Another delicious, hearty breakfast with Nasin in a restaurant near “my” harbour in Istanbul, then I say goodbye to him and his friends – onward through the Bosporus to the Sea of Marmara, to the marble quarry island of Marmara, to the tranquil harbour of Asmali. Fishing boats, a few sailboats and only one other yacht; three restaurants, holiday homes and apartments exclusively for Turkish guests. Time to recover from the hustle and bustle of Istanbul.
I meet Kemal, a sailor whose boat is moored next to mine, who, like me, enjoys the tranquillity of Asmali. Sailors always seem to be relaxed somehow. They can drift with the winds. So can Kemal, who is spending his retirement on his boat, sailing here and there within Turkish waters, and like me, he rarely cooks himself, but enjoys the local cuisine… Later, I go swimming; there are wonderful bathing bays here, bordered by natural, unmined marble blocks. Women and children there, the boys and I here (there are no men to be seen at the water’s edge, but they are in the taverns, chatting in the shade). That’s all there is here. It’s refreshing.