I Got Mugged In Istanbul-Part 1

(This post was originally posted on Ms Sparky on May 20, 2008. I moved it to Blue Behind Bars when I separated my personal blog from my political blog.)

When Cal and I were working in Baghdad we took the opportunity to take our R&R’s in places we had always wanted to visit. We spent our first R&R in Cairo, Egypt riding camels and exploring the pyramids at Giza. We had decided we were going to spend our next R&R in Phuket, Thailand. When Phuket was hit by a devastating tsunami in December 2004, we decided to go to Istanbul, Turkey instead.

Istanbul (aka Constantinople) is a very old and beautiful city. There are an abundance of attractions such as The Topkapi Palace, The Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, The Grande Bazaar, The Spice Market and The Orient Express to name only a few. The museum at Topkapi Palace was my favorite. It is the home of the Spoonmaker Diamond (aka The Kasikci Diamond). A single 86 carat stone surrounded by 49 individual stones (see photo) That would look soooo good on my finger!!

Unfortunately, Istanbul is also the pickpocket capital of the world.

I have traveled all over the world and have never encountered a problem. I would like to think I conduct myself in such a manner that doesn’t scream “I’m a tourist….rob me….mug me I won’t even resist”. I would prefer to think I project the image of “Mess with me and I will kick your freakin’ ass!!!” Well, the pickpockets and muggers in Istanbul will not be intimidated.

We were at the Spice Market and I was drooling over a table of cashmere scarves. The market was very crowded, I suspect full of pickpockets. All of sudden I was pushed and held face down on a table full of cashmere. I could feel the hand in the middle of my back. My bag, which was a courier style, worn across my chest, in the front, closed and zipped, was being pulled back. I heard the zipper and in all of two seconds, it was all over but the cryin’. I had been mugged. The muggers disappeared into the crowd with my wallet, cash, bank card, credit cards and passport.

It all happened so fast I was stunned. It took me a minute to realize the grave reality of what had just happened. I felt so victimized and violated. I WAS INFURIATED!!!! I found my husband and we went to the first police officer we could find. I told him what happened and he gave me that “You and 1000 other people, nothing I can do” look. It was so commonplace the police officer didn’t even blink an eye. I am doing my best to not cuss in this blog, but I am here to tell you there was a whole lot of cussin’ going on in Istanbul!!!

Now I had to contact my bank, credit card company and the US Consulate. This all happened late on a Thursday afternoon. We were flying back to Iraq on Saturday morning and I didn’t have a freakin’ passport!!! I had one business day to get a passport from the US State Department. What are the odds of that happening?

This is just too long for one blog. To be continued tomorrow.

Ms Sparky