Up the Bosphorus

---

Up the Bosphorus

After 3 days of almost solid walking, Monk decided to take it a bit easier and trotted down to the ferry terminals by Galata Bridge to catch the boat up the Bosphorus.

There are a number of boat operators offering tours, some with lunch thrown in and some stop for a swim. Monk chose the basic cruise from IDO, the main ferry company that runs the water 'buses', which is a snip at 25TL. There is a more expensive cruise offered by another company which sneakily calls itself IBO.

The boat goes from Galata Bridge all the way up to Anadolu Kavagi, the last village on the Asia side before the Bosphorus opens out into the Black Sea. On the way, it makes brief stops at six or so places but only just to pick up or drop off passengers.

It's a very photogenic trip with palaces, very fancy residential houses and, of course, a fish's eye view of the 2 bridges spanning the strait.

The boat stays at Anadolu Kavagi for a couple of hours allowing exploration of the village and the Byzantine fortress nearby or time for lunch at one of the restaurants in the village.

Coming back into Istanbul, the sun was just going down and there were beautiful views of Istanbul at sunset.

---