The Hummers

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

This is the first post, of what I hope to be many, that will chronicle the Hummer family travels, adventures, and life in general. As a recent family vacation, we traveled to Istanbul, Turkey and spent four days exploring an area of the world to which we had not previously visited. This was quite possibly the best of many wonderful international experiences we have had, thus far.

For this initial post, I have tried to recap our departure/travel day and our arrival day in Istanbul. Having read through this "recap", I realize that it is more like a play by play, detailing, in perhaps exhaustive fashion, our experiences. Perhaps I need a good editor! Hopefully, it will not prove to be too boring or too long. Please feel free to skim, skip, or just look at the pictures!:o). As time goes on, I will follow this with postings that will cover the subsequent days of our trip, and some reflections on the overall character of this special adventure in our lives.

This destination was chosen for the reason that it allowed us to venture beyond Western Europe, where we had grown relatively comfortable, and moved us closer to (and in fact into...) Asia. Istanbul has a rich cultural history as the former seat of power for both the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires. The city itself straddles the Strait of Bosphorus, a dividing line between Asia and Europe, making it the only city in the world to be located on two continents.

Our adventure started on the morning of Saturday, April 22nd, as Marion, Joe, Dustin (age 16) and Kieran (age 1) headed for Boston Logan airport. Dustin is a veteran of numerous international adventures, and can easily be categorized as a seasoned world traveler. For Kieran, his previous international experience was limited to Cancun, Mexico this past March. Kieran received his first passport, on an expedited basis, just weeks before our scheduled departure.

We arrived at Logan in plenty of time to get the bags checked, get through security, and relax with a Bloody Mary at Lucky's Logan (adults only of course!:o) Kieran discovered escalators during this time, and became a frequent rider (up and down, over and over and over...his Mom and I taking turns!) Eventually, one of the police officers standing watch nearby asked how many times he had ridden the escalator. Airports are big, and to Kieran it all looked like a big playground! He wanted to go everywhere, see and touch everything, and was quite vocal about his displeasure whenever attempts were made to reign him in. The plane, for him, couldn't leave soon enough!





We connected through La Guardia, with our outbound flight leaving from JFK. The flight to La Guardia was uneventful, and arrived on time. We had about 5 hours between flights but were nervous about doing anything other than going straight to JFK. As it turned out, we were at JFK and checked in, and through security less than one hour after touching down at La Guardia. After learning that the airport to airport shuttle would be $13/person, we elected to take a taxi. Kieran rode in my lap, in the backseat - he was tuckered by this point, having burned a lot of energy at the airport in Boston. Marion and Dustin did their best to keep him awake, so that he might nap after we checked in at JFK. They were unable to succeed, his tired eyelids were too heavy and he drifted off during the 20 minute trip between airports.

Kieran slept through the check-in procedure, and through much of our layover in New York. We went to a Chili's restaurant near our gate to kill the remaining time. A kind hostess put us in the back, in a closed section, since we had the baby. We had to go around the corner so no one would see us and want to be seated there as well. After a while, Kieran woke up and his big-brother Dustin took him on a tour of the surrounding gate areas, to further burn off some of his inquisitive energies!!!

Once on the plane, Kieran was contained within the area in front of our seats and he settled down to enjoy the flight. Having burned much of his energy during the airport phase of the adventure, he soon fell asleep. By dinner time he was sacked out on Marion's lap, and right after dinner we arranged a bed of pillows and blankets on the floor between our seats and the bulkhead. Kieran would rest sleep soundly in that position until touchdown in Istanbul.

We had dinner and Dustin watched TWO movies - the new Harry Potter film, and the Chronicles of Narnia. Marion and I read some, talked, and watched Kieran sleep. With the baby resting comfortably, we were both able to get a decent night's sleep. Shortly before touching down in Istanbul, flight attendants served warm croissants and fruit.

In the jetway we collected the stroller and realized that its tray was missing. Marion went back to try to get it back, and was successful! After getting our things together, we headed for immigration/passport control, and got in line with the other foreign nationals. We were in the wrong line, though, and realized that we needed to get in line to obtain our visa stamp (Kieran's first of many!!!), before passing through. This was our first trip for which a visa was required. I had read before hand that one could be obtained at the port of entry. The fee was $20 per person. I had always thought that a visa was a document separate from a passport, but with this experience I learned that the visa is nothing more than a sticker placed in the passport, over which the immigration officer stamps for permitted entry.

