Şile'ye

I finally left İstanbul for the first time in 5 months three weeks ago, to a small town on the Black Sea about two hours outside of İstanbul called Şile. Since it wasn't a weekend, it was quiet and lovely and the bright sun and brilliantly turquoise sea made it a lovely day out. As you can see from the photos, "Black Sea" is a misnomer.






I finally also went swimming for the first time since probably last October - my how wonderful that was, to get wet and sand between my deathly white toes. The sea was neither hot nor cold, and it was clear despite some roots and seaweed floating around in it. Unfortunately because the Black Sea is infamously rough, I couldn't swim out too far, despite it being relatively calm (in my Atlantic opinion).

Good thing I had my Carnival nuts

After a delightful dip in the sea, I was able to satisfy another yearning - rowing. It was so nice to have the sun dry the sea salt in my hair again and row lazily down a river.





Nothing like finishing off a seaside day with calamari, stuffed mussels and rakı in a seaside restaurant.



I was very angry to be back in İstanbul the following day.