dimanche 26 janvier 2014

Bosphorus Cruise



The next day we headed down to the port and off on a cruise of the Bosphorus Strait.
It started with a two hour scenic trip up towards the Black Sea.
The Bosphorus Bridge- first bridge ever to connect two continents. We had crossed over it on our way in from the airport, which was located on the Asian side.

A couple hours later we made it to our furthermost destination- Anadolu Kavagi. We hiked up to the castle for some nice views of the Black Sea. However, the kids were most interested in the rocks and dist on the ground.

After we had been up at the castle for about a half hour (and following a stray dog WWF) we started heading back down. Of course that is when Jonas, who had been playing in the dirt the entire time suddenly said, "Wait! I didn't see the Black Sea!" So he and I ran back up and I got a couple of shots of him with a Black Sea background.
While there he found some special rocks to carry all the way back down to throw in the Strait.

Relaxing in some hammocks (Eva doesn't look super relaxed however)
The boys liked spotting the "Evil Eyes" (a sort of charm for good luck) embedded in the path.

Afterward we grabbed some lunch at the port. The deep-fried mussels were the specialty. Yum, Jaxon devoured them; Jonas let his turn cold on his plate so nobody else wanted to eat it.


Evaëlle setting out on her own


Don't fall in the Bosphorus Strait. SERIOUSLY- don't fall into the Bosphorus Strait. There is a reason people don't swim in it-a major part of it these swarming jelly fish!f












After we finished with a delicious meals at Doy Doy's

Istanbul New District

The next day we spent in Istanbul's new district. We started with a visit to the Istanbul Modern.

Then we took the funicular up to Taksim Square.

Taksim Square-luckily no protests today; that was the day before


Walking down Istikal Street
We stopped at the Roman Catholic church on the way down.

We enjoyed lunch up in a little attic.
Next we waited in line to go up the Galata Tower
The views were nice, even if it was the most claustrophobic tower visit I have every experienced. Eva must have felt claustrophobic as well because she threw her boot over in protest. Luckily there was a next and Daniel's arm was long enough to retrieve it.

Views from the Galata Bridge.
The kids really enjoyed watching the fishermen, and especially the fish they had caught, on Galata Bridge.
Enjoying Loksum, delicious syrup-soaked donuts.
We picked up dinner along the way from the markets, bread, rope cheese, olives, dried fruits and nuts. Delicious!
The kids loved playing with the rope cheese.

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