bosphorus sunset

The boat turns round. The Asian shore to the left, so close, slides silent, composed. Restored yalis line the shore; these Ottoman palatial houses have had their wood replaced, some are painted in a sugared almond palette, some in faint butterscotch off-whites, others in rusty red. Some are perched on the lush hills rising close to the Bosphorus. There, they sit alone, serene, engulfed by a sea of green. Their oxide-red keeping them in perennial autumn. Somewhere, the sun is bidding farewell, its light bathing the yalis with the calm intensity of a moment suspended in time. The windows; alight with the last rays, cast back a subdued goodbye before settling for the night. We pass the massive military academy, its long rectangular mass pinned by square towers, their black peak-like roofs standing out against the white body. Further down, the spectacular flame-red sunset unfolding over Istanbul hits my chest and makes me gasp. An invading background, dwarfing the minarets of the majestic mosques, turns the Galata Bridge with its rows of men fishing on the Golden Horn into an inflamed, modern day Canaletto and its hundreds of seagulls, intoxicated by the ignited sky, into directionless arrows piercing the Bosphorus intent on catching the last meal before dusk.

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WOT's WRITING HOLIDAY

A Villanelle composed by the participants of Women On Tour's creative writing holiday who, inspired by the place and the Spanish red wine wrote this: In the hills the sun will shine while we slave and work and write and later on we’ll have some wine. Outside, the breeze brings scents of thyme and our writing takes to flight in the hills. The sun will shine and the shepherd’s bell will chime and the plain will flood with light and later on we’ll have some wine. We are looking for a sign and, even if it’s out of sight, in the hills the sun will shine as we write this line by line trusting end will come by night so later on we’ll have some wine, but in the meantime here’s our rhyme in this casa in the light in the hills, the sun will shine and, later on, we’ll have some wine.

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