Cruising the Bosphorus
Having seen most of the holiday ‘musts’, we decide to take the Bosphorus River tour — a trip along the body of water that divides Istanbul and feeds the Black Sea.
There is so much more to Istanbul than what the tourists maps would lead you to believe. The hour-and-a-half cruise laid out the city along both banks, passing the Istanbul Modern, millionaires row and old ruins, just to name but a few. If I ever find myself back here, there’ll definitely be more to explore.
The boat stopped at Anadolu Kavagi, a small bay just before the Black Sea on the Asian side of Istanbul. Having not done any research before the tour, we blindly followed the streaming crowd inland and upwards. The ruins in upon the hill yonder proved to be quite the workout, but the views were a fair payoff. The ruins themselves were not — barricades and ‘keep out’ signs let us of the renovations that were happening, and this tidbit of information we kept to ourselves as we passed other tourists climbing the hill. After all, why ruin the surprise?
I asked the question whether there’d be cats on the Asian side, and before long, I had my answer. Yes.
Pomegranates are particularly cheap in Istanbul, a fact worth mentioning as they’re worth their weight in gold back in Australia. At a Turkish Lira a kilo (just over 50 Aussie cents), they were best consumed as juice from the numerous bars and mobile wagons.
The night saw us back on the main strip, this time heading towards the Galata Tower, and yet again, another tourist trap.
tdha
