{"id":2597,"date":"2013-09-22T02:55:03","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T10:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2013-09-22T02:55:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T10:55:03","slug":"not-constantinople-istanbul-turkey-09182013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2597","title":{"rendered":"Not Constantinople \u2013 Istanbul, Turkey \u2013 [09\/18\/2013]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the-wax-dragon\"<\/a>No matter what problems they may be going through I still love Turkey. There was a time \u2013 not so very long ago \u2013 when I was terrified of it. I couldn\u2019t deal with the aggressive culture of the merchants and would end up running (quite literally) back to the ship to avoid them. That was a different me, one who was still raw to ships and raw to the rest of the world. Now, while I\u2019m still not a skilled bargainer, I can at least negotiate decently, and I can walk away from a deal without insulting the person trying to deal with me. In fact, few merchants even approach me in Istanbul anymore; perhaps I\u2019ve once again donned that accidental invisibility cloak I used to wear in university. They don\u2019t see me if I don\u2019t want them to.<\/p>\n

That said, watching Alasse\u2019s first reaction to the Grand Bizarre was priceless. I remember my own first response being something very similar. You feel a bit like a fish out of water \u2013 there\u2019s just so much<\/i>. Your eyes can\u2019t take it all in. Everything you could ever want \u2013 and some things you never even knew existed \u2013 all under one roof. One very big roof granted, but still one roof. Of course I swear my dear sister-in-law is part magpie, point her in the direction of something shiny (for example oh let\u2019s see\u2026.lamps?) and she\u2019s off like a shot. Of course, I can\u2019t really complain as if you put me in the near vicinity of a raw gem shop I do precisely the same thing.<\/p>\n

I was going to take over the world, but I saw something shiny\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

The truth is, Istanbul is not something you see<\/i>, it\u2019s something you experience<\/i>. Istanbul is a curried crushing rush of bright colors and crowded streets, where sultan\u2019s palaces butt up against high-rises and the alleyways are heavy with the scent of saffron and fruit stalls and pomegranate juice. Istanbul is a feast for every sense you posses. Including the ones that only some people acknowledge.<\/p>\n

Standing in the shadow of the Sophia, with the Blue Mosque at my back, I felt the same twinge of wonder-filled sadness that has hit me at random points in this voyage. There are people that are supposed to be there with me, people that this is important to, that would get this, who aren\u2019t here. I found myself once again reaching for a hand that wasn\u2019t there, and all I could hear was Silver\u2019s voice in the back of my mind<\/p>\n

Just do one thing for me, lay your hand on the wall of the Sophia. Say hi to her for me. Wish I could be there Bella.<\/i><\/p>\n

Everything always seems a bit grey-tinged after a moment like that. A little bittersweet. Not unconquerable by any means, not enough to ruin my day, but enough that I\u2019m aware my mood changed. I always feel badly when that happens (particularly since I was spending the day with other people at the time), but homesickness isn\u2019t something you can control, it kind of comes on you all unexpected and you just have to ride it out.<\/p>\n

Never-the-less, there are certainly worse ways to spend a day than sitting in the shadows of history, eating fresh baklava and \u2013 very carefully \u2013 avoiding talking about work as much as possible.<\/p>\n

This was our last stop in Istanbul for the season. Even the flagship won\u2019t be calling there on the upcoming World Cruise, so I\u2019m doubly glad that I was convinced to go out today, I would have regretted it. There are some ports you just can\u2019t skip to sit in your cabin with an embroidery cloth. Istanbul is one of them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No matter what problems they may be going through I still love Turkey. There was a time \u2013 not so very long ago \u2013 when I was terrified of it. I couldn\u2019t deal with the aggressive culture of the merchants … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-med-2013"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-FT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2599,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions\/2599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}