Cruising the day away
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2007
1
9
92
Trip End
Feb 03, 2008
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Istanbul,
Turkey
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Once more down the hill to cross the Galata Bridge. It was a sunny day and the fishermen were out in full force. The average size of the fish being caught was only about 10 cm, but they were catching plenty of them.
For 12.50 lira we purchased a ticket that would take us up the Bosphorus until we reached the Black Sea, and return. The Bosphorus is the stretch of water that separates European Turkey from Asian Turkey. It joins the Sea of Mamara to the Black Sea.
We were a bit early for the ferry ride so wandered around the waterfront until we needed to sit down, at which point we decided that it might be nice to get a cup of coffee from one of the many restaurants under the Galata Bridge. I haven't talked about the coffee here. The most popular forms of coffee are the ubiquitous 'Nescafe' and cappuccino. Turkish coffee is also available but surprisingly not very popular. Tea is the drink of choice for most Turks, at least here in Istanbul. On the whole the coffee is both lousy and very expensive. A weak cappuccino made with UHT milk is 5 lira ($4.50) everywhere you go, and a Nescafe (a premade powdered milk and coffee mix which they only need to add water to) is normally around 4 lira. Turkish coffee is also about 4 or 5 lira.
We joined a hoard of people waiting to board the ferry.
A reward after a long climb
The gates opened and we all raced on with a buzz of excitement in the air. As usual there was a mad dash for the best seats but in the end the ferry was only about 20% full so there was little to worry about. We chose a position that had great views but was sheltered from the wind. The ferry took off and proceeded up the Bosphorus stopping at several places along the way. We observed several palaces and some grand homes. In the 19th century apparently it was quite fashionable for wealthy Constantinopoleans to have a weekender 'up the coast'. We passed under two magnificent suspension bridges that join Europe to Asia.Our destination was Anadolu Kavagi, right at the end of the Bosphorus near the entrance to the Black Sea. Here we docked for three hours while we explored the town and climbed up to a height of about 3000 metres above sea level (at least maybe even 4000) to explore an old fortress, the picturesque ruins of the Byzantine Castle of Yoroz Kalesi, known since the 14th century as the Genoese Castle. The views from the top are nothing short of breath taking and the fact that all of my breath had already been taken by the climb up the hill did not stop my enjoyment of the setting. We had time to grab a bite to eat at the bottom, take our time on the climb and then poke about the ruins for more than an hour. We lay in the sun soaking up the view and the fresh air until it was time to leave.
We headed back down and had time for a waterfront cup of coffee (yeah lousy and expensive but what are you gonna do?).
I'm not looking down there...
I watched the fishing boats bob up and down, the water lapping just below me and thought to myself 'how's the serenity?'We boarded the ferry for the return trip home. We sat up on the top deck for a while enjoying the mild day and the fresh breeze. We took a 'tea in a glass' off the passing waiter (just 50 kurush - about 45 cents) and ate the last of our pistachios. After a while it got too breezy so we went down to the very nicely decorated interior of the ferry and enjoyed the view from there while we also watched our fellow passengers, trying to pick from their body language where they might be from. We saw haughty, voluble, cool, dour and a few others. You can put the countries to the description for yourself.
Totally stuffed from our mountain climb earlier, we still had the climb to our apartment to go. When we got home we decided to dump our stuff and keep going up to Istiklal Caddesi to view it all lit up. I had done some research and found a place called Otantik for dinner and although it proved somewhat elusive (not at the street number it was supposed to be) we did end up finding it. The maître d' tried to sell us on a banquet for 30 lira per head but we agreed that that did not sound like such good value so we ordered off the menu. I suspect that the banquet is a special arrangement for reluctant tourists who have no idea what to order. We did OK and despite ordering too much food we got through most of it and the bill came to just 52 lira.
On the way home the girls found a sweet shop that sold hot halva by the cupful for just 1 lira so they each had one. I bought some of my favourite jellies (which I am munching on as I type this) and we walked home through the teeming throng on Istiklal, Georgie happily carrying a shopping bag with a jacket we had bought for her earlier.
