Turkish Blue

Coming in to land in Antalya my heart fluttered like a kid’s, my face pressed against the small aircraft window, looking down on the hilly terrain tapering down to water bodies and greenery, with the Mediterranean in the distance.  The whole picture had a blue tinge to it.

As we arrived at our hotel in Antalya, Turkey, for my niece’s wedding celebrations, the hotel room had an amazing view.  Of the gigantic blue-tiled swimming pool and the blue sea behind.                                                                           

During this trip to Turkey I realized that the word turquoise was originally old French for 'Turkish', and here in Antalya and Istanbul I experienced the colour Turquoise Blue like never before.  There were so many shades of this unusual and seductive blue, a hint of Prussian blue sometime green and sometimes seeming grey yet with a hint of blue.

The colour dominates the ceramics and the mosaics.  From the tiles in the Blue Mosque to tiles in some small restaurants in the Grand Bazaar.  The sky-line with the cascading domes of the mosques and the blue waters of the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara behind.

The blue in the many eyes staring into our faces, yes the many shapes and sizes of the evil eye (‘Nazar’) charms whose predominant colour is blue.

This colour was everywhere, limitless. Refreshing like a breathe of fresh air. 

                                                                                   

 I bought a blue umbrella resembling the tiles in the mosque, while the girls picked up “evil eye’  bracelets , momentos of this unforgettable trip to Turkey.