They all giggled at the double entendre.
“No polite company in sight,” Archie teased.
Archie, the only straight man in their company, was happily married with two young children at home, but he was greatly amused by silly jokes. It was why he and Francis had always gotten along so well.
“Have you thought about what you’ll do in the sun?” Maddie asked Francis. “If it gets hot?”
“I’ll do what I always do in summer,” Francis assured her. “Find a shady spot and say a prayer.”
“Yes, that fair complexion of yours is delicate,” Christiansaid.
“You’ve caught the sun a little on your nose there,” Archie pointed out helpfully. “You’ve got freckles.”
Francis felt annoyed. He’d barely been on the deck for an hour. “Maybe I should go inside. Better not risk it. If I arrive as red as a beetroot, Granny will be furious.”
“Let’s pick out our clothes, then,” Maddie urged. “And stay in the cabin until we arrive. Better safe than sorry.”
* * * *
As they sailed past Greece and its smaller islands and toward the Dardanelles, the weather became noticeably warmer.
Francis only dared go up on deck when the sun had set, and only because he wanted to see all the islands they were passing.
Archie pointed to the land in the distance which he said was Türkiye. Instead of heading toward it, they continued on through the islands in a northerly direction.
They approached Türkiye from the southwest, following other ships and boats toward the open mouth of a large strait.
On the day of arrival, Francis couldn’t bear to be cooped up in the cabin any longer. They’d fussed enough with their outfits, choosing the nicest of summer clothes available from the trunks, and now Francis wanted to watch the city of Istanbul come into view.
Maddie had the novel idea to shade Francis with one of her parasols, and there was a minor debate over who should hold it for Francis. He was happy to hold it himself, but Archie reasoned that if anyone were to see, it could cause a stir. They ended up with two parasols, Archie insisted.
Once they were up on deck, Archie and Maddie flanked Francis with the two parasols in such a way that he was safelyshielded from the sun’s glare.
Christian was busy, frantically sketching the view of the city on their approach.
The sailors buzzed around them on deck, adjusting the sails and calling out to each other in a flurry of activity.
At the mouth of the strait, they passed by two great stone towers. Captain Lenaert joined them and mentioned that in times of war, the towers pulled up a chain from the water to block the strait from enemy ships invading.
He had sailed to Istanbul’s port before and was a great source of information to Francis and his friends as they laid eyes upon the city.
As they sailed up the strait, which looked like a wide body of water, Lenaert explained each side of the land.
“This western side is our very own continent,” he said, gesturing west. “This eastern side is the continent of Asia. Istanbul is the only known city to straddle two continents. You’ll notice the small ferry boats crisscrossing the strait, taking people to and from each side at all times day or night. Doesn’t take very long to hop over to Asia from the west.”
“Oh, how fun!” Maddie said.
Francis was inclined to agree. New places were always interesting to him. He loved to see different architecture and culture. This was the furthest east he had been, and he was eager to see what Asia had to offer.
“What are those curious chimneys?” Archie asked, pointing at tall structures dotted about within the city, standing higher than most of the other buildings.
“Now those are interesting,” Lenaert said. “If you use my telescope, you should be able to see the big open vents on the top. They’re designed to capture wind. That air is then funnelled down into the city streets below, to cool it off when it’s warm.”
“Ingenious,” Francis said. “A new design?”
“Quite old, I believe, your highness,” Lenaert said.
“Sounds a bit chilly for winter,” Archie said.
