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| Bosphorous Bridge |
Istanbul Turkey
Tuesday 14th
October 2014
This
morning was a surprising one as for the first I had been here; there was no
call to prayer which meant I woke up a bit later. Yet again I had a great night
sleep and was raring to plan out my route for the day. My priority was to
finally take the voyage of the Bosphorous boat tour. This was the last major
sight seeing I wanted to do to complete my exploration of the week. I took a
bit of time getting ready though before finally heading off towards the busy
streets of Istanbul.
I headed straight to the Hippodrome as I knew that there would be people along
there trying to sell tickets for the boat trip. However, along the way I
noticed two American tourists looking a bit lost and confused so I thought I
would offer them my help. They wanted to be at the Blue mosque so I asked them
to walk with me as I was heading towards there myself. We had a good talk along
the way such as asking where in America
they came from before separating.
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| Walk to Hippodrome |
I was immediately welcomed by a man trying to
sell tickets to the two American tourists who declined his offer. He then saw
me walk towards him and he asked how I was and shook my hand. He was explaining
the route and time but he obviously couldn’t tell that I already knew where it
was going and the fact that I was intending on buying a ticket anyway. He told
me it would cost 35 Turkish liras but would give me a discount to make it 30 Turkish
liras. I paid and received my ticket and I was told I would have to return to
the meeting point at 12:30pm; so I decided to grab something to eat but nothing
expensive. Along the streets of Istanbul
there were kebab shops so I walked to the closest one I could find. I ordered a
chicken döner kebab to take away and once I had it I sat down at a perfect seat
with an amazing view of the Hagia Sofia watching the world go by. The kebab was
perfection in a wrap; I couldn’t believe how tasty they were making them a hell
of a lot better than kebabs back home. Then I sat for a moment in front of the
Blue mosque watching the sun beginning to gleam onto the golden spires of the
mosques domes. It was getting near the time to go to the meeting point but
because the sun came out through the clouds, I realised I left my sunglasses
thinking that I wouldn’t need them. So I made haste back to my apartment and then
straight back to the Hippodrome.
I was sweating and out of breath by the time I
returned to the meeting point but in good time still. I sat for a while longer amongst
dozens of people on the same trip before a guide eventually called upon
everyone to follow him to the boat located at the south. We seemed to have
walked for more than 10 minutes staying close to each other trying not to get
hit by passing taxis before finally arriving at the shore line. Our boat moored
up and we were soon all aboard. I sat at the top and the back of the wooden boat
so I could get a greater view of the Bosphorous. Our boat was a reasonably good
sized boat which was completely made of wood minus the blue and white fibre
glass hull making it look old fashioned; so long as it stayed afloat, I was
happy. We soon set off and I was going with the flow of the water without
feeling ill. The first sight I seen was the Blue mosque and the Hagia Sofia at
the top of the hill still looking magnificent. We then passed Topkapi palace
and heading towards the golden horn.
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Topkapi Palace |
It was amazing to be sailing on the golden
horn with the Galata tower on the right and a great view of Süleymaniye mosque on
the left as we went underneath the Galata
Bridge; there was also a
great smell of the sea which reminded me of home. We headed back out of the
golden horn and into the Bosphorous again passing large cruise ships which
dwarfed our little boat and heading towards the Bosphorous Bridge.
As I was there yesterday, it actually felt great sitting on a boat without
having to walk all the way there. I was relaxed as we strolled peacefully along
the Bosphorous.
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| (Left: New Mosque - Right: Suleymaniye Mosque) |
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| Galata District |
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| Cruise Ship |
We passed famous sights such as the Dolmabahce palace which
looked immense and even better from this side than the other. As we passed some
five star hotels, we passed the Ortaköy mosque and couldn’t believe how quickly
it took getting there compared to yesterday. I was secretly laughing under my
breath as I watched the water splash vigorously over the docks in the distance
nearly soaking people in its path. I was overwhelmed with the size of the Bosphorous Bridge yet again as we passed underneath
it realising how high it was to the top.
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| Dolmabahce Palace |
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| Ciragan Palace |
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| Ortakoy Mosque |
Once we passed the bridge, there was
an immediate difference with the look of the area as there weren’t any mosques
to be seen or ancient buildings; it felt more like a holiday destination with
hundreds of villas and homes on the side of the hills with a clear blue sky and
the sun out bright and hot. At this point the boat made its turn and began
heading back but this time we were closer to the Asian side which looked a lot
more quiet and peaceful than the European side. There was a lot less sights to
see along the Asian side though which didn’t really matter to me as I was
enjoying the views anyway.
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| Beautiful Ship | l |
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| Beyond Istanbul |
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| Beyond Istanbul |
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| Beyond Istanbul |
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| Beyond Istanbul |
But as we got closer to the old city, we were
approaching the one structure I wanted to see called the Maidens tower. I was
hoping we would moor up at the little tower but we kept on our current course. It
was a remarkable moment to watch it go by though as we made preparations to return
back to shore. Finally we were nearing the shore so I left my seat and stood at
the bow of the boat beholding the memory of the magnificent view I had in front
of me which was the Bosphorous lit up by the sun making the water that bit more
blue, Asia on my right and Europe on my left with the huge skyscrapers far in
the distance to the north east. I disembarked the boat and I headed back to
Hagia Sofia to undergo the second part of my plans.
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| Maidens Tower |
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| Final View on Boat Tour |
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| Bosphorous Tour Boat |
Today was gift buying day
so I made haste for the Grand bazaar. It took me a while to arrive at the
bazaar and I was still mesmerised by the sight of the stalls and layout of the
area. I was lost with all the immense colours and sounds of people browsing and
negotiating around me and I felt very happy being amongst it. I wasn’t there to
sight see though; I was there to purchase and the merchants knew this as I was
pestered quite a lot to have a look at what they were offering. When I wanted
to purchase something I immediately went into haggling mode and it worked as
after I got most of my trinkets and gifts, I saved about 25 Turkish liras which
I was impressed with. I decided to head to the spice bazaar too to see what
they had to offer.
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| Grand Bazaar |
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| Grand Bazaar |
I arrived to the strong smell of condiments yet again but I
got used to it after a while. I only bought Turkish delights and was
contemplating on buying some honeycombs too but I decided to head back to my
apartment to sort out my gifts packing them away. The next day would be my
final full day in Istanbul
so I needed my rest to make the most of the sights tomorrow. Everything was
packed in my hand luggage so I spent quite a lot of time relaxing on my terrace
admiring the night sky and the lit up minarets in the distance. I decided to
grab my sweets I had brought with me from home and took one out and placed it
in my mouth. Then a very weird flavour came onto my tongue. As soon as I took
the sweet back out, I realised that it had ants all over it. Then I looked into
the sweet bag and was shocked as the whole bag was full of ants. I couldn’t
believe it as I was still laughing at what happened as I headed off to bed.
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