Istanbul - Day 4, Thursday

We were up and out the door at a reasonable hour today. We wanted to catch the 10:30 ferry up the Bosporus and needed to cue by 10 for a good seat. It was a wonderful day and a great way to see Istanbul from the water. (It also was a rest for my aching feet! Sadly, the pedometer died a horrible death as it quickly slipped into the pee-hole toilet in the boat!)



We stopped briefly in 6 ports along the river and got off at the last one, Anadolu Kavagi (Asia side). Once the ferry stopped we did the short walk up a steep hill to a Genoese Castle called Yoros Kalesi. It was build around the 14th century to protect the Bosporus river way. While much of the castle has been destroyed, the views were amazing!







We really lucked out on the weather and had an amazing day soaking in all the views. From the river, you get great views of the Dolmabahce Palace, the fortress of Rumeli Hisari, several mosques such as Sultan Abdul Mecit I, and of course the amazing homes along the river.

In the evening, we did a walk through of the Grand Bazaar. What a trip! We were talking strategy for almost 30 minutes before we even got there. Because it is off season, we didn’t really have any problems. But, I can only imagine what a zoo it becomes when it is really filled with people. After that, we saw a performance with a Sufi Music Concert and the whirling dervishes ceremony. Wow ~ very impressive. There was no photography allowed because it is a religious ceremony, but I will try to track down some images online. We were blown away by the talent of the Sufi musicians. And the dervishes! Also amazing. The Dervishes spun, and spun, and spun. Both of us were left wondering how on earth they didn’t get dizzy or fall over!