Istanbul, Turkey
Today, we climbed a mountain in Asia. Seriously! It’s our last full day in Istanbul and, true to our tradition, we always do a day trip on our last day in a city.
We don’t like to dwindle the day away preparing to leave – so we stay busy the entire day with a tour or trip into another place. The we rush rush rush to pack late that night or early the next morning. We can sleep when we’re dead!
So, today we took the ferry – state sponsored by the Turkish Govt. – to Anadolu Kavagi village on the Asia side of the Bosphorous Strait in Istanbul. The cost was an insanely cheap 25 Turkish Lira each for a 6 hour round trip ride with a three hour stop in Anadolu Kavagi. This was about $8.00 per person and for 10 Lira more, we got an audio guide system to share. With one headphone each (we opted to use our own set rather than take the one from the ferry station, because, eww) we heard the history of all the prominent structures on both sides of the bank as we passed.
One of our favorite stories from the audio guide was shared as we passed the seaside mansion of Emine Hanim Pasha. The only woman to ever be given the title Pasha (essentially, like an English Duke). She was given the title and the seaside property where she built the mansion by Sultan Abdulhamind II.
After WWI, as Turkey transitioned from an empire ruled by a Sultan to a republic ruled by the people, titles such as Pasha were illegal to use. Emine had agreed to give her seaside property as a gift to the Turkish republic, but in the process of signing over the property they refused to acknowledge her as Pasha and only as Emine Hanim Of Babak.
She got so mad that she refused to sign the papers and gave her land to the Egyption government instead. She ordered that the property only be used for governmental relations and it remains the Egyptian Consulate still today. Petty! That’s sort of how we feel when mail comes to house for Mr. and Mrs. Tussey – so we get where this lady is coming from!
After the 1.5 hour ferry ride we arrived on the coast of Anadolu Kavagi, a quaint little seaside village with rolling hills. Overlooking the village is the dilapidated Yoros Castle. Occupied off and on for over a thousand years, the castle was built in this strategic location to allow for blocking ships from the Black Sea attempting to enter the Bosphorous.
This castle is up a long, long, steep, steep hill then up several more long, steep stone stairways. Somehow we reached the top without collapsing of a heart attack or falling to our deaths on one the narrow paths with rotted wooden railings. Once we reached the top, it was breathtaking (even after I caught my breath from the climb).
This was a once in a lifetime view (because, I’m pretty darn sure I’ll never make that climb again!). We could see the Black Sea, the village, the Bosphorous, Istanbul Proper, and the the bridge that is under construction (it will be only the 3rd bridge ever to cross the strait).
On the way down from the castle, there was a small cafe. The cafe had great view and we had some fruit and Helva. I can best describe the taste and texture of Helva as a mild peanut butter mixed with marshmallow that was microwaved. It was delicious, though, and just what we needed to make our way all the way back down the steep hills.
On our way down, it was crazy to think of the cafe employees who walk up the steep paths everyday and carry all the restaurant supplies with them.
I wrote some of this post on the ferry ride back and then we walked across town and back to our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the neighborhood around our hotel and got talked into another dinner with our new friends at the hotel restaurant.
After dinner, they suggested we try the Turkish drink Raki. I asked how people drink it. The wait staff said with ice and a little water. I asked if it was similar to whiskey and they laughed and said “No, forget everything you know about alcohol. Raki is different. Drink Raki, get lucky” haha! It was a white drink that tasted like a more palatable absinthe. Josh wasn’t brave enough to order his own (though he ended up drinking most of the Raki, anyway) so they brought him a frilly cocktail with umbrellas and fruit for laughs (which I ended up drinking most of!).
Our flight for Paris leaves at 10:30 tomorrow morning and we’re being picked up at the hotel by a shuttle early in the morning. I’ll have plenty of time on the four hour flight to write another post and I plan on sharing some stories I didn’t have time to include during my nightly posts.
Bon voyage! We’ll write again from Paris.
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