Thursday, November 11, 2010

Thursday, November 11, 2010 - 1 comment

Misty Bosphorus Morning

Istanbul's ferries are God's gift to commuters - an interlude of magic in the midst of an otherwise hectic day. You may have just rushed out of the house, held your footing through traffic on an impossibly crowded bus, run for the ferry only to miss it by five seconds (as I just did)....and you know that waiting for you across the water are exhaust fumes and errands and thousands of people with thousands of elbows all about to wrestle their way onto the same train as you...

But for those blessed twenty minutes as you cross from Asia to Europe, there is nothing to do but sip your tulip-glass of tea and drink deeply of the city. The Bosphorus Bridge snuggles deeper into its blanket of mist, begging for "just five more minutes." The seagulls above and the jellyfish below glide silently in tandem, putting on a show for the watching passengers. The city's grand mosques stretch their arms to the sky and the Maiden's Tower gives a dainty yawn.

I love starting my day with Istanbul.