This was a wonderful day from back on our first international trip together in 2010. This post is a bit of a mess with all the pictures, but it captures the day very well.
One of the things I had been most looking forward to in Turkey was taking a boat up the Bosporus Strait to the Black Sea. There is something about both those names which strikes those chords in me that still believe in magic and set out to see the world expecting to find the adventures of Marco Polo, Jim Bridger, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Ibn Buttata, and other great explorers. I know…the world is a very different place than it was during the times of those heavyweight explorers but still, the chance to see new places that I’ve spent my life reading about and imagining is really why I travel.
And so, the chance to cruise along the mighty Bosporus and to see the dangerous waters of the Black Sea was something that I wasn’t going to miss.
Our friend Alp took Hanane and I for a lovely walk through Kadikoy. We loved the Rose Garden and something that we found throughout Turkey and enjoyed hugely were the exercise stations.
Not only are they free and sturdy, but they are also fun. Since we wanted to catch the ferry up the Bosporus, we didn’t have time to take a swim at the Marmara Sea Beach or eat an ice cream, but thanks to Alp, we know that Kadikoy is much more than just where the people who work live as so many of the guidebooks say.
From the beach we took a bus to a ferry boat at Kadikoy, the boat to Eminonu, and managed to get our tickets for the Bosporus cruise on the public ferry just as the boat was literally shoving off. If we had missed it, we wouldn’t have gotten to take the cruise.The only bad part was that most of the comfortable seats were already taken because we had arrived a bit late.
By the way, public transport in Istanbul is 1.5 lira whether it is bus, tram, or ferry. The longer ferries cost a bit more, this one was 25 lira each for the round trip and very much worth it. The trip up the Bosporus was about 2 hours.
We left from Eminonu Pier where we had amazing water views of the Galata Tower which was built in 1348 and rises above the Beygolu portion of the city like a magic castle. On the left side was Europe and on the right side was Asia. Wow. On the way to Besikatas we passed the magnificent Dolmabahche Palace which dates from the 19th century.
The snow white palace stretches 600 meters down the shore of the Bosporus…impressive? Yes..
A bit further on, we had wonderful views of the Ortakoy Mosque which was built by Sultn Abdulmecid in 1854.
Not all that old, but certainly very pretty and in a great location.
We then we passed under both bridges which are the connecting points between Europe and Asia. We passed several more palaces and pavilions (The Beylerbeyi Palace, the Goksu Pavilion)
Along the shore there were gorgeous old Ottoman era wooden houses which are called yali – meaning coast.
We made a brief port call at Kanlica where the stewards brought fresh yogurt aboard for 2 lira each. It was delicious even if overpriced a bit. Then further on we stopped at Sariyer and RumeKavagi and then a final stop at the Black Sea fishing village of AnadoluKavagi where we had lunch..
If you go to Anadolukavagi be warned that the restaurant touts there are as pushy as those in Fes. Go past them. Walk up straight from the ferry dock. When you come to the 2nd cross street look left and you will find a tiny, non-descript place run by a very nice family.
Hanane and I shared a massive lunch of delicious mackeral filets, fresh hamsi, calamari, breaded mussels, fresh bread, sand a delcious salad for just 16 lira and that included water and sodas. It was one of the best meals we had in Turkey. Absolutely delicious . Of course, we did work up an appetite before we went there because we climbed up to the Yorus Castle (which is only about 1000 years old or so but in a worse state than many far older things in Turkey) for amazing views of the Black Sea.
After lunch we strolled around stealing the occasional piece of fruit from fig and plum trees. We met three nice local girls who asked to take their pictures with us. It reminded me of Japanese tourists in Waikiki randomly asking if I would be in their pictures with them.
Finally we caught the ferry back to Eminonu, the ferry back to Kadikoy, the bus back to Alp and Seraps, and Hanane made chicken and vegetable tagine and amazed Serap with her culinary skills.
An incredibly nice day. The only sad part was that when we went to bed, we knew that we would be leaving our new friends and Istanbul the next day.