Thursday – Sunrise over Istanbul and First Workshop

This morning, the alarm went off at 5:30am, and we crawled out of bed unenthusiastically, and headed for the top decks. It was cold and a keen wind was blowing. Slowly, other passengers emerged; some in dressing gowns, all wielding cameras and ipads, most looking like they’d prefer to still be in bed.

By 6:15am, we were passing Istanbul, on our port side, which looked resplendent in the morning gloom. To our starboard, on the Asian, Southern side of the Bospherus, the sun was slow to rise. When it finally did, it lit up the modern city on the port side dramatically. I say ‘modern city’ because the best bit – the bit we passed first – is the most interesting bit, which features Topkapi Palace, The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia… all of which would have looked more spectacular had we sailed through 20 minutes later than we did, and been caught by the golden gleam of the newly-risen sun.

Photos and video duly taken, hair blown into manic mops and the bridges of the Bosphorus passed under, we headed back to bed…

I re-set the alarm for 8:30am, so that we wouldn’t miss breakfast (which finishes at 9:30am). Unfortunately, all we wanted to do, it seems, was sleep, and didn’t emerge until gone 10am, having missed breakfast.

Getting up early was an excellent plan; I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but really?….. 5:30 in the morning is not my best time of the day…

This afternoon, I ran my first workshop of the trip. ‘The Building Blocks of Watercolour’ went down well with an enthusiastic audience of approximately 40 passengers. That was far more than we’d anticipated, having only printed off thirty of the notes; fortunately, Amy, the Cruise Programme Manager, has agreed to print the shortfall of 10 for me for future classes.

It was all a little bit chaotic; not knowing how many people were going to turn up, or how best to utilise the space, but lessons were duly learnt, so the next workshop should run a little more smoothly. It’s hard work keeping 40 people entertained in an unfamiliar room, with limited resources, and I felt quite drained at the end of it.

Tomorrow, we are due to arrive in Sinop, Turkey, where I’ve agreed to undertake escorting duties on a city walking tour. It’s a half-day, and I have a workshop scheduled for the afternoon, so things are going to be hectic, and the timetable tight… no problem!…