A very productive day. I met a wonderful architect called Gül who showed me around the quake affected area of Avcilar (pronounced Avjilaar). She also took me for a very productive meeting with Avcilar municipality and then we sat by the seaside for a few hours discussing all the issues of the world and culture and architecture and everything. By our side little boys jumped off the pier and into the sea!! And swam around with the tankers and fishing boats and ferries!!!

So now I'm just back from the Mevlana concert. It was FANTASTIC. The whole amphitheatre was full and folks were singing along. Clearly the sufi tradition of music and song is alive and well in Turkey. The melodies and rhythms reminded me of the music I used to hear in Oman. And yet not. The harmonies had something east-european about it. Obviously Turkey is part of east-europe so I don't know why I was surprised!

Of course I missed all the nuances of the poetry not knowing the language. But the music and atmosphere were enough! Unfortunately I had to leave after 1.5 hours of the concert to catch the last füniküler train from Taksim square to Kabataş - and then the last tram from Kabataş to Sultanahmet. And at 3am a taxi is going to take me to Istanbul Ataturk Airport to catch the flight back to London.

All in all a wonderful end to a wonderful day and a wonderful trip.

Istanbul - I'll be back..........

posted by shahana at 2:43 AM