Pest Control Community

The first week of December 2007, Matt and I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey (historically known as Constantinople) to conduct an Integrated Pest Management Seminar for the U.S. Department of State. The seminar was held in the consulate building there. Many of these trip reports start out the same way in that I always mention working with people who we had met in previous years and at different locations around the world. This trip was no different. Our host in Istanbul had previously been the facility manager at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We had met him there in 2000. In 2003 he attended a seminar that Matt and I conducted in Cairo, Egypt, while he was stationed in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. In the interim he spent several years in Prague, Czech Republic. Of course all of these people who live abroad and move every few years are full of interesting stories. We hear many of them during our evening dinners and outings.

Istanbul holds the distinction of being part in Asia and part in Europe. Out hotel was on the European side of the Bosporus and the consulate was on the Asian side. The Bosporus is the world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea). It is approximately 20 miles long, with a maximum width of one mile at the northern entrance, and a minimum width of 800 yards. The depth varies from 150 to 400 feet in midstream. There is continual activity in and along the Bosporus. The locals fish from the shore and on the weekend it is difficult to find space along the bulkhead to put your line in the water. On the water there is a constant stream of ships of all sizes and shapes including ferry boats that deliver passengers back and forth. There are now two bridges over the Bosporus that rise high above the water so ships can easily pass below. And then there is the traffic in Istanbul. There is a general flow in some places like here where the traffic is heavy in one direction in the morning and the opposite direction in the afternoon. Then there are areas that seem to be near gridlock from early in the morning to late at night. The one thing we did notice is that fender benders and accidents in general do not disturb the flow of traffic much at all. Drivers ignore the situation and keep moving.

We did not have much spare time but did manage to visit the Grand Bazaar where merchants and shoppers have been haggling over prices for centuries. One of the class participants was from the embassy in the Turkish capitol of Ankara and knows Istanbul very well. He arranged a dinner one evening on the top floor of a hotel that overlooked the Blue Mosque and the Haghia Sophia, an early Christian church, later converted to a mosque and now a museum. The view was fantastic and the food was great. Matt and I went back later in the week and toured both buildings. They were equally as interesting on the inside!

TAGS: Pest Control, American Pest Management, Jay Nixon