Istanbul was Constantinople
How exciting...we are on our way to Istanbul, Turkey!
Tuesday morning, Elder & Sister Davis got dressed (sans name tags), finished packing, used up all the milk in the fridge, took out the trash and called a taxi to take us to the Riga Airport. We were told not every taxi company is honest, so we called the one that everyone recommended...the green one. The green taxi (Baltic Taxi) are easy to find in Riga......and for 10L we got a ride to the airport.
And to keep up with the "green theme" our flight was on Air Baltic. We said a quick prayer as we got ready to board the plane and found that we had seats across the aisle from each other. Since the Area CES office took care of all the details for this conference, we were clueless about a lot of things.
Sister Davis struck up a conversation with the young man next to her and found out he was on his way home...to Turkey. He had been working in Finland for 6 months and was looking forward to going back to his home country...and as a result, Sister Davis found out a lot about the country she would soon
Istanbul has about 20 MILLION people living there (bigger than NYC!)
Turkey's total pop. is about 74 million.
Turkey is a very modern, mostly Muslim country, (although in 2010 there were 221 LDS members living there in 4 branches).
Antalya, where our next flight is headed, is a tourist area on the Mediterranean Sea.
And the fellow passenger told Sister Davis the usual Mediterranean climate had been exceptionally cool lately. SIGH... Sister Davis had been really looking forward to some warm sunny weather after the three hour flight through heavy clouds.The flight was rather bumpy, due to a lot of air turbulence but we passed over the Aegean Sea, and the Marmara Sea and caught our first glimpse of Istanbul.
We arrived at Ataturk Airport and had to go find our luggage because the next part of our journey was on Turkish Airlines. The airport was very modern and HUGE. We followed the signs (in English) to the visa line and only waited a few minutes to get a Turkish Visa that allowed us into the country. We paid with our Idaho Central Credit Card ($40) and found that the Airport readily accepts American money.
So with our passports stamped, we got into another line where we showed our passports. Tourism is BIG MONEY in Turkey and that is why CES holds it's conferences here. It is easy to get in and out. The resorts are also less expensive in the winter months. It takes 6 months to get a visa to Russia, but Turkey gives you one at the airport!
We followed more signs to the huge baggage area where there were over 15 carousels to choose from. But what fun to study the people around us!
Elder & Sister Davis were seeing a new culture from what we had been living in. Life is certainly different in Istanbul from what we are used to. One of the first things Sister Davis noticed was how many dogs were roaming through the airport. Dogs on leashes and some not on leashes. They didn't look like drug sniffing dogs but peoples pets. Maybe it was bring your pet to work day.
We saw women in burkas, families in traditional Muslim dress...and people from all cultures hurrying to and fro. But we were especially relieved to see many Turks with big smiles on their faces. For the most part, they are happy, talkative, and friendly. We even saw a sign pointing the way to a Mosque located downstairs. Around one corner we saw 5 men kneeling on prayer mats, facing a wall and praying together. These people are devout in their faith and you have to admire that.
After a little searching we found our one piece of luggage.
And now we needed to get ready for our next flight. It was in the Domestic Terminal...in a galaxy, far, far, away. So we took people movers to get down the looong hallways.
We had to go through another security check. In fact, by the time we were home again, Elder Davis had taken off his belt, coat, shoes, taken the laptop out of its case, put his wallet, keys, hat, and suit jacket in a plastic tub 6 times. And 6 times he had to put it all back on.
While waiting for our flight we did meet up with the CES missionary group coming from Ukraine. We introduced ourselves (funny how you can find other Mormon Missionaries, with no name tags on, in a crowd of people). We would all be on the same flight to Antalya.
Our plane getting ready....
We really enjoyed Turkish Air! Each seat has it's own TV screen and they give free meals and lots of leg room.
Getting close to Antalya...
It was getting dark and we were tired when we finally got our luggage in Antalya but at least we weren't by ourselves. A shuttle bus was waiting for us at the airport and after a 30 minute drive we arrived at the little city of Belek where the Susesi resort is located. Susesi means bubbling waters and this place had it's share of pools, fountains and rivers and they were all lit up at night. By now it was after 7PM
And most importantly, WE HAVE A BATHTUB! Hopefully, we can get a long soak in before we leave.
But for now, Sister Davis is too tired to blog but she is still amazed that she and her wonderful husband are on such a crazy adventure.
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