Turkish Blue

I smiled at the fluffy clouds as I sailed through them. The plane was descending to Istanbul International airport and I knew my dream of seeing the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Galata tower and a sail on the Bosphorus was coming true. Turkey was always on my bucket list but somehow the visit never happened even after numerous plans, involving family and friends. Finally I decided to wait for none and for the first time took a solo trip of 5 days to Istanbul, Bursa, Sapanca and Masukiya.

Bosphorus is a strait connecting the Black sea and the Sea of Marmara. It runs between Europe and Asia continents and is 30 kilometres long, 700 metres wide. This waterway runs through the city of Istanbul connecting the European side of Turkey with its Asian side(Anatolia). There are many private and cruise boats, which runs on this waterway during the daytime. Bosphorus in the world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation.

After a half-day long heritage walking tour in the Old European side of Istanbul called Sultanahmet on a cloudy cold November day, my tour guide took me to Bosphorus cruise sailing point of the European side. She bought me tickets for the cruise sail on the Bosphorus and told me that the boat will come back to the same point (European side) after sail with some minutes stop at the Asian side. She also added that the tour car-driver would be waiting for me at the European side sailing point.

I was too busy clicking photos of picturesque Istanbul and had missed a few points which she told me and those missed important instructions gave me some moments of intense Bosphorus blue. Meryam, my Turkish guide said that she would be leaving for her University classes and I should not be having any problems reaching back to my hotel after the sail, as the tour car-driver was there

The sail was magnificent and I started enjoying the architecture visible along the Bosphorus banks on both sides and settled with cups of coffee and chocolate bars which were being served on the boat. Seagulls were flying alongside the cruise boat and some children were throwing bread pieces at them attracting more varieties of seagulls. The wind was cold and I tightly wrapped my scarf and shawl around me, soaking in the beautiful views. The boat reached the Asian side of Istanbul after thirty minutes and stopped there. People started embarking and I too embarked with them. That was my mistake since I had not heard the instructions properly which was given by my tour guide.

I looked for the driver around but could not catch sight of the parking area or the familiar ticket counter from where I had bought the cruise tickets. People speak Turkish mostly and do not understand or speak English much there. I asked a few people about the parking place. But they did not understand me. I kept walking up and down the road looking for the familiar face of the driver but could not find him anywhere. I got a little tensed and called up Meryam, the tour guide. Her phone was unreachable and then the driver picked up my call when I called him next. He replied in Turkish to my English and both of us did not understand each other. I was lost and did not know what to do.

My phone rang just then and when I answered, there was a man speaking in English on the other side, introducing himself as the manager of the travel agency. He told me that the driver called him up as he could not find me anywhere and the driver could not understand what I was telling him on phone. The manager then explained to me that I got down wrongly on the Asian side of Istanbul. He further added that the guide had instructed me to stay on the boat while daily passengers embarked on Asian side and then the boat would turn around and go back to European side of Istanbul to the starting point from where I had boarded the cruise boat. I then understood why I was feeling so blue for 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile the manager stayed on the phone as he instructed me to catch a private taxi and then he spoke through my phone to the taxi=driver and told him to drop me at my hotel. He comforted me saying that all was ok and that the taxi driver has been instructed properly and that I should give him a call after being dropped back to hotel. I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked the manager profusely. Both the manager and taxi -driver were perfect in saving me off my Turkish blue.

But there was a brighter side to this too! While walking up and down looking for the car, I saw the beautiful Asian side too by the Bosphorus. While returning by car on one of the bridges connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, I caught sight of some awesome bird’s eye views of the Bosphorus and clicked photographs to retain them as my priceless memories.

This reinforced my faith in the saying that ‘whatever happens, happens for the good’.

Stay blessed, Istanbul!

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