Meet Faruk, the custodian and general Mr. Nice Guy of the Galata Residence Apartments in Istanbul. When Nick and I stayed here in 2007, we’d see Faruk every day -- tidying up the accommodations, replacing light bulbs, keeping an eye out for Nick’s wayward luggage that somehow went its own way between New York and Istanbul. (It showed up a day late.) Faruk helped me practice my (minimal) Turkish, too, and told me I was no longer a tourist, I was a native. Well, maybe. When Jay and I arrived back at the Galata Residence in 2011 (after our booked car service failed to materialize at the airport and we wound up depending upon the kindness of strangers), our driver pulled up, Faruk appeared, saw me...and a series of smiles, welcomes and hugs ensued. How nice to be remembered. And how nice that when we left, Faruk easily carried ALL our luggage down a perilous long flight of outside steps from the hotel to the waterside where our ship was waiting. A wonderful, kind, genuine man.
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