Istanbul again

Bosphorus cruise

We woke at 0545 and had the whole day today to enjoy Istanbul.  As we’ve been here often and recently, we didn’t feel like chasing sights or repeating them.  While I love island-hopping by public ferries to the Princes Islands, that was something we had done several times too.

Kim had not cruised the Bosphorus by public ferry yet, so I suggested that.  So, after our hotel rooftop breakfast with a view, we headed to the Eminonu waterfront to catch the 0935 ferry.

Our 3-day Istanbulkarts didn’t work, so we presumed that it excluded certain fare zones.  But when they didn’t work for the trams later in the day, we decided that they weren’t in fact 3-day cards but single rides.  At NZD6.50, they were too cheap to be 3-day passes.

We paid by our credit cards instead with no problems for the rest of our stay, at a surcharge compared to the Istanbulkart prices.

The ferry served various points on the European side of the Bosphorus, namely Besiktas, Ortakoy, Arnavutkoy Iskelesi, Emirgan, Istinye, Buyukdere until Sariyer where we hopped off about 1h30 later.

It continued to Rumeli Kavagi, near the third intercontinental bridge joining Europe to Asia, close to the Black Sea.  But return journeys from there are fewer, so that was the reason for hopping off at Sariyer.

We had 1h10 at Sariyer to wander and grab lunch before hopping on the 1225 back to Eminonu. With little cash on us, I hoped that the Visa/Master payment link on the public transport didn’t go offline again!

While we had seen people swimming on our outward journey, we were surprised with a solitary dolphin (and separately some more swimmers) on the return.

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Bazaars and more

Back at the hotel around 1400, we took a couple of hours rest before heading to the Grand Bazaar for a walk.

Despite the maze that makes up the Grand Bazaar, I always seem to find my way down to the Eminonu waterfront by choosing any random exit and choosing the downhill path through the street bazaars.

Today’s route took us via the Spice Bazaar (Misir Carsisi) and the New Mosque (Yeni Camii) as well.

We crossed the Golden Horn by foot on the Galata Bridge to the relatively newly gentrified area by the Peninsula Hotel.  From there, we took the Tunel line up to Istiklal pedestrian street.

We walked the entire length, stopping briefly for a light dinner before taking the funicular line down to Kabatas and changing to the tram back to our hotel.  We called it a day at 1915.

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Money situation

As with previous years, we can’t help but feel the pinch of how high prices have become.  It must be even harder for locals.  For a short stay, we largely used our cards for payments.

Cash is still quite important and I had found that the fee imposed by local banks to be quite high.  I advised a friend who was coming on which banks were free but unfortunately, he reported back to me that there is now a fee of TRY640 (NZD24)!