Turkey was the second leg of our trip. The first leg included Athens, Greece and four Greek Islands.
Over the past 5000 years, Turkey has played host to at least 15 peoples and civilizations, including the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Lycians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs. All have left their mark. So no matter which way we headed, we were bound to find layer upon layer of history. Our plan was to spend a day to visit a historic town called Ephesus then head up to Istanbul to explore the  attractions of this exotic and cosmopolitan city, which served as the seat of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.
The trip from Samos, Greece to Kusadasi, Turkey was around two hours. From far away, we could see huge cruise ships in Kusadasi harbor. Just before our ferry was about to dock, we noticed a red boat approaching our vessel very fast. The red boat was equipped with many old car tires hanging all around. It appeared to us that  this crazy boat was planning to crash into us. We were about to scream to alert our ship captain, when someone on the ferry told us not to worry. This was merely a guidance boat whose job was to help our boat dock. Eventually the red boat pushed our ferry a couple of times pretending to guide us toward the harbor. The red boat then rushed to the shore to be ready to ask every passenger in our ferry for $10 fee for the guidance fee. It was obvious to everyone that the red boat did not really do any guidance. In fact, our ferry eventually had to maneuver more to correct for the pushes it received from the red boat. The whole operation felt like an excuse to ask the tourists for the $10. At the harbor, we passed through the Passport Control where we had to pay another $90 for two visas. At the harbor's gates, we were received by a huge crowd of sweaty men shouting and shoving hotel brochures into our faces. When we woke up from the momentarily shock, we managed to decipher the name "Leman". It was a hotel that we ranked as a potential in the planning stage of this trip. I nodded to the man who was advertising that hotel. He immediately introduced himself as Lucky and started pushing the crowd away from us. A few in the crowd were disgruntled but we managed to move away. Lucky told us that  free transportation to Ephesus plus free breakfast were part of the hotel package. We were naively happy to hear that our hotel, breakfast, and transportation were easily secured. We followed Lucky across the street toward the Leman Hotel. This time, we made sure that the  air condition worked before accepting the room. We went back to the harbor to exchange money. The banker refused to exchange our Greek money. He only accepted dollars. Later in the day, we also realized that the mean banker charged us commission twice. After a short tour of the area, we asked the hotel receptionist for the promised ride to Ephesus. The receptionist referred us to a street corner where we were supposed to meet a tour bus. Instead of meeting the bus, we met Lucky again. After 15 minutes waiting, Lucky pretended that he was surprised that  the bus to Ephesus did not come. He said he would still fulfill the hotel obligation by taking us in his car instead. We thought naively that this was very nice of him. Although we would be breaking the rule of never travel with a stranger in a foreign country, it was so hard to refuse what seemed to be generous offer. Just out of Kusadasi, Lucky surprised us again. He said that he would only drive us to Selcuk (A town close to Ephesus). In Selcuk, he would drop us at a carpet store to have a look at a collection of carpets with no obligation whatsoever to buy. He added that the free transportation from Kusadasi to Ephesus is sponsored by Selcuk carpet dealers to attract tourists. Only then we realized the whole free transportation offer was a trap to force us to shop for carpets. Mary and I communicated with our eyes that in the middle of nowhere in a stranger's car, probably the prudent act is to play the game and not show our disgust of such dishonesty. So we put on our brave faces and told Lucky that we did not intend to buy any carpet but we would look at his collection. When we reached Selcuk, we stopped at the Soloman's Carpet store.  The store was managed by two brothers Suleyman and Ebou. Ebou gave us a tour book covering Ephesus then drove us to the site. Ephesus was crowded with tourists. We were pleasantly surprised to see a whole ancient town in front of our eyes. Ephesus was originally established in the 11th century BC when the Delphi Oracle led the Greeks here from their original home in central Greece. Although Ephesus is three miles away from the sea now, at ancient times, it was a powerful trading port on the Aegean sea. It is believed that St. Paul had written some of his Epistles here and that  St. John came here, perhaps with Mary, the mother of Jesus, between 37  and 48 AD. Ephesus is considered one of the grandest reconstructed ancient sites in the world. It was a pleasure for us to walk on the marble paved streets with grooves made by chariot wheels. We also visited what might be considered the first public toilets in the world. We were very impressed with the Library of Celsus facade.
