Istanbul Day 4

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Today we took a ferry to Prince's Islands which are a chain of nine islands off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey, in the Sea of Marmara. The ferry makes various stops to each island; however due to time constraints we got off at only one of the islands: Buyukada "big island." This island is considered the equilvalent of NY's Hamptons as mainly the wealthy have houses here. No cars are allowed on the island except for necessities so everyone travels around by horse and buggy or bike. We chose to rent bikes so we could go when and where we chose. We hopped off at a few places to walk to some historical sites including the 2nd largest wooden house in the world, now in decay. The main attraction on the island is Ayia Yorgi, a tiny church atop a steep slightly strenuous climb. It is situated on top of the highest peak on the mountain but the view is just breathtaking. We rode around the entire island which offered wonderful views of the Sea of Marmama and the city of Buyukada. The town is quite cute to walk around as well and fresh fish is the food of choice for locals and tourists alike.

We got back at 8:00 and had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Karadeniz Aile Pide. Pide is Turkey's version of pizza. Honestly, it really gives our pizza a run for its money. It is on the delicious Turkish Bread that is everywhere in the city and the cheese was a wonderful fresh goat.

We finished our long day in the best way possible, at a Turkish Haman or "bath." The bath was called Çemberlitaş Hamamı and was built in 1584. I don't want to give out to many details but it is similar to going into Sauna and then you are given a warm bubble bath and massage by a Turkish woman. You can relax on the warm marble slabs as long as you would like and steam. We did it exactly as the Turkish do it...look it up if you want to know what that means ;-).

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