İstanbul May 2006

İSTİKLAL CADDESI


The İstiklal is a center of nightlife, shopping, restaurants & Cinemas. There are also western franchises present: Starbucks, Burger King,Pizza Hut. It is usually the place to meet friends if you are going out. In a city the size of Istanbul that means that it gets pretty crowded with people meeting their friends and strolling the boulevard.

The street begins at Taksim Square and ends about a mile or so down near Tunel Square. The stretch near Taksim has the biggest crowds and the throngs thin out the closer you get to Tunel Square.

Turkish Commies Invade Istiklal

On the second day in İstanbul, I met friends at the Burger King. We sat on the roof terrace (The BK has 3 floors!) While we were there, there was a protest in the square by members of the TKP: Turkish Kommunist Party. I tried to take pictures but was shooed away by the manager. The protesters marched back to their hive a little later and proceeded to hand out flyers to uninterested consumers. I took some pictures of them there.

İstanbul May 2006

The flight.

The 6:30 AM Delta flight was somewhat full but I had an empty seat next to me so I didn't care. What I was dreading was the second leg of the trip from JFK to IST. When the time came to check in I saw a mass of people in front of the gate, a few tourists, but mostly turks. Apparently there was a holiday weekend and everyone was trying to get home for it. The gate agent made the announcement that the flight was oversold and asked for volunteers to give up their tickets. They offered a confirmed seat on the next flight out to Amsterdam and $399 travel voucher towards air travel on Delta. Oh, the seat from JFK to AMS was in Business class! Finally! I have been upgraded. As I was gettıng settled in, the stewardess asked whether I wanted Champagne or Orange Juıce? I said both! Mimosa time! Let me just say that it wıll be extremely diffıcult to travel ın Veal class ever again. I didn't take any pictures in the Business class because I thought it would have been too gauche. Oh Well. it was wonderful and makes a big difference towards how you feel the next morning on your arrival. I was actually rested and somewhat relaxed. This of course was greatly reduced for the 2 1/2 hour stretch ın Veal class for the flight from AMS to IST. Kerem met me at the Airport and we took a bus into the city.

İstanbul May 2006

Gettıng ready for the trip.
What can I say. The ususal, last minute run around. Ran out of time running around throwing things in my suitcases at the last minute. The shuttle came at 3:55 to take me to the airport. We left at 4:15. What i didn't throw in was enough clothing. Yes, after years of overpacking, I underpacked. It has been warmer than I expected here. So I am sweatıng through clothes like crazy. Never again will I make that mistake. The other forgotten item that I will miss is my tripod. That and my second camera. I couldn't find the charger so I just decided to leave it at home. We won't talk about the $60 worth of sundry items I bought from the Costco and left in the trunk of a rental car.