set menu and the food just kept coming – food was fine.. But that was definitely not the highlight. (We passed on the salad which looked wonderful, thinking we had gotten this far without any problems, why start now? And also on one early course which was liver which is not really a favorite dish for either of us.. But everything else was really good).. By the way, the full meal – about 7 courses – + 4 glasses of wine + 6 sparkling waters + live music – was 120 TYL for the two of us (about $35 each)

We were clearly the only foreigners, and it was “the place to be”.. With all local Antaly-ers singing and getting up from their seats and dancing in place. Often, men with men and women with women and also men with women… a lot of small groups dancing together and everyone singing various Turkish songs knowing all the words…  It was like a big old Jewish wedding when the hora starts up – but this was non-stop, for hours with clapping, lots of hand waving and body gyrations. The crowd was fairly secular but with a small smattering of head scarves. Kids were running around; waiters began to join the singing and dancing and clapping.. And then at midnight fireworks started at the harbor (which we could easily see from our table).. Coming from about 3 different directions…

Diners from other tables came to shake our hands and say “Happy New Year” – as usual starting in German, then Italian, then Spanish, and finally English..

Only once before in all the many years of being overseas for New Years do I think we felt like we had experienced the truly local New Years celebration. That was in Ronda, Spain – when we danced and sang with Spaniards well into the wee hours of the new year – with Mike having a very “deep” conversation with some Spanish neurosurgeon who spoke no English and Mike speaking no Spanish. I think they were each just drunk enough to truly enjoy their “discourse.”

At about 12:30am we strolled back up the hill to the Tuvana. People were walking everywhere; the air was smoky (we assume from fireplaces and fireworks and vendors cooking outside); young people were bar hopping; everyone was eating mussels from street vendors; music was blasting; and Turks seemed to be thinking that they were ushering in a good year. Let’s hope that’s true for them and also for us.

So, now off to London for dinner (actually we are already here.. by the time I was going to send the message, we were boarding, so it is being sent from London) and back to the states tomorrow. It’s been a good 17 days. Sounds like we need to plan for several hours at security and multiple check points for US airlines.

Take care.

Fern