Imagine this: You're lying in bed enjoying the last few minutes of a sound night's sleep, in Winnipeg, or Ottawa or wherever you happen to be. It's early in the morning, your alarm hasn't gone off yet, and then an unfamiliar sound breaks the silence. LEMONS!!!! LEMONS!!!!!! BUY MY LEMONS!!!!! BUY MY FRESH YELLOW LEMONS!!!!
This is how I was woken up on my first morning in Istanbul. Of course he isn't actually yelling "lemons" he's yelling the Turkish equivalent which is entirely pronounceable to my native English speaking tongue, and of course I had no idea what was being yelled... in my naivety I thought it was the call to prayer. Well paint my face red (or yellow as the case may be)! Imagine my embarrassment when a man pushing a cart of lemons and yelling at the top of his lungs almost ran me down. Mystery solved!
The call to prayer is actually melodic and beautiful, as is the rest of Istanbul. The mosques and bazaars are a refreshing change from basilicas and doumos (douumoses? doumoie? I'll have to look into that one).
It's still cold and raining, but you have to make the best of it! Today Steve and I sat down and charted out our course through the Middle East but more on that later. Right now we're off for Schmidt (large turkish sesame seed bagels), and a turkish hammam, which is guaranteed to be warm!
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