Turkey

A visitor could spend a week in Istanbul and never leave Sultanahmet (and I’m sure many do). Fearing yet another sales pitch about buying a rug or taking a Bosphorus tour, we ventured beyond the tourist area.

I’m following James Bond around Istanbul again. In true Her Majesty’s Secret Service fashion, I’ve given Karen the slip and descended into the shadows…

All right, this feels like cheating. I’m used to slogging miles from site to site while on vacation. Finally arriving at the museum/palace/ruin is like coming upon an oasis in the desert.

Istanbul is huge. Sprawling. One of the biggest cities in the world. Looking at a map back in Milwaukee, it was hard to envision the scale of the place.

Sadly, it required an aunt to die. My Aunt Meg was a traveler herself, having worked as a travel agent for many years. She passed away this January, and while attending her funeral I reconnected with cousins I hadn’t seen in twenty years.

We’d never flown Turkish Airlines before. A few weeks before the flight, I called their Chicago customer service line to confirm our seats. From the ruckus in the background of the conversation, I swear I was connected to a barn somewhere in rural Turkey.