To a pretty significant portion of the Turkish population, long-distance buses are a familiar part of life. Dozens and dozens of companies run buses from and to most cities of a certain size in a dizzying array of combinations and schedules. As a result, any given person who doesn’t have a car can get just about anywhere in the country in about the same time a car would take, without paying exorbitant prices for gas (average price converts to $10.52/gallon).
I’ve spent my weekday afternoons in Istanbul, and weekends in (relatively) nearby cities and places. Consequently, I’ve frequented Turkey’s private buses more in the past few weeks than many have in months and months. Conveniently, I really enjoy buses, and long bus rides (a necessity in such a big country, where even seemingly close cities can be nine hours away). In Turkey, though, bus rides are a bit different from what I expected. I guess I have never ridden long-distance American buses, but I think they’re a bit different here.
First thing at departure time, the bus aide checks to make sure the correct seats are unoccupied. The bus aide (I’m not sure what to call him), is invariably a just post-adolescent boy wearing a garish uniform of some sort (orange pinstripe shirt, orange pin-on bowtie, outrageously pleated pants). His demeanor is impressively eager to please, and pleasant even after long hours of riding. If a seat is unoccupied that shouldn’t be, the bus may wait four or five extra minutes to see if the tardy person shows up.
Next the aide checks the destination of each passenger – when arriving back to Istanbul, bus companies provide shuttles to specific neighborhoods (a godsend when the alternative is to find my own way from the bus station an hour from home in the middle of the night). That settled, the aide passes down the aisle to distribute water. Sometimes it’s in covered disposable cups (I think I’ve seen apple juice in cafeterias packaged as such in the US), sometimes he pours from a large bottle into Dixie cups. Water distribution happens once every couple hours, or anytime at request.
A little while later he will often distribute some kind of snack. Typically, it’s a packaged cake of some sort. More excitingly, once I was given a cheese and tomato sandwich, once an ice cream cup, and once something that may have been dried chickpeas? I keep trying out new bus companies to see what I might receive next. Usually, especially for longer rides, a few times through the trip the aide will set up a special cart from which he distributes tea, instant coffee, juice, or soda. On one of my first bus rides, I was surprised from behind by an aide pouring lemon-scented kolonya (cologne) from what resembled a salad-dressing bottle into my hands.
The other exciting feature of bus rides are the rest stops, once every three hours or so. I suppose Turkish rest stops aren’t much different from American ones, but being Turkish, they hold a certain excitement. Rest stops offer bathrooms (usually with a small fee), a mescit (prayer area), and a wide variety of food. Sometimes it’s an all-out cafeteria, with full hot meals offered, sometimes it’s the more basic fare of tost, pastries, and burgers. I usually get tost, a pressed grilled cheese sandwich. Food is typically extremely cheap. Stops are twenty minutes or so – though I never quite figure it out because the announcements are made in garbled short-hand. I have also learned to wear pants or a skirt when possible – even when headed to a rugged, touristy location like Cappadocia, 3 am rest stops are still made in rural areas where a majority of the people I brush past will be visibility surprised, offended, or uncomfortable about my shorts.
I’ve learned that overnight buses are the way to go. Not only do you save paying for accommodation, and you don’t waste daylight hours on a bus, but you are guaranteed a spectacular sunrise off in some isolated region of Turkey. How great! Somehow twelve hours shrinks to nothing.
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