We headed to the airport in an Uber, arriving in plenty of time. I had checked in online so I had an boarding pass but Jayne and Josie used a kiosk to print out theirs. Off to security and the gate. Got Josie a snack to tide her over in case she couldn’t stay awake for the in flight dinner, as it was a very late flight. Once at the gate we realized that Turkish Airways doesn’t use boarding group. Hmmmm…. Then an agent came by and told Jayne she had to go to the desk to have different passes printed. Said my electronic one was fine. Finally figured that they board by two very large lines by row number. Ok. We get in the appropriate line to just stand there and wait. And wait. Another agent came by checking passes. All good. Then once we finally start boarding I’m told no, that I have to get a paper pass. Sigh. Then the desk tells me never mind. Geez, it be good if they could agree on a system. But the good thing is that the flight while long, went with no issues. I slept most of the way.

We arrived in Istanbul to their new, huge airport. Finally reached immigration and got thru rather easily. But the best part was that we were met by our dear friend Gulgun and her boyfriend, Ervin. Faithful readers my recall that she joined us for half of our Italian trip. After many hugs and kiss we piled into their car and heads out.

They took us to a maritime museum of sorts with a lovely restaurant along the Halic estuary. We had a great variety of Turkish appetizers and wine, all while enjoying the pleasant weather and having stray cats wander around. Seems that’s quite an issue here. We enjoyed catching up then went out to see some of the old boats and aircraft.

Eventually we drove off heading to Jayne’s grad school friends house who had graciously offered to host us while in the city. We were met by Gõzde, her husband Emrah, their daughter Derin and son Kerem.

We had tea and snacks then had the pleasure of having Derin play two beautiful pieces on the piano. After our musical interlude we were shown to our rooms to freshen up before heading out to dinner at their club.

Fortunately it was nearby, as we were tired, but we managed to perk back up with wine and a delicious meal. While we were between coarser the girls went out to inspect the grounds. All in all a great start to our journey. We happily fell into bed once back at the house to be ready for the next day’s adventure.