For our last morning in Turkey, we decided to head to Cafe Privato for a traditional Turkish Breakfast. This spot was a favorite of Grant’s from our last visit to Turkey, but a pleasure I’d not gotten to experience as I arrived a day later. He insisted that it was not to be missed and oh, how right he was!
Breakfast was in 2 parts – the first being an amazing array of cheeses, tasty spreads both traditional (tomato/garlic/dill paste, homemade fruit preserves) and more modern varieties (sweet hazelnut spread and clotted cream!), and tasty breads – all washed down with a strawberry/mint lemonade (all organic fruits with no water or sugar, we were assured!) and the traditional and ever present cup of Turkish tea!
We were stuffed after the first part, but then on came the fried things – pan fried cheese, sweet and spinach filled pancakes, Eggs Menemet (a spiced Turkish omelette) and traditional sausages. We were pretty full already but couldn’t let this goodness pass and so ate until bursting!
Then it was a quick sprint back to the Airbnb to grab our things and head out to our next flights. Because of all the conflict in the region, we ended up having to connect through Abu Dabi in order to get to Armenia. This is the equivalent of flying from Jersey thru Atlanta to get to DC -painful and longer than necessary.
Interestingly, our flight from Abu Dabi was aerated with “non-toxic aerosol insecticides” before taking off to Yerevan – apparently it’s required? This entails one of the stewardesses walking up and down the main aisle with a handful of small metal containers shooting a funky smelling cloud over all of us for 5 minutes prior to take off. We’ve never experienced anything like it before!
All our fun and games, however, came to an end when we reached Yerevan at 2am, only to discover that our bags, alas, had not made the connection. Let this be a lesson to all – Abu Dabi is a HUGE airport, and often has flight delays, so plan accordingly! We had 2.5 hrs (shortened to 1 because of, shockingly, delays) and it still wasn’t enough for our bags to make it. Additionally, because there are only flights every other day and at the late time, it would end up being 3 days before we could get our bags back (SUCH SORROW!).
On top of all that, because of the late time, we were not able to buy bottled water prior to getting to our apartment which left us without anything to drink or brush our teeth with! Fortunately, Grant busted out his sweet, sweet Eagle Scout knowledge and at 3am boiled up a bunch of water for drinking and hygiene – modern day urban camping at it’s finest!
– J & G