Turkey - Istanbul Part 3

Rounding up my stay in Turkey… the Bosphorus Cruise. This cruise trip takes you from the Sirkeci Station at Istanbul out to the black sea. We didn’t exactly dwell in the black sea per se, but we went far enough to see for ourselves how the black sea looks like.

Waving goodbye to the port at Istanbul.

Up next is the Ottoman Imperial Palace - Ciragan Palace Hotel Kempinsk. It looks pretty grand… You can also stay here at a premium.

Now, this building is known as the Dolmabahçe Palace. This is the final place where Ataturk resided in before he passed on.

Chugging up the river, we come across the famous Bosphorus Bridge.

With the Ortakoy Mosque seated beside it.

Looks gorgeous under the noon sun. This scene strangely reminds me of Sydney harbour. (I shall get around to blogging my trip to down under)

Moving along, from afar we spy the Rumeli Hisari, a huge fortress guarding Turkey.

I can imagine the number of soldiers who spent days at this fortress.

Soon, we passed by an Albanian Village, Arnavutkoy. The pretty water houses that we see here are known as yalis.

Please indulge me as I show you the many pictures that I took of this photogenic water village.

Not too far away, a hill side covered with clusters of housing. What a stark contrast to the water city.

The last stop at the end of the Bosphorus river… Anadolu Kavagi.

We took yet another steep climb to the top - it could rival climbing up to Tokapi Palace.

I had quite a lot of fun snapping shots at this site.

This was not some random hole that we found. This is the hole to get through if you want to explore the fort.

And look… I did see the Black Sea in person!!!

We were very lucky to have such great weather.

On cloudy days you can’t see that far into the horizon. Yes, we were very very lucky indeed.

Now you can’t exactly see how nervous I was taking this shot, but trust me… If the wind was any stronger, I would have fallen down the cliff.

And I just had to make my friend take this shot for me.

By lunch time, I was famished. We ate seafood at a restaurant near the port.

All vegans pardon Ganny’s shirt.

Lunch was sumptuous. My tummy was happy and so was I.

On the way back, we saw more sites.

This is Beylerbeyi Palace.

And this is the Maiden’s Tower.

When we docked, we explored the nearby market.

Leeches for sale. Said to help people with blood clots. I’m serious.

Duckies for sale…

And last but not least, we made one final stop to the spice market to grab some tea.

This place sold more than just spices and tea. They sold non-perishable items as well.

Well that pretty much sums up my trip and stay in Turkey. See you at the next destination! =)