turkish delight

today i am came as close to a perfect moment as i have ever experienced.  sitting on the shore of the island of  Buyukada watching the ferries roll in, the seagulls swoop, the waves lap and the sun set all the while listening to pink floyd gave me the first moment of stillness i have felt since i started this adventure.  even though i have created so many amazing memories already, in this moment i felt happy, sure and content.
Istanbul has been nothing short of amazing.  i was so nervous about travelling without nick.  about being a single female in a muslim country, about boredom, about getting lost and most of all, of being lonely.  i need not have been concerned.  except maybe about the single chick thing.  more on that later...
loneliness has so far mostly alluded me.  as soon as the bus set me down i was enveloped in the magical mysticism of this place.  the sights, sounds and smells have totally taken over my psyche and i feel that any moment aladdin is going to whiz past on his magic carpet.  i've visited top kapi palace, wandered the streets of sultanahmet and gotten lost in the near vertical winding lanes of beyoglu.  the spice bazaar was amazing.  the stacks of gleaming turkish delight, rows and rows of hookahs and the delicious smell of spices piled way too high transported me to another world.  even being woken at 4:30 every morning by the call to prayer is a glorious way to be roused from slumber.  the stillness of the morning being interrupted by the droning arabic call makes me rue the day when in the future it will be the rumbling of trams that disturbs my sleep.

shisha anyone?

the only thing that pokes a hole in the fairy dust blanket covering me is the aggressiveness of the men.  i can not walk down the street without being called out to be by every man i pass.  i'm not sure if it's just that i'm  a lone woman or that  i'm a lone woman with tattoos but i have never received so much male attention in my life.  every man i pass feels the need to comment on my stickers which i guess on it's own wouldn't be so bad but when they follow me up the street or sit beside me while i'm reading 'to practice their english' or 'make friends' makes me want to disappear.  it's a shame really because turkey has some truly hot specimens, all dark and tall and strong but i dare not catch anyones eye in case they are a creep.  oh well.  i have mostly combatted this problem in the last day or two by determinedly listening to my i-pod and keeping the eyes forward.
i'm only halfway through my stay here and i feel that in terms of personal growth i have come so far that i can't wait for what the rest of the week will bring.  i've eaten at restaurants on my own, successfully read maps, survived a weekend on 10 dollars and made friends.  i finally feel like i am learning who i am and what i want.  i am a western girl at heart.  i love reading trash and watching rubbish.  i love mickey mouse and fleetwood mac.  i like to look pretty and i love laughing at myself, at you, at everything.  and i'm not going to make excuses for it anymore.  i don't know what it is about istanbul but the hippies are out in force.  it has been truly lovely talking to people so unlike me and having in depth chats about peace love and harmony but i am really looking forward to being reunited with nicko and having a good ol belly laugh and being silly.  hopefully when we do see each other again he is greeted by a more confident, centred and happy sophie. i have no doubt of it.