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Published: December 1st 2007
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The day started with meeting with dear friend Ugur Seker. Ugur Seker and his home town Corum is a story of another blog. The Canon compact camera Ugur Seker bought for me was the hero of the day and the reason of this blog.
First camera after 30 years of life, travelling in three continents and seeing towns and faces I can barely remember now. I know that is pretty late but better late than never.
The plan is to take the boat run by the Istanbul Municiplity which makes a round trip in the whole Bosphorus strait. The journey starts from the Eminonu pier which is located the historical quarter of Istanbul at the European side and after passing the Bosphorus by stopping at a few piers, ends at Anadolu Kavagi, a fisherman village close to the Black Sea end of the Istanbul Strait. The same boat turns back to its starting point after staying two hours in Anadolu Kavagi. The two hours break at Anadolu Kavagi can be spent by dining at the restaurants located at the coast and visiting the Yoroz Castle located on a hill which dominates the Black Sea entrance of the Bosphorus.
Anyway, for a price of about 5 US$ we got our ticets and we took the boat from Besiktas at 11 am. When compared with summer, boat was pretty empty. Some Asians, Americans which you start to see more and more often in Turkey and a few Spanish tourists. Seems like only locals interested in seeing the beauties of Istanbul from the boat is me and Ugur Seker.
What was interesting for me was the weather changed like a change in the seasons a few times during the 35-40 kms journey. Istanbul as being located on a peninsula takes strong winds from the sea and that makes the weather erratic. Also it is not suprising to hear while sun is shining behind some innocent clouds in the sky in your neighbourhood and at the same time a friend complains about the heavy rain, and another one says he can not make to come to work beacuse the avalanches has already blocked the way. (Ok the last one was a little exagerration)
When we started from Besiktas, it was a winter weather with rain and black clouds. The wind which freezes you at the deck was the bonus. And
after we passed under the first bridge sun started to show his shiny face. The rain and clouds interrupted a few more times but I did not complain. There is nowhere in the world where clouds and rain makes a city more beautiful than Istanbul. As a beautiful woman is always beautiful whatever she wears, Istanbul looks beautiful whether it is summer or winter.
The 90 minutes journey flows fast as you watch the wooden mansions on the both sides of the coast. The citys commercial and industrial atmosphere changes into more like a small coastal town one as the boat heads to north. We saw more and more fishing boats, less buildings, more green and less traffic on the coast as we approached to Black Sea. The beautiful mansions on the coast are called "Yali" in Turkish and recently read if one wanted to purchase one of these houses, he should sacrifice 1 million US$ and even that does not guarentee buying a Yali as none of them are for sale nowadays.
The great castle located on the European side and between the two bridges of Bosphorus was built in 15th century, for cutting the attempts of
aid from Black Sea while the city was under siege by Turkish army. The castle is called "Rumeli Hisari" in Turkish and has also served as a setting long time for the historical movies. The castle is also used for holding concert events in summer times.
Another impressive building is the long white building with two tall towers located on the Anatolian side. The building is called "Kuleli" in Turkish which means towered. It was built in the 19th century and served as a military high school since its foundation.
As we reached Anadolu kavagi it was already lunch time and we directly headed to the fish restaurants. Before entering you should ask for the price of a fixed menu and use your bargaining skills. We negotiated for 15 YTL per person at one of these restaurants. This includes a glass of vine, salad, a plate of mussels and calamary and mixed fish plate. Excellent price when one thinks the fortunes claimed at the fish restaurants of the Bosphorus which are located closer to the downtown. For Ugur Seker this was a little different experinece as his home town Corum is located inland.
The lunch gave us
the energy to climb to the hill at which Yoroz Castle is located. The way to castle is marked with road signs and takes about 20-25 minutes walk from the coast. The castle was built by city state Genoa of Italy on the 12th century. Genoa had also other colonies that time on the black sea coast even some at Crimea and at the coast of Azock Sea. As you reached to the top of the hill, you understand why this spot was selected to build a castle. You can see the end of Bosphorus and behind lies Black Sea like a infinite blue field. So I imagine Genoans must have needed to fortify this hill to control the passings which come from the direction of Black Sea. In the history Cosacks and Vikings many times attempted marauding coastal towns in Black Sea.
After taking many photos we headed back and took our place in the boat. The boat went back from the same way it came to Anadolu Kavagi. The setting sun played some light tricks on the buildings and over the sea, so view was even more beautiful on the way back.
It was almost 5
pm as we reached Besiktas. Ugur Seker, me and Canon 910 Ugur Seker bought for me from Japan went back to home with fond memories.
I recommend this trip to everyone who visits to Istanbul but do me a favour please don't rest your foot over the benchs of the boat. Neither me nor Turkish culture is fond of seeing such a scene.
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Natasha
Very nice story and beautiful pictures..feeling like ....I miss Istanbul.