Collecting our luggage went according to plan (which was particularly nice given other nightmare experiences we have had...), and we headed through customs into the airport's main concourse. There was a throng of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people waiting here and...cheering! We had not expected such a welcoming party!:o) It was not long before we spotted our man, from the hotel, holding a sign with "Hummer" printed on it. This was the first time I had been picked up a by a driver at the airport holding a sign with our name on it!!! Again, our heads swelled at our own importance! The man who met us quickly shuffled us to another man, who grabbed a couple of our bags and headed down the concourse. He was really moving fast, and between the stroller and the various other impediments we were toting, we really had to work to keep up. This was our first clue that the pace of Istanbul was comparable to the big cities, particularly New York, of this country.

After chasing our driver through the concourse and across the street into the parking garage, we got into a little SUV/mini-van for the ride to the hotel. We traveled along the Kennedy Caddesi en route to Hotel Spina in the heart of Sultanhamet, Istanbul. The trip took less than one half hour. Kennedy Caddessi runs along the Sea of Marmara and the Strait of Bosphorus, very scenic, interesting drive. There were many apartment high rises along the inland side of the road, and many, many buildings were displaying the Turkish flag. Also, there were a couple of roundabouts with ornate, flowered gardens. There were hundreds of ships moored along the route we traveled. Eventually, we turned off the main road and into a neighborhood of narrow, winding, cobbled streets. As we approached, we could see the Blue Mosque as we approached, which showed us quickly how close we were to the popular sites. Our initial impression of the Hotel Spina was that it looked exactly as it had in all the pictures we had seen.









The hotel is a 19th century, restored Ottoman townhouse. It is an amazing building. Dark wood siding on the façade. A two level terrace on the roof. There is a small elevator that services floors one through four, but one must take the steps up to the roof-top restaurant (enclosed, with the first level of the terrace on the same level.) There is a wide, marble spiral stairway, with simple light fixtures on the walls that also serves the first through fourth floors…it must have been quite a house!


On our arrival at the hotel, we got our first real sense of the hospitality of the people of Istanbul. The hotel desk man, whose name we never got (but who was ever present in helping us navigate our vacation…) was extremely gracious in signing us in. His English was and his manners were excellent. He gave us some information to start, asked us to fill out a brief registration card, and then told us he would have someone help us get our luggage upstairs and that after we had rested, he would give us more information! Ahmet, who was both a waiter and porter at the hotel, helped us get our bags to our room (#303). He first took the stroller down the half-flight of stairs to the basement level (where there were offices, a sitting room, and an unused restaurant area). The lobby itself was no more than a landing, between two levels. Above it, a half flight up, was the elevator, a door leading to the first floor, and a small sitting area over the stairs. After Ahmet stored the stroller downstairs (accessible whenever we were ready for it…) he loaded us and our luggage on the small elevator (200 kg maximum load). He pushed the button then quickly stepped off, and we ascended to the third floor. Ahmet opened the elevator door for us on the third floor leading Dustin to comment on his quickness!


In our room, Ahmet showed us how to work the TV, and then excused himself. There were two beds, one a twin and one fullsized. The room looked fantastic, and again, just as it had in the pictures. The door and bathroom door were dark wood paneled. Very nice. There was a good view of the Blue Mosque from our window. Ahmet arrived shortly after with an interesting looking baby bed/crib. There were no legs to stand it off the ground, rather it sat directly on the floor, and the railings were porous enough that we weren’t even worried that Kieran could get caught in them, he would have escaped too easily! The “crib” railings were covered with bumper pads. It wasn’t the best arrangement, and certainly wouldn’t pass muster for US baby safety standards, BUT with him on the floor, and within inches of our bed, we felt that things were good enough. Shortly after Ahmet left the second time, a woman arrived with additional blankets and pillows for the baby – we kept the pillows for ourselves!


We spent some time relaxing in the room and let Kieran free a bit after being cooped up for so long, to explore his temporary home. We had to unhook the telephone and put it out of Kieran’s reach so he would not destroy it!


After resting for a while, we decided to go for a quick jaunt around the immediate neighborhood to get our bearings, and to get something to eat. We walked in the square in front of Haggia Sophia (St. Sophia). There were great crowds everywhere we went, we assumed this was due to it being a Sunday but later learned that it was a holiday (Independence Day or a Children’s Holiday, depending on who was telling…) In need of sustenance by this time, we stopped at an outdoor cafe just off the main square between the Mosque and Church, on Divanyolu Caddesi (this is a major street on which the tram runs, it leads to the Grand Bazaar in the Bazaar quarter.) The cafe was located on a secondary square very near the Basilica Cistern, a massive underground water storage facility built during the Byzantine era. The name of the café was something about Sultan’s Café or Sultan’s restaurant. Marion was not feeling well, her sinuses were acting up after the long flights. Dustin had pizza, I had sis kebab, and Kieran ate some of the bread before falling asleep. We were served our meals by a friendly young woman, but a young male waiter was quite taken with Kieran. Over and over he kept coming back to see him, talk to him, and tickle his toes, cheeks, etc…This was the first of what we would realize was a common characteristic among the Turkish men that we encountered – they loved Kieran, and weren’t afraid to show it.

