One absolute – although slightly unexpected and unplanned –
highlight of Istanbul and Turkey was getting up at 6am and walking down to a
wharf where local fishermen were bringing in their catch from the night.
It was with slight trepidation that we walked into a massive
warehouse with a few hundred men, thousands of crates of fish, and not another
tourist in sight.
It turned out that our nervousness was completely unfounded. They
loved the attention, loved having their photo taken, and generally found our
unexpected presence in their world quite a novelty.
It was amazing to see the ordered chaos and intensity of bartering,
trading, obvious camaraderie, and crates of fresh fish being snapped up and
loaded onto trucks.
When we thought it couldn’t get any more intense, another boat
arrived with a cargo full of fresh fish. Without exaggeration, about fifty men
sprinted to the dock and jumped onto the boat and started unloading the crates
of fish directly onto trolleys and then into their trucks…they didn’t even make
it to the warehouse.
While seeing historical sites and popular tourist attractions is an
amazing privilege that we would never take for granted, there is something
special about stepping into a setting that is authentically local, traditional
and completely untouched.
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