We went to Istanbul and Antalya in 1998. Aitch kept a diary. I have posted some pages. Sometimes I’m the villain in the diary! Sometimes I’m a correspondent.
One day we decided to go to Europe, just the two of us. So we crossed the Bosphorus and meandered off on foot up the western side, or right bank, of the Golden Horn, reaching the Pierre Loti cafe up on a hill. After coffee, we decided not to walk back, but to see if there was transport. Yep, the Pierre Loti people said: By water taxi.
This mustachio’d fella spoke less English than our Turk, but nodded, scurried to the back oh his boat hurling boxes n stuff ashore. Under the pile he found an engine, started it and motioned, Hop In. We chugged along, passing under two bridges, then hopped out near the Bosphorus again.
~o0o~
Pierre Loti Cafe –
Aziyadé is a novel by Pierre Loti. Semi-autobiographical, it is based on a diary Loti kept during a three-month period as a French Naval officer in Greece and Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the fall and winter of 1876. It tells the story of the 27-year-old Loti’s illicit love affair with an 18-year-old “Circassian” harem girl named Aziyadé. Although Aziyadé was one of many conquests in the exotic romantic’s life, she was his greatest love, and he would wear a gold ring with her name on it for the rest of his life. The book also describes Loti’s “friendship” with a Spanish manservant named Samuel, suggesting a love triangle. Most critics believe, based on Loti’s diary entries, that some sort of homosexual affair occurred (indeed some believe Aziyadé never existed and the entire work is a cover for a homosexual love story). Loti’s love affair with Turkish culture became a central part of his “exotic” persona.
Well, OK, we just had coffee there…
~o0o~
In Antalya we were treated to a lovely sailing ship cruise along the Antalya Mediterranean coast line:
Turkey fun:
Ancient places:
~o0o~
Map by Kaidor – thank you
