Yesterday everyone went out on their own, I didn't want to do much so I stayed in the hotel, watched part of a classic movie "an affair to remember" which I thought I hadn't seen, but in fact I did, when I was little, which was a long time ago, suddenly I remembered the movie, so I decided to do other things with my time, like work for example.
Anyway, I liked the name, so I told myself that I must do a "a walk to remember"! thus was my itinerary this morning. Since we arrived to Turkey, I can tell that the sea is not very far from our hotel, as I can see it from the roof were we have our breakfast; so I decided to walk those five miles or so on my own, as everyone else were still asleep. It seemed to me that we were on a hill, and the walk to the sea was down hill, as I walked I dreaded to think how I will go up again, I hate walking up hill, it makes me breathless, and my heart pumps hard, in actual fact it gives a strange rhythmic sound with a note that is not so rhythmic like tin, tin, totoon, sweat forms all around my forehead and body, and streaks down my spine like a crawling worm! Thus I often avoid walking uphill, and if I have to do it, I walk backward? Smart hah? Of course these were the actual thoughts that came to my mind, I didn't think about them now, which was after the effect! I am recording my thoughts guys, don't you wish to have that gadget that I suggested few blogs away, the thing that records every thought that comes to your mind (I am sure you will remember that research that proved that we think 60,000 thoughts per second! So whatever I had written in my first paragraph cannot be 60,000 thoughts, it's not even one thought? I am not sure how those researchers decided that we produce so many thoughts every seconds. Did they actually give the group of volunteers a gadget which they had to press on it everytime they had a thought? Not sure.
Anyway, I didn't know my way, I just assumed that the way to the sea was a straight line down the hill, so I walked down, and suddenly there was a wall in front of me and stretched miles on either side of the road, I can hear the sound of a train. So how do I cross? I decided to turn right, and zigzagged my way through until I reached the main road, and being early morning I can smell the fresh sea air! Lovely, I am close to Kumcopi (in my mind again) so I crossed the road, and went to the other side. Well, it transpired that I was close to the ferry station, I walked to the left, went to the Corniche where all the fish restaurants were. First thought in my mind is to find a place that will serve me fresh Turkish coffee, the owner of the restaurant was sweeping the floors from the previous night's diners, so with my broken Turkish language, and his broken English language he realised my request, and asked me to follow him to a place that sells takeaway coffee, he explained the the waiter what I wanted. Then he asked me to walk with him to the Corniche, and gave me one of his chairs, so I can have my coffee in peace and take my photographs. I can say now with complete clarity that Turkish coffee in Turkey is out of this world. It has taste, it has texture, and it has half a cup only, as the rest is coffee powder only, thus you really only drink half a cup of coffee, and if you are a coffee person, and want a full cup of coffee without the powder in the end, then you must order two cups of coffee and an empty cup to pour them both in! Just a thought.
I took my photos, and watched the seagulls that were fighting over a wee fish, which one of them had caught by the way, and then took some photos of a man walking towards the light house, while another one was just sitting there thinking of something, I hope it wasn't suicide. Mentioning suicide, it seems that the hanging bridge in Istanbul is called the suicide bridge, as since it was opened to the public more that 221 people committed suicide by throwing themselves from the Bosphorus bridge.
My way back to the hotel I Walked through Kumcopi place that is literally a place full of restaurants, souvenir shops, and also filled with walking musicians who will just stand next to the diners and start to sing and play music, I don't know why these restaurants only open in the evenings? They could literally stay open the whole day and serve Turkish breakfast with cream, honey and hot bread, and lunch with fried or grilled fish. I guess that the owners do not want the people to know that the buildings in these alleys are so old and were going to crumple down if anyone wonders around and hits the walls by mistake. The architecture is so intriguing though, a two meter wide road has buildings linked to each other and all of them has old style balconies (called shanashils in arabic) and someone with his wisdom had placed a nice fountain bang in the middle. Of course those that love sheesha will have a jolly time, as all these tiny restaurants have sheesha served as well.
As I Crawl up the hill to the hotel the wholesale shops started to open, and the bread bags were placed outside those closed shops. The people are walking to their work places, and some were still having their tea from little tea shops that scatter around Laleli and sell little tea cups filled with sweet tea to people for a lira. Lovely place overall, and really worth while to visit.
I am calling this blog a walk to remember.
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