Trams, Ferries and Dolphins

  Istanbul, Turkey
Thursday, July 10, 2008

We had an great day of exploring the non touristy part of Istanbul.  After another calm breakfast on the terrace, we made our way lazily towards the Marmara Sea.  There is no beach here, but the breeze was nice and cool, and there were some benches that we found a little bit of shade to sit and read in.  It wouldn't be what you would call optimal beachfront as the backs of the benches were right up against the busy road behind us - but if you enjoy loud honking, speeding cars and squealing tires, it was a great little spot. 

You also are unable to get to the water as infront of the benches is a wide walkway followed by a rough (and most likely painful) downwards tumble on huge rocks and boulders that went to the water about 10 feet away.  The rocks were easy to walk on and there were one or two people that we could see sitting on them in the sun. 

We were distracted from our books by a constant whistle and clapping noise (and since we were not in Southern Thailand - we knew it wasn't a lady-boy whistling at Trevor).  We saw two young boys at the bottom of the rocks entering the water and looking at something.  Their father was doing the clapping and whistling.  We followed their stares and eventually spotted two dolphins playing not too far from the shore line.  It was a good little treat that was quite unexpected!

We decided to head out on the Bosphorus tonight.  We have read that you can take a ferry and head out to a place called Kadikoy, and if you time it right, you can head back across the Bosphorus towards Sultanahmet (the place we were staying).  There were tours splattered around here and there and offers to take us for about $50 US.  Being the crafty and well-traveled folk that we are - we planned on joining the locals on a ferry and spending about $1.25 Canadian for the ride to Kadikoy and the same for the ride back in the sunset.  (Insert a smile and a pat on the back here). 

We must say that the transit system here is fantastic.  There are intertwining trains, trams, buses and ferries and they are all quite easy to figure out and are very cheap at the $1.25 a whirl.  The only thing that might have made it easier for us would be if the workers spoke a bit more English - better yet, if we spoke even the slightest bit of Turkish.  We tried to quickly ask a woman in a booth who was taking money for the ferries if this was the boat to Kadikoy and she started saying something in a flustered voice and eventually just put her head down on her desk in complete and total exasperation.  Oops. 

Welcome to ¨Stupid Tourist Island¨
Population: 2.

We paid and hopped on the ferry anyways fairly sure we would be able to get back if it took us somewhere else
When we got off the ferry, we wanted to double check that we would be able to get back again and that we had somewhat of the right idea.  Unfortunately, we could not find anyone ANYWHERE who could speak a handful of English.- so in very broken communication, we were fairly certain that we knew what was going on.  Kadikoy was a happening place with oodles of shops and markets and restaurants.  We spent an hour or so just wandering and looking around.  We managed to catch a ferry back just in time for the sunset.  Our ferry headed towards Sultanahemt and if you look closely in the pictures you can see the pillars of the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia in the distance. 

07. Sunset again

The ferry arrived at it's port with a bit of a bump, and we disembarked and headed for the tram conveniently located nearby.   When the tram pulled up, we were somewhat dumbfounded at the number of people in it.  We were hoping that about 300 would be getting off at this stop so that we could get on.  This was not to be.  No made a move to get off the tram, the two of us, along with about 15 others chose various doors to try to squeeze ourselves into.  It was like Trevor and I were the 6th and 7th slices of bread being shoved into a one-slice toaster.  Needless to say there were no seats available - you couldn't even SEE the seats.  There was no where to move either as we were jammed up to the next person infront of us and then squished, crammed and packed from all other directions and all kinds of people, without the chance to even get to know them first!  In Canada, the closest one might come to this situation would be at a busy nightclub - but here we would be leaving without so much as a phone number!  

The tram arrived at our stop and we pried our way through the tram to get out.  I took a quick picture of the car we had been on before we headed towards our hostel. 

08. Cramped Tram

The had been set for almost half an hour now and lucky for us, the English version of the light show was started as we walked past the Blue Mosque.  We stopped for a while to see if our translated from German version was correct.  To our total and utter surprise, there was no mention of a kilt-wearing King whatsoever!  Instead, the narrative was about how the Mosque was built and about the Sultan who had the vision for it in the first place.  Go figure.  We still quite enjoyed our version.

We were greeted with smiles and beers back at our hostel.  We played some more backgammon, and I am happy to say that I still remain the champ in this little hostel pasttime.  We met  a few friendly Swedes, who shared some information about Cairo and Luxor.  We found out that they are also heading to Cappadoccia tomorrow, except they are flying, so perhaps we will see them there. 

We catch the night bus for Cappadocia at 7:00 tomorrow night.  We are planning on having a relaxing day without much  in the schedule tomorrow.  We are very excited for Cappadocia!  We have heard it is amazing!

Hugs and Love!
Dana and Trevor.