Istanbul: Where West Meets East
Sunday, May 24 Started in Ploeisti, Romania After a long bus ride yesterday, with chaotic stops for lunch in Pitesti and to see the castle and grounds of the real-life Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, in Targoviste, the arrival at the Central Hotel in the Romanian City of Ploiesti was most welcome. Sunset from the hotel room A so-so buffet dinner with not-so-good wine and a short night’s sleep quickly became 6 AM and time to board the bus to the Bucharest airport. Where there was More chaos. Long lines. Grumpy people. And a guide who failed to advocate strongly for her group. Anyway, after another long wait, The flight on Turkish Airlines was perfect. It was on time departing and arriving and was smooth across the southwest corner of the Black Sea. The Istanbul airport is new and huge. Taxiing to our gate took forever. It’s very clean and modern. Customs was a bit slow, but that worked out well because there was no wait for the arrival of the bags at the ...