Corinne CrawfordOne of the other things I wanted to do on this trip was visit Princes Islands, a series of small islands off the Asia side coast. They are more low key and nature filled then in any of the areas on the three mainland points of Istanbul and I did not get a chance to visit last time. It is a 90 minute ferry ride from Kabatas to the islands, 3 of the 6 are inhabited and the ferry stops at 4 of them. I decided to go to the biggest one in case I did not have time to visit more than one before needing to get back for a work meeting later that evening. I intended to take the 9am ferry which meant I had to leave my apartment at about 8am so that I could walk the 15 minutes to the tram, take the tram about 25 minutes to Kabatas, walk the few minutes to the ferry terminal and then buy my ticket to get on the ferry in time to leave. My plan was immediately de-railed (pun intended) because as I waited and waited and no tram was coming (they usually come about every 10 minutes), there was finally an announcement – in Turkish- that made everyone leave. As I was leaving the loading area, I asked the guard who made the announcement if he spoke English, he explained that to catch the tram going to Kabatas, I would need to walk two stations away. No other explanation. So I followed the crowd walking the 15 more minutes to another station and had to wait for two trams because there were now so many people trying to get on the tram at this station. On my walk to the other station, it was evident what had caused the problem as I saw at least 4 trams lined up waiting to move and just beyond that a mashed up small van was waiting for a tow as it clearly had a tram/van collision blocking the tracks. As I waited at the tram loading area, I saw the truck towing the van go by so I knew the trams would be coming soon. However, I realized that with the delay waiting on a tram that wasn’t coming, then walking the 15 minutes to the other tram station and additional waiting there, I was not going to make the 9am ferry to the island. So when I got off the tram at Kabatas, I found a little coffee shop across the street and enjoyed a cappuccino until it got closer to 10am. I then heading to the ferry terminal, swiped my Istanbulkart and boarded the ferry.
I liked to sit outside along the side of the ferry to get the good views and fresh air. Staring into the Bosporus though, you could see that it is teeming with jelly fish. I have no idea if they were the stinging kind but the idea of being thrown in the water there was terrifying. I arrived on the largest island, which was the last one in the line of islands and wandered around the residential neighborhoods for a bit. This is where the money is. Both Turkish and foreign families have been building and buying mansions on these islands as vacation homes for hundreds of years. In addition, gas powered vehicles were not allowed on the islands so it was peaceful and quiet with either bicycle power or electric vehicles getting people where they needed to go. They even had little mini electric public buses, which I took to get me to the other side of the island to hike up to the 15th century church at the highest point on the island. Once dropped off, it was a 30 minute uphill hike to a beautiful view point and a very small church that was still in use for services occasionally but also had become known as a place to make wishes. They even had a box where you could drop off a wish you wrote on a piece of paper.
I hiked back down and grabbed lunch at one of the many garden restaurants and then just made the 4pm ferry to go back so that I could be in my apartment in time to have a video meeting.
The following night I took myself out to a good dinner at a rooftop terrace restaurant. I really enjoy the call to prayer that is played from the various mosques throughout the city. It is much more melodic and beautiful than what I remembered from Morocco earlier in the year.
The next day was a holiday- October 29th. It was the National Republic Day of Turkey and this was the 100 year anniversary of Turkey becoming a Republic. Throughout the entire time I had been in Istanbul, the city was adorned with the national flag and images of the father of the republic, Attaturk in preparation of the big day. I missed the big firework show over the bosphhoris the night before because of my work meeting but I knew that on the 29th, there would be music and military planes and who knew what else. I found a good café in a busy area of town to read and see what could be seen. The military jets did make their appearance, flying low and often in formation above the city and even making a smoke trail outline of the crescent and star, the images of the Turkish flag, in the sky.
You never know what you might see when going out for dinner or a drink in Istanbul. It is very likely that the restaurant owner or manager or host will sit and talk with you, share a tea or baklava with you or even buy you a beer and chat. Other times, a spontaneous dance party breaks out in the street.
