We traveled for two months to Istanbul and Egypt during July and August (yes, we knew that there was a war on).
Our 2024 July and August Trip
The last time we were in Türkiye was 1996 (when it was Turkey). We started in Istanbul for 5 months then, rented a car and drove the coast all the way to Antalya. We spent nine months in Türkiye/Turkey during that trip and had a great time. We weren't blogging in 1996 (was there such a thing?). We created placemark blog posts (linked above) and there you can see our photos documenting that visit (access the photos by clicking the link at the end of each of those placemark blog posts above).Before we arrived in Türkiye/Turkey in '96, we were in Egypt and Jordan. Dimitri took Audre down his Egyptian memory lane and we visited Alexandria where he was born, Cairo, and Sharm El Sheikh. Dimitri remembered the mangos from Ismailia during his youth and wanted to taste them again. So off we went to Egypt during mango season in July when it was 104° F.
In April, we read about the inauguration of Turkish Airlines nonstop flight from Denver to Istanbul and we immediately booked it at the special launch price. The round trip business class price was $7700 for both of us! That was about 1/3rd of the cost of business class fares that we had been paying.
In Istanbul there were two Four Seasons; one in Sultanahmet, the old part of town and the other on the Bosphorus. Our first stay was in Sultanahmet.
In 1996 we met Emine and Simon who lived in Istanbul at the time. We were all at a dinner by the famous chef, Paul Bocuse, at the Çırağan Palace. We enjoyed Emine and Simon so much; we were able to rendezvous with them in Singapore once and then we spent time with them in Sydney, where they had moved. Simon was gone but, on this trip, we spent time in Istanbul with Emine who was visiting at the same time as we.
After nearly 3 weeks in Istanbul, we flew to Cairo and to stay at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. We looked for and found great mangoes. The Four Seasons Nile Plaza arranged for us to meet with their mango expert! We stayed in Cairo nine days before flying to Sharm El Sheikh to stay at the Four Seasons there. We hoped to spend all of our time in the Red Sea and we definitely did spent a great deal of time there!
After about 10 days, we flew to Alexandria and stayed at the Four Seasons at San Stefano. We drove to Abukir to go to Zephyrion, the waterfront restaurant famous for fish where we had sea urchins. After Alexandria, we went by car to the Four Seasons First Residence for our second stay in Cairo.
After Cairo (and lots of mangos) we returned to Istanbul staying at the Four Seasons Bosphorus for our second stay.
Other than seeing Emine and eating mangos, that was all that had been planned. We returned to Vail in September.
Our Turkish Airlines flight from Denver to Istanbul was very good but not as good as our Qatar flights in business class. It was a direct flight which was great. The seats flattened and we slept but there were no doors to close for privacy. Also the configuration was different and not as good as the video we saw of the Turkish Airlines planes on the Chicago-Istanbul flight. The food was good enough (and much better than the ANA-United flights). The movie selection was fine and the head phones were good and only a little uncomfortable.
We saw Emine during our first stay in Istanbul and she was doing okay after Simon's death. She was working hard to clean up their apartment in Istanbul and get it ready to sell. She was kind of over-whelmed by all she had to accomplish but she made time for us.
The mangoes in Egypt were beyond expectations. Fas mangoes were fabulous and new to Dimitri. Every morning at breakfast, we had fresh mango juice and it was great. We had fresh mangoes until, on our last day, Dimitri said he was over-mangoed.
A surprising thing about Egypt was the humidity--from the north to Sharm El Sheikh: the humidity was high. Even in our rooms, the hygrometer we carry recorded 67% humidity. Another factoid about Egypt: everyone smoked. Restaurants allowed smoking inside too. It was annoying but, with the fans, we survived.
Even in Istanbul, it looked like too many people were smoking. Inside restaurants smoking was not allowed but we liked to sit outside and, there, smoking was pervasive.
In Egypt, even in 104 degree heat, women were wearing niqab. The hijab was ubiquitous and Audre thought it was a fashion statement and an easy way to punch the entry ticket to heaven.
These were most probably our final trips in Egypt and to Istanbul. They were totally successful.
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