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With an aerial view, from 35,000 ft, of sharp pointed spires taken over by rounded mosque domes, and ‘hearing’ the inner soft peel of church bells being replaced by lilting melodic Islamic prayers shed down from on high upon Allah’s faithful from slim ‘condiment-shaker’ minarets, you knew not to look for pork on the menu. This was confirmed with Sultan Ahmid’s blue dome mosque sliding past smoothly below, at the plane nearing Istanbul’s Yesilkoy Airport.
Stepping out of the cool shelter of the plane’s interior, Falzoni felt the heat hit him like a broadside blast from an open furnace. It didn’t matter how often you came, and he had been before, you never could get so used to the sudden change as to not feel the first few stifling seconds effect of the warm air on your throat and lungs
