Betting on Turkish construction

Sometime in early December they began towing cars off our street. Then a rope went up at one end, barring the entrance (it's a one-way street). Then they started ripping up cement and bricks, leaving heaps of rubble in their wake.

The landlord came around and told us that construction on the street would take one month and could we please start dropping off our trash one street up, where the trash collectors could still get through?

By early January, after almost three weeks of "construction", the street from our third-story window looked like this:

That same view, thankfully, now looks like this:

The other side of our apartment building, however, looked like this as of the end of January (one month my eye!):

It was at about that time that Jeff and I made a bet: we chose an over-under date of March 15 to see when our street would be completely finished. I chose after March 15, he chose before.

The prizes? If I won, that is, if construction finished after March 15, Jeff would buy me dinner at Pano (more here and here), a superb wine bar and one of my favorite restaurants in Istanbul. If he won, if construction finished before March 15, I'd buy him a bottle of whatever liquor he wanted.

Last night our landlord told us that the remaining unpaved section that you see here in this photo:

... would be finished today. Another week, he said, would be needed to clean the street and patch up the spots that got roughed up during construction. At this point, it could go either way. For a while there I was pretty confident that I'd get my dinner at Pano, but now I'm not so sure. What if they really do finish in a week?

Yeah....I doubt it too.

Comments

[Mike]

I was so happy to learn that the city of Izmir was planning an addition to the metro system to Karsiyaka. I was even happier to learn that the very first metro station was to be practically at my front door. My mind reeled to think how marvelous it was going to be to hope on that gleaming train and, in a matter of minutes, be right there in center of Izmir. Every week I would look out and watch the construction and wonder how much longer I would have to wait. That was nearly 3 years ago.

[Barbara]

Ah, Mike, don't you just love Turkey? Hahahaha, we here in Istanbul keep reading about this underwater metro system that they're building under the Bosphorous to link Europe and Asia. All I have to say is, when it is finally done, there's no way in hell I'm getting on it. I'll stick with the ferries.

[Mike]

Just sounds like the beginning of a made for TV disaster movie (circa 1980s) starring the same guy that played Matt Houston. The construction should be okay.. they contract that sort of thing to Polish engineers. Watch out for the maintenance! The term "Crossing over" takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

[Nathalie]

Hello, i am french and i am living in the same street, look please http://dubretzelausimit.over-blog.com/article-28691764.html
Excuse me for me english because he is very bad... Bye and perhaps i will see you quickly in Başkurt Sokak... Nathalie

[Katie Parla]

If this is a street in Cihangir, I stayed at the House Apart at the end of the street when the road was all torn up. I happened upon the street again yesterday and it was all fixed and i could hardly recognize the place. I wonder if its the same one???

[Barbara J. Isenberg]

Hi Katie! This is indeed the street near the House Apart. It is much better looking now, despite the piles of trash still on the street!

[Katie Parla]

Yes I walked there yesterday and the buildings struck me as similar but the street had a totally different feel to it.