Iyi Bayramlar!

When we lived in Karachi we tried our best not to be in town for bakra Eid, and I have to say I haven't really missed Eid in Karachi much. On Eid day (or kurban bayram here) the boys all went off to the Yeni Camii in Eminonu for namaz (interestingly the so-called new mosque in Istanbul dates from the early 1600s). R remarked on how wonderful it was to say the eid prayers in a beautiful mosque, its hugh vaulted ceilings giving the recitations a new musicality. Inwardly I breathed a sigh of relief we now have other alternatives than the rabid khutba at Sultan masjid or the tense security situation at the Imambargah. Qais was relieved they didn't have to stay for the khutba since it was in Turkish!

We are lucky enough to get 6 days off for the bayram holidays and decided to make the most of it, exploring our wonderful new home. So today we packed a picnic and set off to the Asian side, to the Black Sea towns of Sile and Agva.

The promenade at Sile

 Sile, (pronounced Sheelay) is a lovely little beach town, with a few seaside restaurants and a pier leading up to a little lighthouse. It is pretty deserted today, even though it is a sunny, warm day apparently it is not the season for swimming in the Black Sea!

We leave Sile to drive for another hour or so through back country lanes, winding through forests of pine and cinar trees. The air is fresh and perfumed with pines, ferns and moss. For the first time I experience dappled sunlight. Quite magical. Unfortunately, the twisty lanes don't do so much for I and her car-sickness and the drive to Agva (pronounced Aava) seems longer than it is. And then suddenly the forest abruptly ends in the Black Sea.

An inlet where locals try their hand at fishing

Palamut (bonito) is in season and it doesn't get fresher than this!

 After a lovely afternoon of walking along the water and stopping for ice creams we decide to drive back, but H insists on a trek through the forest on our way home and it is a lovely walk, cut short only by the fading light.

 I pick some wild blue crocuses and some other purple-y weeds with a couple of oak leaf twigs to take home, a little reminder of our stroll through the woods. On the way home we seem to drive into the setting sun- a magnificent artwork of lavender, powder blue, yellow, orange and the deepest ruby. And from the back I says "you know clouds really do make the most beautiful shapes." And it feels so right to be here, now.