We spent three hours in Ephesus. We shopped a little in the stores near the exit of Ephesus. Mary liked a dress that was listed for $30. After some bargaining we bought the dress for only $13.
Ebou met us at the exit of the historical site and drove us back in the carpet shop. We were offered some apple tea. Mary hinted to me that one of us should not drink any, just in case Suleyman had a more evil  plan than selling some idiot tourists a carpet (better safe than sorry). We knew that it was impolite to refuse the invitation to drink tea in Turkey, so I volunteered to be the guinea pig and drank my tea and hers. Suleyman subjected us to a sale's pitch that lasted around an hour and a half. We played the game and pretended that  we were interested and might buy a carpet after we go back to our hotel and think about it. Finally, after assuring him we would come back, Suleyman agreed to let Ebou drive us back to the hotel. Ebou drove an older car this time. The trip to Kusadasi was one of the scariest times we had to face during our trip. Ebou liked to take short cuts through dirt roads and  had little appreciation for speed limits or other cars' right of way. In addition, the car apparently had an exhaust leak that fumed inside the car. During the trip to Kusadasi, We promised ourselves to never again ride with a stranger in a strange country.  In a hindsight, it is more than worth it to take a taxi for a few dollars instead of being a victim of the carpet salesmen's maneuvers.
In Kusadasi we immediately started looking for a bus to Istanbul. Our hotel receptionist offered his help to arrange bus tickets for 14 million Turkish liras. By then, we had suspicion of any free help. We told him politely that we are going to think about it. We visited a few travel agencies in the main road. Each claimed that he had the only bus available to Istanbul from this town. At night, we found an agency, Kamil Koc, that sounded more honest. The agent at Kamil sold us two tickets for 8 Million Liras ($30), almost half of what our hotel receptionist or other travel agents offered to us. In addition, this travel agent was the only one who offered a morning trip to Istanbul. All other agents told us there were no morning trips from Kusadasi.  We tried to make a hotel reservation in Istanbul. All the hotels that we called told us they had no vacancy. Kusadasi Tourist Bureau referred us to a  travel agency that could help in hotel reservation. The travel agent was nice and managed to  reserve a room for us at Hotel Oliver, Istanbul. We were somehow uncomfortable with the requirement that we had to pay ahead to the travel agent the full cost of the hotel plus 3% service charge for using a credit card.  We felt we had no choice but to accept the offer and hope we were not subject to another scam.
Just before the day ended, we managed to relax a little bit. We strolled by the beach and through the bazaar. Kusadasi bazaar contained mainly tourist memorabilia's shops with a disproportional number of jewelers. Most of the stores' owners can be classified as aggressive tourist pushers. It was very hard to walk for 10 feet without having to be harassed by someone trying to sell something. Luckily for us, a soccer game just started on TV. Most of the salesmen got busy watching the game on TV sets that suddenly emerged from the stores. Our advice to anyone interested in peaceful shopping is to do it when a Turkish soccer team is playing.
For dinner, we decided to go to Ali Baba Restaurant. Ali Baba was recommended by one of our tour books. The restaurant was expensive especially when considering that we had to share your dinner with the restaurant's cats. The cats were so aggressive that they occasionally tugged on our feet when we were slow to share some of the bad testing fish we were eating. After serving dinner for the restaurant cats, we tried to take another stroll in the bazaar. Alas the soccer game was over. Shop keepers were out in the street aggressively pushing tourists into their stores. We decided to replace the Bazaar with a stroll by the beach toward our hotel. We bought some ice cream and sat on a bench by the beach. A soft breeze was blowing from behind us. A nice Turkish music was riding the gentle wind. We sat there for almost an hour enjoying what seemed a moment from Heaven.

