The Two of Us in Istanbul: A Turkish Blue Round (page 4 of 5)

He’s kind of become our mascot on VF 🙂

I don’t know if he’s gonna like that—being a mascot

No, but seriously, the travel journal’s barely finished and it’s already going off the rails!! (Essentials with the apéro.) Richard, you gotta do something about this!!

Uh, is that really how I’m seen here? Not sure I can own that one

Signature to change: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new drinks with friends."

thanks for the travel journal, the photos are gorgeous!

Signature to change: "The real journey of discovery"

What makes a trip "real"? Filling a bottle with water from the Bosphorus and saying afterward "I was there"? What’s the opposite of a "real" trip?

Thanks to you. 🙂

I think with Montagnard and Pagal you’ve got two new friends for apéritif/digestif or any other excuse to raise a glass

Oh, here comes Mathews with his philosophical conclusion!

What makes a trip truly meaningful? Putting Bosphorus water in a bottle and saying "I was there" afterward?

Being somewhere isn’t about taking a piece of the place—it’s about letting the place take a piece of you 😛

What’s the opposite of a "meaningful" trip?

An imaginary trip! But those quotes around meaningful make it clear your reflection doesn’t stop there...

I’m pragmatic! I travel for real—I go somewhere, I’m fully present: I feel, I listen, I observe, and I soak it all in. I live in the moment, not just in its traces (okay, maybe a little with our travel journals). I embrace going off-script: chance, the unexpected, letting go. I don’t just observe the scenery—I learn to see differently, I try to connect with people, I attempt to understand their culture. For human connection, photos help a bit. I hope it leaves a mark: more awareness, more openness, more sensitivity.

Big question... But your answer is spot-on. It also matches what I think. I also believe that traveling "outward" like this fosters inner journeys.

hi Kate, thanks for the detailed reply

What makes a trip truly authentic? Putting Bosphorus water in a bottle and saying afterward "I was there"? What’s the opposite of a "truly authentic" trip?

I have no idea—I was just parodying the quote in Montagnard’s signature with his supposed love for apéros. I wasn’t being that serious. But now that you ask... Putting Bosphorus water in a bottle to say "I was there"? Have you seen people do that? What a strange idea! Though, some do try to bottle Paris... The opposite of a truly authentic trip? The *Larousse Dictionary of Antonyms* suggests "an apocryphal trip" first. What do you think?

Best regards,

Big question... But your answer is spot-on. It also matches what I think. I also believe that traveling "outward" like this fosters inner journeys.

Looks like at least two of us are on the same wavelength 😊 And that’s a good thing!

I have no idea at all, I was just parodying the quote in Montagnard’s signature with his supposed love for apéros. I wasn’t being that serious.

Some people here are struggling with second-degree humor. For the metaphysical answer, I have no idea—you’ll have to ask Marcel 😉

Bottling water from the Bosphorus to say "I was there"? Have you seen people do that? What a funny idea! After all, some people do try to bottle Paris...

Hi! I was talking about bottling water because you need to somehow connect what’s abstract to something tangible 😛 So my question was a bit materialistic around the edges. It’s like those Americans who buy apartments in Paris and want to own a piece of the city’s stone. But Richard captures the atmosphere of the Turkish capital, the former Constantinople, perfectly with his photos. The problem with virtual and the internet is that it’s not concrete or tangible—just pixels on a screen 🙂

The opposite of a real trip? The Larousse dictionary of antonyms suggests "an apocryphal trip" first. What do you think?

That’s great! Best regards,

hi, I was mentioning putting water in a bottle because you have to somehow connect what’s abstract to something tangible 😛 So my question was a bit materialistic around the edges. It’s like those Americans who buy apartments in Paris and want to own a piece of the city’s stone. But Richard captures the atmosphere of the Turkish capital, the old Constantinople, perfectly with his photos. The problem with virtual stuff and the internet is that it’s not concrete or tangible—just pixels on a screen 🙂

it’s really great Best regards

We all knew Mathews before VF shut down. I don’t know how you got hold of his username and password, but that’s cleverly done—though we’re not falling for it 😉 😎

I was talking about putting water in a bottle because you have to tie what’s abstract to something tangible :P So my question was a bit materialistic around the edges. It’s like those Americans who buy apartments in Paris and want to own a piece of the city’s stone.

Hi,

Not being *completely* clueless, I totally got the analogy between bottling Bosphorus water and the faux authenticity of a trip to Turkey.

What I didn’t quite get—or didn’t get at all—was the connection between that metaphorical feat and something that was supposedly said earlier.

The new VF colors now go by the sweet name of #32bcc5. 😮

Thanks for this fun review of AIs that leads the natural intelligence of the master of the house to conclude: "So basically, you could say it’s... blue-green."

Where we learn that even though Richard is a blue, he’s no less green. 😉

I had a pleasant surprise with the new color—it appeals to me at least as much as the old one.

Emerald green: it sounds so poetic, doesn’t it? 🙂 Personally, it reminds me too much of the seas around Thailand. Ah, we French, so predictably swept up in sentimentality...

Great travel journal, so lively and well-written—it’s a pleasure to read! We’re making a little return to Istanbul. For the photos, I’m still craving more—missing mosques, Topkapi, and the rest... I read that Kate already visited Istanbul. She seems more drawn to the cats than the iconic Istanbul landmarks’ architecture 😉.

Thanks Gaura for joining us in reading this "turquoise blue" travel journal. Too bad it's true for Topkapi—all words and no pictures. But Kate and her Nikon were waiting for me outside, as you could read. Oh, those famous Istanbul cats, the co-owners of the city! Hard to ignore them. You even wonder if they’re the ones asking to be photographed 😉

Thanks for this story—I really enjoyed it! And Kate’s photos are still so lovely! That said, the prices have really skyrocketed! Not too bad if you’ve already seen the highlights, but otherwise :(