Kieran and his new friend...



The air took on a colder feel, and we became chilled. It seemed that the temperature fluctuated rapidly, with breezes picking up and one minute it would feel very warm, and the next it would feel extremely chilly! We left the café and wandered up Divanyolu Caddesi. We followed the tram tracks (our little bread trail, so as not to become too lost!:o) There were literally thousands of people crowding the sidewalks, many held small Turkish flags. This was a main avenue, very commercial with shops, restaurants, banks, etc…We saw spits of meat (chicken and beef or lamb), vertical and spinning in “fast food” shops along this street. The cooks would shave off slices of the meat, and put them in sandwiches. We walked past the mausoleum of Sultan Mahmut II, located in small graveyard with ornately decorated tombstones. There was also a Mosque right along this road, much smaller than the gargantuan Blue Mosque. At the second tram stop we encountered, we turned around and headed back.


Dustin was tired and when we returned to the hotel room, he lay down to rest. Marion and I reloaded Kieran into his stroller and went back out to wander some more. As we left the hotel, we were “accosted” by a friendly carpet salesman with a store right across the street from our hotel, at a main corner. He immediately pegged us as Americans, as would most of the salesman of the city. He told us that he also had a store on 37th street in NYC (Marion and I both worked at an office on 38th Street). And he wanted us to see his store. We told him that we had just arrived, and were just getting familiar with the area, but that we might come back later. There were several other younger men sitting or standing with him, at the corner. They would be regulars around that corner, and on that street throughout our stay. As it ended up, we never returned to see his goods. Had we entered the store of every salesman who asked us to, we would have done nothing else and would have needed several more days’ time to do so!!! This is an important note about our observations on the city of Istanbul. Istanbul seemed alive with commerce, as well as culture. Everyone, it seemed, was a salesman. The men would ask us on the street, or in the square, if you had been in to see their store (even if there were no stores evident in the immediate vicinity!) As aggressive as these salesmen were, however, they were also exceedingly polite, and wished us well on our way after our polite, but insistent, rejections.

Marion, Kieran and I wandered down to a small Bazaar (referred to in the guidebook as the Cavalry Bazaar, but referred to in the area as the "Old Bazaar") located within a block of our hotel. We had seen this on our drive into the hotel. The bazaar consisted of an alleyway, about a quarter mile long, open at either end with fancy, arched entryways. The alley was smooth, unlike the cobbled streets prevalent in the rest of the neighborhood and there were potted plants running along the middle. On either side were glass fronted shops. As we walked through, the many salesman (all dressed extremely sharply – suits, ties, fancy dress shoes) asked us (in English!) to come in to see their stores. It didn’t seem to matter what anyone sold (although almost everyone assumed that we WANTED to buy carpets – who wouldn’t?!), they just wanted us to see their store and whatever they had in stock. There were many carpet stores, as well as a variety of other specialty boutiques and souvenir shops. Occasionally, we would see a young boy going by with a tray of glass (no handles…) tea cups swinging under a handle. There were empty tea cups left on the planters, and sitting around the little chairs that the salesmen sat on in front of their shops, etc…NOTE: the whole concept of delivery/take-out food we found to be completely different from what we were used to. It was common to see young boys carrying trays of food in the streets. These trays contained china dishes, covered with plastic wrap. It was also common to see used dishes sitting on window sills, or on chairs set outside of shops. One can only assume that someone would then come back and collect these dishes, to return them to the restaurant.


After our stroll through the Bazaar, we spotted another outdoor café. Here, we met a very nice waiter, who spoke English and was very friendly toward us. This was our first opportunity to sample Turkish coffee. Marion had a cheese “pancake” (two women were making these large “pancakes” - similar to large tortillas - in one part of the café), and I had baklava. The café was large, it took up most of the square just down the hill from our hotel. The café advertised a dinner show featuring Whirling Dervishes between 8 and 10 that evening (every evening), and we decided to come back for dinner there. Kieran ran free some in the café, and was adored by numerous waiters. There were lots of cats all around, which thrilled him to no end.

Turkish coffee is extremely thick, and strong. It is served in an espresso cup, and is almost chewy. At the bottom of the cup is a thick sludge of the bitter tasting grounds (we were informed that some choose to "drink" the grounds, and some do not...we chose the latter option!)