We woke up very early. We had a very good sleep. On the fifth floor, our room was quiet in spite of being between the harbor and the bazaar.  It had been a long time since we slept in a hotel that had an air conditioner that actually works, a toilet that actually flushes, and a shower that actually sprays.  Before leaving the hotel, we tried to get the promised free breakfast. The hotel keeper denied that he told us that breakfast was included. We skipped the breakfast and took a taxi to the central bus station where our bus to Istanbul was waiting. The bus had clean comfortable seats that we needed for such a long trip. The  air conditioner was working fine. We handed the luggage to the bus attendant and  started the trip to Istanbul on time. The ride in the bus was very pleasant. The driver and the attendant, with their white shirts and ties, resembled more a flight crew than a bus crew. During the trip, the attendant served,  several times, free drinks and cakes, alerted the passengers to next rest stop, collected the garbage and empty cups, and announced the time for re-boarding. After each stop, the attendant squeezed some rose water into each passenger's hands.
Our first rest stop was in Izmir. Izmir's bus station was very crowded with buses and passengers. Miraculously, buses maneuvered their way within inches from each other without any accident. In Izmir, Mary had her first encounter with the Turkish squatting bathrooms. It was fun to see her face expression after using one. In Turkey, you have to pay to get into almost any public bathroom. Restaurants follow a different style to charge for the bathroom usage. There, you do not have to pay to get on but you have to pay in your way out to get a towel to dry your hands. At each rest stop, we sampled some of the local baked goods. Throughout the trip we watched the country side. The road to Istanbul was mainly through a mountain range. Green fields and mountains stretched all along the road. We wandered through many beautiful areas. The most breathtaking site was when we passed across a whole  mountain of white marble.
Just before Istanbul the bus drove into a huge ferry to cross the sea of Marmara. We left the bus to the upper deck of the ferry where we got to watch one of the most magnificent sunsets.
We reached the European side of Istanbul around 9 PM. From the Central Station, we took a taxi toward Oliver Hotel. Although Hotel Oliver was in the middle of the tourist part of Istanbul, the taxi driver pretended that he lost his way. He drove in circles then stopped to asked a man for help. The man rode with us to help our driver. We were a little apprehensive. However, we felt relief when we shortly saw the neon lights of Hotel Oliver across the street. At Hotel Oliver, we were more relieved when they honored the piece of hand written paper that we got from our Kusadasi travel agent indicating that we paid for five nights ahead of time. Some of our happiness faded when we realized the our room was very small and had one of those air conditioners that send more noise than cool air. On the bright side, the room was on the sixth floor and had a magnificent view of the lighted Blue Mosque with its six majestic minarets. The exhaustion from the 12 hour trip was more than enough to wipe out any doubt left about the comfort of the room.

Around four o'clock in the morning, we hardly had gotten any sleep when a voice from a loud speaker broke the silence of the darkness. It was the Muslim call for dawn prayer. The call for prayer was echoing through town from many mosques' minarets.  Mary and I sat quietly enjoying this unique spiritual experience. When the morning came, we sat in the small hotel verandah for the outdoor breakfast. It was very similar to Greek breakfasts we had in Athens. The usual Feta cheese, butter, jellies, bread, and slices of tomatoes and cucumber. The Feta cheese was not as good as the one we had in Greece and the boiled eggs were absent. We started exploring Istanbul at the Atmeydani (Hippodrome). Only a few sections of that 100,000 seats stadium can be seen today. We walked along Sultanahmet Meydani Park toward Topkapi Sarayi (Topkapi Palace).  The palace was the residence of the sultans and their harems until 1868 when Sultan Abdul Mecit moved to the European style Dolmabace Palace. In Topkapi we got to see some of the Ottoman Sultans treasures. The clothes of the Ottoman sultans and their families were displayed in perfect condition.  On display also, was the biggest diamond we had ever seen. Topkapi houses some important religious symbols and artifacts for Muslims such as; the saber of the prophet Mohammed and his four caliphs, the keys for Kabba (sacred house in Mecca), hair from the prophet Mohammed's beard, his gown, and many old copies of the Koran (Muslims' holy book). We also visited the Harem section or the private quarter of the Sultan women. We strolled toward Sultan Ahmet Cami (Blue Mosque). We had to wait for an hour during which the Mosque was open for prayer only. During prayers, tourists were not allowed to get in. We had to take our shoes off before getting into the Mosque. However, unlike other Mosques, women were are not required to wear a scarf. The Blue Mosques has some of the most magnificent domes we have seen. The 260 stain glass windows and the thousands of blue Iznik tiles convey a fantastic atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.
