Today we will be saying goodbye to Israel. After a light kosher breakfast, our driver picks us up and we head to Tel Aviv to get our flight to Istanbul. It’s a nice drive and somewhat relaxing after 3-1/2 weeks of nonstop touring. And then we get to the airport…

Tel Aviv is a beautiful city with a small international airport. We didn’t know ahead of time that it was a holiday weekend, and the number one destination for people living or traveling in Israel is Turkey. So of course the airport was busy. I can deal with the crowds and the noise, but the chaos and disorganization is another thing. What a nightmare! It seems that rules and discipline go right out the window. Everyone is trying to cut in line, or people are more than happy to let their friends slip in behind them. Pure mayhem.

After waiting in line for over 1-1/2 hours, we finally get to the baggage check. This is where I find out that our weight limit is 23.5 kg each and we have almost 50 kg each. Darn those souvenirs. Well this cost me a pretty penny. Next we go to passport control. That’s not so bad but now we are in line for security check, and that’s when all hell breaks loose. It seems that 3 Arab families are having it out with some tourists from Europe. It gets out of control quickly and security had to be called in. Luckily for Serina and me, one of the officers let us get into an attendant line and got us through just in time.

The flight back to Istanbul was nice but I gotta say, the onboard meal sucked. Maybe we are just spoiled after all the great food we experienced, or maybe we were expecting something that actually tasted like food. Either way, I just drank the water and ate the desert. Had to leave the rest

Nice to be back in Turkey. Since we are just here overnight, I found us a very nice boutique hotel right on the Black Sea near the airport. After unloading our luggage in the room, we strolled across the street to the beach. This is our first time getting our feet wet in the Black Sea, and it was memorable. We have to get up at 4am so we don’t have much time to spend enjoying the beach. Time for our last meal in Turkey before we start our trek home.

Our last meal was memorable. Sea Bass for me with shrimp and soup for Serina was just the ticket. Delicious. Tomorrow we start our journey home.

Ciao for now