Wacky New Year!

Though it had not been our original plan, by the time 2021 was coming to an end we had very high expectations regarding our New Year's party in Istanbul. Let me tell you that we had no idea what it would end up being like!

After losing and almost miraculously recovering A's phone in Sofia, we barely made it to Istanbul on the 31st of December. It didn't give us too much time to figure out how to enjoy the New Year's festivities so we decided that going to the largest square in town was our best chance at enjoying what we hoped would be an amazing show.

Re-energized after a joyful nap, we headed over to Taksim square and joined the joyful crowd of Istanbulites and tourists that gathered to welcome 2022. As we walked around, there was a real feeling of excitement in the air, people were smiling and all around there was a smell of food and tobacco in the air. It was contagious and to say our proper farewell to the old year we decided to have a beer or two in one of Taksim's side streets.

It was at this point that we meet an incredible person which from now on we shall call the dude.

After spending a few Lira on a couple of beers at some random bar, we were struggling to find a place to sit and asked a couple of people if they did not mind us putting our beer on their table by the roadside. It was the dude's table.

As A and I stood there talking about all of the things around us and about the amazing stories our trip had brought us, he decided to start making small talk. At first it was the typical "where are you from?" and "what are you doing here?" questions but as the beers kicked in things started to become more and more interesting. You see, the dude is a sharp dressed man in his late 50's to early 60's and is not exactly the kind of person we usually strike up conversations with but the more we spoke, the more interesting it go. We started to talk about the stories from the Istanbul of his youth and how he grew up around Taksim. He also told us about Polonezkoy, a small village settled by Polish people in the late 1800's not too far away from Istanbul. A was smiling from ear to ear at the prospect of visiting such a place, which later on we actually did! But most of all, we spoke of traveling and of the world.

Having recently been in Africa we were sharing our adventures with all who would listen and it turns out he is an even bigger lover of the dark continent than A! The glitter in his eyes as he spoke of Africa was unmistakable and the laughter in all of our voices as he started doing what he told us is the forbidden dance from Ghana was simple unforgettable. I mean, there we were, on an Istanbul street watching a well dressed middle age man putting his butt up in the air and shaking it in his most African style. What a guy!

Sharing beers with him there was an amazing moment which we did not want to cut short but as midnight approached, we excused ourselves and decided to head over to Ortakoy by the seaside. Or so we thought. Istanbul being what it is and us being how we are with time keeping, we had left it too late and he told us that we would simply not make it before midnight and that if we waited 5m he might have a special place where we could welcome 2022. Why not, we thought.

Sure enough after 5m he was back and with just 10m to midnight he told us to join him at the balcony of a nearby hotel with what he promised was an amazing view.

He seemed like a fairly harmless and friendly person and the New Year was fast approaching so we decided to go ahead and join him. Boy am I happy we did!

By some work of magic, we were now on the top floor of a fancy hotel in one of the most historical cities in the world and our dear new friend seemed to be opening doors left and right. It was wild!

Arriving at that last floor the dude showed us he was something we were not aware of thus far. You see, the top floor balcony was closed and physically sealed off from the public but upon seeing us, well, seeing the dude, the owner quickly got the staff to allow us through to a balcony with one of the most amazing urban views we have ever set our eyes upon.

In the space of a few minutes we went from not knowing where we would welcome the New Year to being completely by ourselves in a closed off balcony of a 5 star hotel with an out of this world view of Istanbul.

It was incredible! It was an amazing way to start 2022! It was the stuff of dreams!

But wait... who the hell is this dude who made all of this happen?

Sure, he was incredibly great to us and we did see him do the forbidden dance on the streets but... who can make all of this happen like it was nothing? Was he a mobster? Was he secret service? What the actual crap was going on?

Dazed by the experience (and possibly the couple of beers), we decided to accept his invitation to join a party at his place next door.

Sure enough, after the celebration on the balcony calmed down we found ourselves at the entrance of the building next door doing Jagermeister shots and having beers with his neighbours.

It was brilliant to join a more intimate sort of party even though we were so far away from our own families. The people were happy, the booze was flowing and the conversation was cheerful. But the more we stayed there, the more it seemed to us that his neighbours barely knew him at all and that as much as we crashed the scene at the balcony, we were crashing somebody's party.

Perhaps sensing that, we were once again invited to a different sort of party. And once again we decided to go for it. I mean, it had been crazy enough that far, what could come next?

Come to think of it, all sorts of crazy stuff could have come next but what did happen was, you might have guessed it, we crashed ANOTHER party. Yeah, in hindsight we might have seen it coming...

Mildly inebriated and having already crashed two parties (kind of), we went back to the New Year's hotel but this time headed downstairs where some kind of private New Year celebration seemed to be taking place. People were merry, drinks were flowing, the dance floor was ablaze and for some reason all doors seemed to be open to our man the dude.

In the middle of a crowded private party we found ourselves meeting the owner's son in our own private table and with Raki drinks in our hands. Just! Like! That!

At this point, besides deciding to simply enjoy things and shaking our tailfeathers on the dancefloor for a bit, we were both scratching our heads trying to understand how all of this had come to take place...and decided that it was definitely beyond us.

It was the craziest of nights and before we decided to take our leave a fight between two guys broke out not too far away from us. It wasn't anything extraordinary as we've all seen drunken fights but the craziest thing was that with a simple shake of the dude's hand A was literally surrounded by security staff protecting her from whatever may have occurred.

I know I said it before but... who the hell is this guy?!

This man quietly shook his hand while in a New Year's party which he crashed with two complete strangers and half the security staff ran to action.

It was one of the absolute wildest things I ever witnessed and I have been around!

If the way you enter the New Year is in any way an indication to how it will go then 2022 will be the wackiest of years!

Thank you to our friend the dude for making it happen! You the man!