今日は、買っておいてた航空券でイスタンブールの南にあるセルチュクの代理店に向かう手はずになっていました。しかしとうとうやらかしてしまいました。二時間前にイスタンブール空港に着く予定で宿を出たのですが、見習い小僧君はどうも眠そうで動きが鈍い。しかも、なぜか小僧君はオンラインでのチェックインが出来ず、結局人のたくさん並ぶ列で荷物を預けるしかなく、なんと、受付カウンターの順番が回ってきたのは出発15分前。カウンターのイケメンおっさんから「もう乗り遅れだよ。新しいチケットを買って次の便にご搭乗ください」と一言。小僧君は絶句。
世界が急にモノトーンに見え始めました。こういうミスは初めて。
仕方なく、会社へは事後報告で良いと考えて次の便のチケットを取りに走る二人。しかしここでも悲劇。エコノミーは一席しかなく、残りはビジネスクラスとのこと。こうや君はここで決断をし、小僧君用にビジネスをとり、自分はエコノミーに乗ることにしました。なんだか、小僧君の顔が一瞬喜びをたたえた気がしました。
前方ビジネス席に座る小僧君を尻目にエコノミー座席に向かうこうや君。
セルチュクに行くためにまず、イズミル空港に到着。
なんだか、イスタンブールとは雰囲気が異なりますね。常夏の世界。
荷物をゲット。
イズミルからは鉄路がセルチュクまで伸びているので電車乗り場を探します。
ありました、メトロ・イズバン。メトロは地下鉄でなく鉄道のこと。
矢印の方向へ歩いて行きます。
階段を上ると電車が見えました。
駅に降りるまでが長い。
ここが一つの難関でした。セルチュクを含むイズミル地方では、イスタンブールカードとは異なるイズミルカードが交通機関の利用に必要なのですが、100や200TL（トルコ・リラ）はカード自販機で使えず。仕方なく長蛇の列が出来ていた窓口に並んでいると、セルチュク方面行きが来てしまいました。乗り遅れ。
また、セルチュクへの直通はどうもないみたいで、テレキョイで乗換です。ここでの接続も悪く、炎天下で1時間半待つことになりました。小僧君はバテて小言ばかり。
待っているときに気づいたのですが、ここ、超距離列車も走っているのですね。ロシアと同じくホームが異なっています。
最終的に、日が落ちる前にセルチュクに到着できました。
しかしまあ、景色はギリシアですな。
ーーーーー
Today, I was supposed to go to the agency in Selcuk, south of Istanbul, using the plane ticket I had bought. However, I finally messed up. I left the inn with the plan to arrive at Istanbul Airport two hours before departure, but the apprentice boy seemed sleepy and slow. What's more, for some reason the apprentice was unable to check in online, and in the end we had no choice but to check our luggage in a queue with lots of people, and amazingly, it was only 15 minutes before our flight was due to depart when it was our turn at the reception counter. The good-looking old man at the counter said to us, “You've already missed your flight. Please buy a new ticket and board the next flight.” The apprentice was speechless.
The world suddenly started to look monochrome. This was the first time he had made such a mistake.
With no choice, the two of them ran to get tickets for the next flight, thinking that they could report to the company afterwards. But here too, tragedy struck. There was only one seat in economy, and the rest were in business class. Koya made a decision here, and got business class for Kozo, and decided to take economy class himself. For a moment, I thought I saw a look of joy on the boy's face.
Koya-kun heads for the economy seats, ignoring the boy sitting in the business seats up front.
First, we arrive at Izmir Airport to go to Selcuk.
The atmosphere is different from Istanbul. A world of eternal summer.
I got my luggage.
From Izmir, there is a train line that runs to Selcuk, so I looked for the train station.
There it is, Metro Izban. Metro doesn't mean subway, but train.
I walked in the direction of the arrow.
I saw the train when I went up the stairs.
It was a long way down to the station.
This was one of the difficulties. In the Izmir region, including Selcuk, the Izmir Card is required for use of public transport, but 100 or 200 TL (Turkish Lira) cannot be used at the card vending machines. I had no choice but to queue up at the ticket counter, where there was a long line, but the train for Selcuk had already arrived. I missed it.
It seems that there is no direct train to Selçuk, so we had to change at Teleköy. The connection here was also bad, and we ended up waiting for an hour and a half in the hot sun. The kid was exhausted and kept complaining.
When we were waiting, we noticed that they also run super-long-distance trains here. Like in Russia, the platforms are different.
In the end, we arrived in Selcuk before the sun went down.
But the scenery is Greek.
