Jaunting Along

Our trip along the entire north coast of the inland Sea of Marmara is marked by snapshot views. An old bridge, grey stone undulating like a long snake across the wide river mouth at an estuary, with roman arches tipped by the Muslim point, yellow flowers flourishing in the swampy terrain. Red poppies against a hill against a pale blue sky. A huge shrub sporting a mass of purple flowers in the midst of rocky ground. But first, we had to circumvent the outskirts of Istanbul.  Upon every hill, initially, there are bumper-to-bumper flats and then, without warning, we round a curve and there is - nothing. Then just as we are beginning to settle down into the relief of finally evading the drag-net of Istanbul, we are amongst bumper-to-bumper flatland again. All the flats and apartment blocks are four-square and four sided and they do appear to relish their jutting balconies. As we finally, finally left the massive urban expansion that is Istanbul increasingly behind us, Fem