THE LIGHT OF ISTANBUL

MAGICAL

How else do you describe your first day in Istanbul?

You are exhausted from a 12 hour flight in coach...and a 7 hour time difference.

But you walk...from Beyazit to Sultanahmet Square.

You continue past Sirkeci Station -- where the Orient Express used to stop.

You make it to Eminonu and think of Orhan Pamuk's books with chapters that involve the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the ferry docks where they meet.

You press on, denying sleep...for a balik ekmek from a gleaming Ottoman-adorned boat.

You board a ferry (you can cross from Europe to Asia for less than 2 bucks U.S. dollars).

You look back at the new Galata Bridge.

The restaurants on the lower lever are tourist traps, but colorful.

The fisherman that line the top level.

Are they there for a fresh balik, or just enjoying one of the world's most magical views in their own hometown?

You hold still, the water is churning like crazy under the hurried ferry to Karikoy.

You gaze up at the New Mosque. Only in Istanbul could something that broke ground more than 400 years ago be considered the "new" thing.

The sun is Halloween orange.

You have slept only 3 of the last 30 hours.

But you are the luckiest person on earth.