With some charge back in our collective batteries, Marion, Kieran and I returned to the road and headed back up to the square between the Mosque and the Church. The square consisted of a large park, with numerous flower gardens and fountains, located right in front of the Blue Mosque. In front of the Haggia Sophia, ran a wide, cobblestone road. This was open to vehicle traffic, but was also filled with pedestrians. We walked on some of the pathways that crisscrossed the park in front of the Mosque, and then into the Mosque grounds. This was difficult to negotiate with Kieran's stroller, due to the steps and the large numbers of people coming in and out. Istanbul, in general, is not particularly stroller friendly - the sidewalks are rough, and inconsistently placed, and many of the roads are rough cobblestone. This latter detail (possibly combined with the disruption to his sleep schedule...) assisted Kieran in taking numerous naps as we wandered.

The famous Blue Mosque (called that due to the ornate blue tilework, on the interior)...

Women sitting among flowers in the park... Men bathing their feet outside the Blue Mosque...


At this point we returned to the hotel, where I took a nap. After resting some, we climbed the stairs to the hotel’s terrace café and had Turkish coffee, wine, and enjoyed spectacular views of the Blue Mosque and the rooftops of the city, leading down to the Bosphorus. Ahmet brought us the drinks, and spent a lot of time with us chasing after toddling Kieran, and telling us about himself and the city. Ahmet learned English by working at the hotel, where he has worked for six years. He commutes nearly an hour, from the city suburbs, six days a week to work there.


With time to spare before dinner, and plenty of adrenaline left to see all that we could, we walked down the hill, away from the Mosque/Square – toward the Bosphorus. A few streets below our hotel, we found an interesting street that had numerous outdoor cafes. There were a number that catered to backpackers, one called Cheers, and some that had references to Australians (Istanbul appears to be a popular destination for Aussies, and there is a holiday celebrating the WWI landing at Gallipoli, that brings many to the area each year.) We chose a suitable cafe for a beer/wine before dinner. Again, the waiters here were thrilled with Kieran. He slept some. There were boys on the streets here, selling fancy hats, and I bought one for Kieran.

Our youngest traveller was all tuckered out from a long day of exploring. A prince with his brand new cap...



It was getting on towards 8 o'clock local time, when the Whirling Dervishes were scheduled to begin their performance, so we walked back up to the Café near the Bazaar. Our original waiter was there, he recognized us and immediately made efforts to get us one of the “more comfortable” seats along the back of the covered portion of the café. There were roughly an equal number of tables under cover, and outdoors. Along the very back of the café, the tables had a couch against the wall, as well as a couple chairs. The tables and chairs were very low - which made for a little difficulty in getting into them, but once seated they were comfortable enough and added to the cozy atmosphere of the place. The food here was very good. The music started, and the Whirling Dervish came out. The Dervishes (members of the Sufi sect of Islam) perform a very interesting dance, where the dancer, wearing flowing white robes, simply spins round and round. It is quite fascinating to watch, the dancer holds an extremely steady position, with his head never moving, as he spins around. Since alcohol is forbidden in their religious beliefs, none is served at this cafe. Most establishments, we found, do serve alcohol despite the obvious Muslim influence in the city.

The lone Dervish Whirls...


















After an enjoyable dinner, we partook in another tradition of the region - we ordered a water pipe (we had been more familiar with this apparatus being referred to as a "Hookah" - but here they referred to it as a water pipe.) Many in the cafe were enjoying these, and as we later learned, the cafe would stay open late into the night/early morning as people stopped in after enjoying a night out. We asked for apple flavored tobacco (extremely mild, mostly vapor and a fraction of the nicotine in a whole box than in a single cigarette.) We found apple to be a common flavor for both the tea and tobacco. Among the numerous waitstaff moving around the cafe, there was a young man dedicated to serving hot coals to fire the pipes. He would occasionally come by and carefully select a briquet from his pan, and use tongs to place it into the pan on our water pipe.





















A young couple was sitting next to us, K is sleeping but the young woman eventually just wakes him up and takes him out of his stroller to hold him. He wakes up and is partly confused at his new found surroundings and partly thrilled by the attention the young couple was showering on him. Having already been somewhat introduced to this Turkish affection for babies, we were able to get over our initial shock at someone just grabbing our baby! It was a very cute scene to witness, and one that would be repeated as the trip went on.
















Following our dinner and water pipe, we headed back towards the hotel. Just a few doors down from our hotel was another hotel with a fancy terrace restaurant on top (it seemed all of the hotels and restaurants had terrace restaurant/cafes at the top of the building). There was a host on the street who was quite friendly, and assisted us in getting the stroller up to the top floor, and up the steps to the restaurant. Here, we had dessert and drinks. The restaurant has large glass windows and excellent views of the Mosque and we could see birds flying around in the lighted area between the minarets. The Mosque at night, lit by floodlights, is a breathtaking sight.

Finally worn down from a long, long day (two days, really...) of travel and sightseeing, we went back to the hotel and settle down for the night. It took Kieran a while to go to sleep (Dustin does not suffer from this difficulty!:o), but eventually he crashed and would sleep through the night!