Bahçelievler

We had decided we'd take the bus to Istanbul which meant an 8 hour trip starting with the local bus from Pamukkale to Denizli then the bus to Istanbul. Bob had bantered and joked with the ticket man when we'd arrived in Denizli a few days prior and he remembered us, fortunately... We arrived in Denizli with an hour to spare (better to be early than late) only to discover Larry's wallet was missing! Kathie ran back to the local bus and had everyone helping as she crawled around the floor; the ticket man called the hotel to see if it was there; Bob checked with the bus driver again; Kathie & Larry went to the police. I was in charge of all the bags! The ticket man, who offered me tea and a seat, then called the local bus driver and with his network of drivers, they found it and returned it intact to us! We had 6 minutes to spare before the Istanbul bus left. Whew! Crisis averted again! The kindness of strangers has been amazing!
The trip to Istanbul ended up being 10 hours and again, a very circuitous route. I thought we'd end up in Bulgaria! It was 10 p.m. so we took a taxi to the airb&b. When he dropped us on this dark back street with graffiti and broken buildings, I was sure he'd dumped us and left. Unfortunately, we were in the right place. Kathie contacted the host and his nephews eventually came down to let us in. We went up 3 flights of stairs to a big apartment with laundry hanging in every room. It was a disastrous place but it was late so we had something to eat down the street and went to bed. Bob had already decided we weren't staying and the dog crap💩 in the stairwell the next morning confirmed it! Bob looked online for hotels and I suggested we contact the host which Kathie did. He agreed to refund us the remaining 3 nights if we didn't give him a bad review🤯 and we were to tell airb&b that we had an emergency and had to leave. We were going to leave anyway, with or without a refund. It will take a couple of weeks for the refund...🙏🤞. Bob found us a lovely hotel in the same district but in a much better neighbourhood. We checked in, were given a Turkish coffee then we wandered around. It was Kathie's birthday so we were up for celebrating her birthday🎂 and the escape from the airb&b! We ate at a lovely restaurant with a top floor terrace and view of the sea. It turned out K&L had eaten there a few years ago!
A crazy 24 hours but it all ended happily!Read more