Defne

Hubby and I took a long walk along the Bosphorus shore road today from Uskudar to Salacak and Harem, then up the hill to take photos of the beautiful bird cages carved into the ancient mosques along the way. Because it's spring and the first April we've spent in Turkey, a lovely small flowering tree caught our attention. The shape of the leaves was very familiar and as I got closer I knew is was a bay leaf tree! I snapped one off, put it in my pocket and we continued on. Then we realized that there are bay leave trees all over this area! We didn't pay any attention to them before because without the flowers they just look like a scrub tree! I picked some off a branch in the garden of the ancient Ayazma Cami (mosque) and tonight I'll use it in the fish dish I'm planning to make.