Showering in a foreign country shouldn’t be difficult. There are readily available shower fixtures that require a single pull and twist. The good folks at the Sheraton Atakoy Hotel in Istanbul are not aware of this. One lever toggles between the upper shower head and the lower, hand-held variety. Another lever directly in front of that one adjusts the output of water. A third unmarked lever sets the temperature for the shower. A fourth lever plugs and unplugs the tub. On our first night, we were unable to break the code on simply filling the tub with water, so we had to sit on the hand-held shower head which can be painful and may void the warranty. If you become frustrated, as I did, and turn all four levers at once, the bidet at the nearby commode blasts water on your unsuspecting spouse, who shouldn’t be sitting there while you’re showering anyway.

After surviving three blasts to the face in the trial-and-error shower, I accompanied my bride to the dining room for the first of what I believe will be 12 days of incredible meals. We had salad, roast beef on a bed of sweet potato puree, broccoli, and cheesecake with raspberry sauce, white chocolate, and a biscotti. The following morning, our breakfast options included a custom omelet bar, a bread bar, a cheese and meat bar, a 20-ingredient granola station, a coffee bar, six canisters of hot foot, and an assortment of juices. I knew we were in for a treat when I realized I could carve a section out of a real honeycomb.

What do we know about Istanbul?

• Home to 16 million people, making it the largest city in Turkey and the 18^th largest city in the world. 
• It sits on two continents—about 2/3 of the population live in Europe and 1/3 in Asia.
• It is in the Top 5 of most visited cities in the world. 
• It straddles the Bosphurus—one of the world’s busiest waterways—between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. 
• It’s considered one of the most significant cities in history, having served as the capital of 4 different empires.
• It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold and the seat of the last caliphate. 
• It sits on the North Anatolian Fault and is highly vulnerable to earthquakes.

By the way, in case you didn’t get the memo, Turkey changed its official international name to Türkiye (“TUR-kee-yay”) to better reflect the country’s cultural roots and to distance itself from the English word “turkey” (the bird) and its slang definition for failure. This would be like if you were from Loser, Louisiana and the city council changed the name to Loser-Yay to make it sound better.  

Istanbul has been featured in many movies, including:

• Skyfall (2012) – Features a high-speed motorcycle chase across the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar and a thrilling opening sequence on the Varda Viaduct.
• Argo (2012) – Used neighborhoods like Balat and Eminönü as a stand-in for Tehran, and filmed key scenes inside the Hagia Sophia.
• Taken 2 (2012) – The Liam Neeson action sequel famously features Bryan Mills driving through the winding streets of Istanbul and fighting on the rooftops.  
• The Accidental Spy (2001) – The Jackie Chan action movie highlights a famous chase and fight sequence winding through the Spice Bazaar.

We spent two days in Istanbul. My general observations:

• It’s really, really old—over 2,600 years old as an established city, with human habitation in the region dating back nearly 8,500 years.
• For a big city, it’s relatively clean. 
• In a city of 15 million people, I didn’t see a single homeless person. According to our guide, there are two reasons: 1) Families take care of their families here. However difficult it might be to take in a struggling family member, it would be shameful to leave them on the street; and 2) People here don’t want to be homeless, which isn’t always the case in our country.
• There are mosques everywhere—over 3100! Over 90% of Istanbul’s population identifies as Muslim, however the level of religious observance varies significantly. About 47% of adults actively practice their Muslim faith, another 45% culturally/traditionally identify as Muslim but are secular/non-observant, and less than 10% identify with Christianity (including Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Catholic communities) or are Jewish. 

My Top 5 Favorite Things We Saw/Did in Istanbul:

1. Basilica Cistern – unforgettable! I never thought I’d be this excited about an underground watering hole. It was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. In From Russia with Love, an early James Bond classic, 007 boards the Orient Express and navigates these waters. 

• Bosphorus Cruise – sticking with the water theme, we boarded a boat for a 2 hour tour… a 2 hour tour! I’ve never seen such an incredible assortment of water-side palaces, fortresses, universities, and getaways for the rich and famous, and it’s always a treat to be out on the water on a sunny day. However, there was the “Tilley Hat Incident”, featuring my friend Joe Johnson (aka Gilligan), who is determined to “out faux pas” me on this trip. With the wind gusting in the middle of the Bosphorus Strait, he decided not to use the strap on his Tilley hat—a strap designed to keep the hat on your head when you’re in, say, heavy winds on the Bosphorus. Next thing we know, Joe’s hat has blown overboard and is floating in 200 feet of water! He was distraught because it’s his favorite hat and they no longer make it in that color. Before Mary Anne and Ginger were able to console him, the captain whipped our party boat around and went on a daring search and recovery effort to retrieve Joe’s hat. When the deckhand scooped the hat from the water in a fishing net, the entire crowed erupted in applause and shouting! One gentleman in our party was so determined to get a picture of the hat being retrieved that he stumbled down the ladder, severely cut his hand, and is at the ER this evening being treated. (Thurston Howell III is footing the bill.) Of course, I blame Joe for the injury, because I can. But he provided the most entertaining moment of the day so… hats off to him!

• Punto Carpet demonstration – Sadly, the Grand Bazaar—the largest and oldest covered market in the world, with 61 covered streets and 4,000 shops—was closed during our visit due to a holiday. In 2014, it was listed No. 1 among the world’s most-visited tourist attractions, with 91,250,000 annual visitors, but we were not able to add to that total.  As an alternative, we spent a couple of hours at the nearby Punto carpet shop, where the owner treated us to drinks and a demonstration on how Turkish rugs are made. These are some of the finest in the world, ranging from a few hundred dollars to over $25,000. It was nice to get off our feet, sip some Turkish coffee and tea, and learn about a centuries-old trade that is important to these folks. Several in our group bought rugs.

• Hagia Sophia – this iconic church building, built in 537 AD, is a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated as the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It started as the primary Christian Orthodox cathedral of Constantinople, but later served as an imperial mosque, a museum, and later was reconverted into an active mosque. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years. While it is certainly impressive, I had to drop it to 4^th place because it is undergoing a major renovation (due to earthquake damage) and so there is significant scaffolding visible inside and out.

• Hippodrome Square – I enjoyed standing on the grounds where crowds of 10,000 people or more cheered on chariot races during the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Bonus points for beautiful views of Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace and some famous obelisks. 

Honorable Mention: the Archeological Museum and the Chora Church… google them to learn more! I’ll post some photos from our trip on FaceBook eventually–but not all 200 and counting!

The ladies were required to wear scarves at certain religious sites. I asked Janet if doing that would make her more subservient. She made me do 20 push-ups!

Wonderful couple of days in Istanbul! Our focus was more on history and culture than “spirituality”, per se, but that’s about to change! We have arrived in Thessaloniki—just like the Apostle Paul , Silas, and Timothy did around AD 50 on Paul’s second missionary journey. 

It’s time to walk in Paul’s footsteps, both literally and figuratively!