At Divanyolu Street, we stopped at a poplar restaurant among tourists called Vitamin. The restaurant  serves many traditional Turkish dishes. The food was good and the price was very reasonable. Although each of us sampled three entrees, we only had to pay 4 million Liras ( $15).
Back at Hotel Oliver, the room was hot and the bathroom fan did not work. We complained to the front desk. They said they would look into it, they but never did. Eventually we had to keep the room door and windows open to pick up the cooling effect of the natural breeze which seemed to work a lot better that the antiquated air conditioner.

Day 4,  More exploration in Istanbul

After breakfast, we headed toward Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya). We wanted to beat the crowd, and indeed we did. We were the first visitors when the doors opened. The Turkish Military with their machine guns, for some reasons, had some presence in that mosque.  Hagia Sofia is also a fantastic structure. The mosque (currently a museum) was originally a church (Church of the Holy Wisdom) built in 563 by the roman Emperor Justinian. In 1453, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted the church into a mosque. The original church mosaics were covered with plastered Islamic scriptures and arabesques . In 1936, Ataturk (First president of Turkey after the collapse of the Ottomans) made Aya Sofya into a museum.  Under the main dome, we got an extraordinary sense of vast space and serenity. It was also unique to see Byzantine depiction of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus next to the Islamic scripture and symbols.
Around lunch, we headed toward the Grand Bazaar. All the way to the bazaar we had to deal with aggressive carpet salesmen. Here is a sample of what you hear every time you pass a carpet store:
The plain "Excuse me, were are you from, would you like to see my carpets"
The humorous "Hello, are you looking for my carpet store"
The innovative "I see you don't carry a carpet, would like to see one"
The De Beer call "You look like a happy couple, a carpet will keep happiness for ever"
The plea "Please, Please, come to my carpet store. There is no pressure to buy"
The help pretender "I will show you a short cut to reach the Blue mosque and on the way I invite you to have a cup of tea at my carpet store"
In the bazaar, we were surprised that salesmen are less aggressive. They were content with only gentle invitations. The Bazaar was composed of hundreds of small stores next to each other. All kinds of booth-like shops are intermingled. At one corner, there was an outdoor Gyro shop. We were hungry, so we stopped for a sandwich. We were offered small stools strategically positioned out of the pedestrian way. While seating, the cook helper kept spraying rose water on the ground around us. The sandwiches were excellent and the seating was very interesting. We bought a few Turkish towels then walked to the Spice Bazaar. The Spice Bazaar was very crowded. Walking there meant constant attempts to avoid bumping into other people. The atmosphere was filled with spices' aroma. The various spices were on display on the sidewalks and in front of the stores. Next to the Spice Bazaar, we came across what looked like a Scarves Bazaar. Scarves of all shapes and colors are on display. In this Bazaar, there were more locals than tourists. We stopped at one of the stores because Mary wanted to buy some gifts. We had some difficulty communicating with the salesman since he did not speak English but Mary still managed to bargain using some form of international sign language. Getting out of the Bazaar was a lot harder than getting in. In our way out, we had to pass through what looked like a kitchen utensils' Bazaar. The Bazaar was very crowded. Mary and I tried very hard not to get separated in this sea of people. In spite of our best efforts, we got separated in the crowd a couple of times. Eventually, we emerged at the Leather goods' Bazaar which was the last part of the Bazaars. On our way to the hotel, we stopped by a bakery that attracted Mary's attention. On display inside the bakery, were framed pages from the bakery visitor book. The pages were signed by many celebrities and heads of state that visited the place including Jackie Kennedy. We tried some Dondurma (Ice Cream). It was delicious and probably one of the best ice creams we ever tasted. We also took with us some cake and Asure (Dried fruit and beans pudding).
