Istanbul Day 4 (Bosphorus Strait Cruise)

The Bospherous Strait separates Europe from Asia and connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea.  It is a major highway for boats of all kind including the that we are going to ride today from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavaği.  The ferry leaves Istanbul at 10:35 AM, zigzags its way north to Anadolu Kavaği making stops along the way on European and Asian side of the strait, arrives in Anadolu Kavaği at 12:25 PM, leaves Anadolu Kavaği at 3:00 PM, and arrives back in Istanbul at 4:40 PM.  It is a full day of sightseeing for the cost of 120 TL ($3.70 per person roundtrip.)

With a starting time of 10:35 AM we were able to take sleep in a bit this morning, but we did want to have some breakfast before setting off on the ferry.  The ferry station is right near the breakfast restaurant our food tour guide took us to on Tuesday, so are plan was to head there since we knew the food was good and properly priced.  On the way to the restaurant, we saw this cool statue of a simit (round bagel-like bread) vender.  It seems that people leave leftover bread not he tray for the birds to eat.

We found the breakfast place and ordered menemen (scrambled eggs in tomato) which Tim and I split.  We knew there would be enough food since the restaurants serve all meals with a large basket of bread.

After breakfast we headed into the Spice Market and bought some Turkish Delight candy to enjoy on the ferry ride.  For some reason I didn't get a photo of it, but I am sure we will be some more soon and I will get a photo.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal around 10:15 AM, there was already a line formed, so we hopped on the line and waited to buy tickets and board the ferry.

It was pretty gray outside, but it wasn't too cold or too windy so we were able to sit on the upper deck of the ferry and enjoy the views.  The first bridge we passed under was the Bosphorous Bridge completed in 1973.  The mosque just before the bridge (seen below) is the Oraköy Mosque.

This is the Rumeli Fortress on the European side, built by Sultan Mehmet II a year before he conquered Constantinople in 1453.

The second of the three bridges we are passing under is the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge aka FSM built in 1988.

Just some cool looking buildings along the route.

This is the summer home of the Turkish President built in the 1800's.

We are really enjoying this ride.

here are some Germans we talked to along the way.

Cool grouping of buildings.

We are almost there.  Beyond the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (YSS) is the Black Sea.  By the way, YSS (opened in 2015) is the fifth highest bridge in the world at 1,056 feet tall.

That is where we are going, and I now know what we are going to do with the 2.5 hours we have before the ferry takes back off....climb to those ruins!

Anadolu Kavağı, on the Asian side, is our stop over before heading back south.  It is a small fishing village that also houses a military base because of its strategic location, from the Byzantine times to the present, along the Bosphorous Strait.

We decided to hike up to the ruins before having lunch at one of the many seafood restaurants in town.  Up we went with a military base along both sides of the road.  There were actually soldiers located along these fences standing guard.

We turned off the road and started heading up some stairs.  This looks like a nice place to rest a bit.

Almost there....and here come Tim.  By the way, this is the Byzantine Yoros Castle and dates back somewhere in the 600 - 900's.

We made it.  That is the YSS Bridge with the Black Sea beyond it.

There was a nice view the whole way back down the hill to the fishing village.

There were so many seafood restaurants to choose from.  Somehow we wound up here and ordered the fixed meal that came with a whole grilled fish, calamari, deep fried mussels, deep fried sardines, a salad, a plate of sour vegetables, a drink, and of course a basket of bread.

In case all that food wasn't enough, the meal ended with some Turkish tea and halva (tahini candy).

We had a bit more time to walk around the village.  The ice cream vender offered me a taste of spicy chocolate ice cream...wow...it was very spicy.  Luckily he gave me a spoon of some other ice cream to cool off my mouth.

That is our ferry in the background.

Scenes in Anadolu Kavağı fishing village.

And we are off again.  This time we are headed south, back to Istanbul.  Rick Steves suggested we ride on the port side of the boat since the ferry sticks closer to the Asian side of the Strait when it travels south.

Wow...check out these houses along the Asian side of the Bosphorous Strait.  

Back under the ​FSM Bridge.

Another view of the Rumeli Fortress heading south.

This was a pretty cool ferry we saw.

There was a lot of marine traffic as we were approaching Istanbul.

We made it.  It was a great day and the sun even peeked out some on the ferry on the way back south.  We stopped for a couple of beers before heading back to the AirBnB.  On the way back we passed by Hagia Sophia, but this time the sky was blue so we stopped for a photo.  We did notice that there were a lot more people around now that it is Friday night.  I wonder how much more crowded this area will be tomorrow being it will be Saturday.

We arrived back at the AirBnB around 6:30 PM and ate some snacks for dinner.  I then spent some time on the computer figuring out our driving route for when we pick up the car in a couple of days.  I needed to do that because I still hadn't booked a room once we check out of the current AirBnB on Sunday morning (just 2 days away.)  

After a couple of hours I nailed down a route, booked a room for Sunday night, and did some blogging.  Tomorrow we do self-guided walking tour in the Old Town and finish up whatever else we want to do since it is our last day in Istanbul.  Until then...