Before reaching the hotel, we took a quick tour of the Yerebatan Sarnici (Basilica Cistern). The  cistern was composed of an impressive underground network of water ways. The dime red lights, the humidity, the sound of the water, and the music played by a local band combined to provide a memorable experience. For Dinner, we decided to try the old traditional Kofte (meat ball) place called Sultanahmet Koftecisi. The place was crowded, so the waiter has to seat us with two other local people. The locals recommended the lamb Kofte, Pilav (Rice), and Piyaz (wide bean salad) which was, they said, what most locals eat in this restaurant. I have to say that we were not impressed with what the locals eat. The meat was very greasy and the bean salad was very plain.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in Sultanahmet Meydani Park. We sat in a bench in view of Hagia Sofia to enjoy the moon lights. Shortly our romantic moments in the moon lights were interrupted by the screaming of a tourist who got hit by a car while crossing the street toward the park. Mary and I were worried all along about the crazy traffic and the many motorists here who disobey the traffic rules. We knew that accidents must be numerous here but we did not expect to witness one. The tourist was taken to the hospital by a good Samaritan. The police did not show up and the crowd who gathered to watch disappeared. On that note, we decided to call the day off and went back to the hotel.
 

It was Sunday, our last day of the trip. Originally we planned to spend the day shopping. Indeed, we woke up and headed toward the bazaar. Unfortunately everything was closed. Our impression that the weekend in Islamic countries is Friday, was wrong in the case of Turkey. We were a little disappointed with the situation. However, our adventurous spirit managed to find an alternate plan. The nice sea breeze and the sun shine inspired us to take the ferry to Dolmabace Sarayi (Palace) on the other side of the Golden Horn. At the ferry building, we were disappointed that there was not any scheduled ferry to Dolmabace until the evening. Some private boaters offered to take us but we opted to take a Taxi. To our surprise the Palace was very close using Galata Bridge which was within waking distance from the ferry building. Dolmabace Sarayi was the most expensive place to visit during our trip. The entrance fees were seven million Liras ($26) for the two available tours, the Selamlik (the business quarter) and Haremlik ( the Harem quarter). They also charge 2 million Liras extra, if you plan to take a camera with you. Since we were instructed that the use of a flash is prohibited throughout the Palace, we decided not to take a camera. After getting in the Palace, we felt glad to change the plan from shopping into visiting this marvelous palace. The palace architecture is a mixture of Turkish and European styles. The palace's grandiose meant to display Turkey's march toward the European mainstream.  The palace ceremonial hall was impressive with its 4.5 tone crystal chandelier. We also visited Ataturk's wing. Ataturk was the only person who lived in this palace after the demise of the Ottoman empire in 1923.
Instead of taking a taxi back, we walked across the bridge toward our hotel. At Karakoy, we walked through some kind of fish market. The market was crowded but we had to cut the walk short when someone pinched Mary's leg.
On the way to the hotel, we stopped at our favorite bakery at Ankara Caddesi to enjoy one more time the delicious Dondurma. We also took with us some lamb and cheese Borek (pie), Kishkish (Milk pudding) and Firinada Sutlac (Oven baked rice pudding).
In the afternoon, we visited Mehmet Pasa Mosque. The mosque was small compared to the Blue Mosque. We then walked around in Istanbul's narrow allies until we got tired.
Our last dinner in Istanbul was at Vitamin Restaurant where we tried other variety of the local food.
 

 We woke up very early to catch our early flight to San Francisco. We were tired because we stayed late in the evening arranging our luggage. The hotel receptionist arranged for a Taxi to take us to the airport. When we left the hotel, we noticed the Taxi driver handing a Million Lira bill to the hotel receptionist. We did not understand the deal at the time. However, we did fully understand what happened when the Taxi dropped us at the airport and charged us an extra million Liras over the meter. So, it was a kind of mandatory tip in addition to the one we volunteered. Our flight left on time and we had a good flight to Amsterdam. The flight to San Francisco was not as good. We had a flight attendant that kept licking her fingers before handing anything to the passengers including napkins and pieces of bread. We also had very bad food for lunch. The lavatory was disgusting. The smell was so repulsive that all passengers had to use the only relatively clean bathroom left. The waiting to use the bathroom, stretched to more than 15 minutes. Eventually the second bathroom became as repulsive as the first one. The flight back made coming home a lot more sweeter than what would have been without it.